It's a great paying job with great benefits.
I am sorry but I completely disagree with this statement. It is far from a great paying job, it is a paying job at most. At most your will start off with is $1915 a month if you have a degree, $1730 if you bring someone in with you, $1645 if you blow your recruiter, on top of that since you are married with kids you will get BAH (prob about $500 a month and BAS (Prob about $300) a month.
I got out as an E-5 with 8 yrs in making a base sal. of $2800 + BAS + BAH = $3600/Month, I would be no means say this is great for 8 years on the job with 2 combat tours.
I was a 31F20B, Network Switching Systems Operator, and to be completely honest I had it pretty easy when people were not shooting at me. That being said, im not saying that the army and combat tours did not fuck up my head!
Now, with that being said, the Army is a GREAT tool if you know how to use it and learn the game and learn it quickly!
Like JVSpecV said, your job is key. If you have half a brain you will not go 11B or any other combat MOS's. Think about what you want to do when you get out unless you want to do 20 (that was my plan when I started).
If you have any questions feel free to post them here or you can PM me and I will answer them with complete honesty, I wont sugar coat shit, I wont make it sound like the army is bad I will only give you the truth as seen by my eyes.
With that being said:
Air Assault, Vox Aquilae, Voice of the Eagle
Even at E-5 I still did alot of elevated push ups LOL
Pay Grade Years of Service
Less than 2 Over 2 Over 3 Over 4 Over 6
E-9
E-8
E-7 2638 2879 2989 3135 3249
E-6 2281 2510 2621 2728 2840
E-5 2091 2230 2338 2448 2620
E-4 1915 2014 2123 2231 2326
E-3 1730 1839 1950 1950 1950
E-2 1645 1645 1645 1645 1645
E-1 1467 1467 1467 1467 1467
E-1 with less than 4 months of service 1357