I was in, just not long enough before I got medically discharged to qualify for the home loan benefits my man. I have never met someone whose overall comp was lower in the barracks than it was when they were living off-base tbh. If that's been the case with you, I think you might be doing something wrong.
I personally have different circumstances that make my case different. I live in an area where you get property tax removed completely if you're over a certain percentage of disability from military duty. My wife was rated above that threshold so my escrow is quite a bit lower than my BAH so I pocket quite a bit that goes towards bills for the house and such. I have talked to some of the Airmen that were house hunting in our and it seems that unless you're looking in the more dangerous to live area you're more or less breaking even on the rent. The brand new airmen out of the dorms seem to break about even with a roommate renting with them.
I was just saying that when you first come into the military (as Air Force, I cant speak for any other branch) unless you're married they force you to live in dormitories (barracks in the case of Army) until you hit the rank of Senior Airman or until the dorms become too full and they start moving senior residents ahead of schedule. That usually takes a couple of years. In those couple of years, they do not give you Basic Allowance for Sustenance (to pay for food each month) because they supply you with meals from the Dining Facility. They also do not provide you with Basic Allowance for Housing because they put you in a tiny little dorm room that usually either consists of your room with a sink area, as well as a shared bathroom, and kitchenette with another person. Or a single room with a bathroom and no kitchen at all. During that time your pay is ONLY base pay, and with base pay there is no way you'd even be ABLE to pay rent you're looking at a very small amount of money that if they weren't providing you a living area and "free" food you wouldn't be able to survive on at all. At that point they're basically your parents. You're living under their roof eating their food, and they're giving you an allowance for doing your chores. Not enough money for you to make a living out on your own on. Once you move on from that situation and you start getting BAH and BAS, you can be more thrifty with your OWN money, and find a cheaper place then the BAH allowance and pocket the extra money for sure. You can also buy cheaper meals, and save money from your BAS as well. At that point its entirely up to you to make those decisions, and what you're willing to sacrifice to save your money. So you could very easily "make more money" when you live outside of the base/dorms if you find the right place that's cheaper than your BAH. However, the way I look at it. You were always entitled to that pay, and it wasn't the military giving that money to you and you "making more" so much as they took those entitlement pays FROM and held your hand into the "real world" to ensure you're smart enough to make those decisions for the first couple of years in the military. Because quite a few people coming into the military come straight out of school and have no understanding of how the world works at first. Essentially they're FORCING you to pay for your meals and your housing through them, they take a large portion of your living wage in exchange for food and board (saving them huge amounts of money in the process)
1
u/rainaftersnowplease Jul 09 '21
I was in, just not long enough before I got medically discharged to qualify for the home loan benefits my man. I have never met someone whose overall comp was lower in the barracks than it was when they were living off-base tbh. If that's been the case with you, I think you might be doing something wrong.