How much we made..."back in the day"

[Schnugg]

Not much.

Here is an LES from my third month on active duty. I couldn't even afford a nice car on that paycheck. Let alone rent a house. I lived in the BOQ.

 

[Scoob]

You know you've mastered the art of technical writing in the military when your verbage threatening aviators to get their flight phys done has survived for 25 years nearly verbatim.

 

[Schnugg]

So true.

 

[scoolbubba]

I was 6 months old. How did you boys ever survive the thin times?

 

[fc2spyguy]

I was 6 months old. How did you boys ever survive the thin times?

I think a beer was only 5¢ back in the day.

 

[MasterBates]

My father told me about making next to nothing back in the 60s and 70s, but the clubs, commissary, exchange were not slightly cheaper than "the outside", they were 50% of what stuff was on the outside on average.

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

I think a beer was only 5¢ back in the day.

As memory recalls, (and a bit cloudy at that) draft beer was 75¢ and long necks were $1.25. I've killed way too many brain cells since then so I might be off by 2 or 4 bits.

 

[CommodoreMid]

I was 6 months old. How did you boys ever survive the thin times?

I'll up you on that, I was 1.25 years away from birth then. I am on the young side as JGs go though.

 

[Flugelman]

My father told me about making next to nothing back in the 60s and 70s, but the clubs, commissary, exchange were not slightly cheaper than "the outside", they were 50% of what stuff was on the outside on average.

Enlisted in '60. Made a whopping $78 a month, paid in cash, once a month. Cigarettes were a dollar a carton and beer at the club was a quarter. You went to the exchange and purchased what you needed for the month, squirreled away a bit ($10 or $15), and just blew the remaining $20.

 

[CAMike]

Ahoy!!! Chelsea Clinton goes off the market to an evil capitalist "Investment Banker". The other half of the NAVY forgets the why they're making the big bucks.

 

[brownshoe]

As memory recalls, (and a bit cloudy at that) draft beer was 75¢ and long necks were $1.25. I've killed way too many brain cells since then so I might be off by 2 or 4 bits.

Happy hour beer at the Cecil Field EM club (mid 60's) was ten cents a can. Plus... we had Go-Go dancers!

Steve

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

Happy hour beer at the Cecil Field EM club (mid 60's) was ten cents a can. Plus... we had Go-Go dancers!

Steve

We had Go-Go dancers at Memphis too; we had to go-go to town to see them though. On the up-side; we could have two beers at lunch during "A" school!

 

[HeyJoe]

Not much.

Here is an LES from my third month on active duty. I couldn't even afford a nice car on that paycheck. Let alone rent a house. I lived in the BOQ.

Wow, memories indeed. Don;t even know if any of mine are tucked away. I do remember some datapoints like buying a brandnew Super Beetle in 1972 for $2000 (base was $1800 and there weren't too many options). My PLC stipend was $200 a month which allowed me to live pretty well coupled to working at restaurants at night. I was able to buy a brandnew 240Z in 75 for $4000 (with upgraded wheels and 8-track player) and remember O-1 pay in 77 being a whopping $13200 a year mainly because I had credit for signing up for PLC as soon as possible before Junior "summer camp". I have to thank my OSO for pimping to do that because I was going to MD and signing the paper meant a drive into heart of DC during the work week, which was never easy while going to school and working nights. Don't think my mostly Hippy professors would have allowed me to leave class for that purpose. Vietnam War was still going on so antiwar sentiment was high on campus.

 

[brownshoe]

On the up-side; we could have two beers at lunch during "A" school though!

WHAT? Not for us! (AO "A", JAX.)

Steve

 

[Schnugg]

The BOQ at Oceana did have a beer machine on every floor and "dancers" at the club...so for me, at that point in life, I was living large.