Originally Posted by cire
I mean you can make the Navy a career, or you can make a career out of the Navy. If that makes sense. For example, in 2001/2002 I was stationed with one guy who retired at 20 years as an E5. He was pretty worthless at his job. I came in the Navy as an E1, by the time I was an E2 I was his supervisor. I was also stationed with a guy (my LPO) at the same command who at the time was an IT1, he had been in about 8 years at that point. He then picked up Chief his first time up, then Senior Chief his first time up and then became a Warrant Officer his first time up. Guy was on top of his game, a perfect sailor, everybody liked him, he knew his shit and he was went out and did what he needed to do to make the Navy his career.
As far as Hawaii, I loved it. It was expensive, but no more expensive than say the nicer areas of San Diego. It is pretty expensive if you go out and buy a home, there are limited jobs and opportunities there.. but if you have a family there it might be expensive.. but at the same time you pay nothing to move there, you get free housing, and all the benefits of the military.
One thing I always hear about people in the Navy is that they don't make enough, always poor, always needing to be on food stamps, etc.. ok, so yeah the pay is not the best (although it has been getting better over the years).. but seriously, all it comes down to it is irresponsibility and living outside your means. Think about it.. in the military you get a steady income. For E5 married, I think it's roughly $1500 a paycheck.. that's NOT including the free housing on base or housing out in town paid for (roughly $800 a month either way), even more money the more kids you have, extra money for COLA, free medical and insurance, plus free access to the commissary and Navy gas stations for cheap gas. Not to mention tax free paychecks if you are in a tax free area while on deployment. Now I'm back to civilian life.. I'm currently making about $1450 after taxes a paycheck.. I still have $800 a month in rent, utilities, no COLA, my health insurance which I have to pay for each month which has a $1000 deductible (meaning I don't even get to use my medical until I pay $1000 out of pocket first).. etc.
So basically what I'm trying to say is that yes, being ANYWHERE can be expensive, but it is only going to be as expensive as you let it be. Military family? There is absolutely no reason to be "poor" especially if the spouse is working as well. It all comes down to being financially responsible. Don't go out and buy a new car which comes with a crazy high full coverage car insurance.. don't go getting a loan with a high APR to buy a used car. Save your money, buy something cheap that is reliable. If you live off base, don't go renting a house that costs $1500 when you only get $800 for housing (or whatever amount). Don't go blowing your money on console games, big screen tvs, stuff you don't really need. THEN you won't be complaining about how expensive it is to live somewhere.
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