A Brief Over View of Military Benefits

As a kid it is never too soon to start thinking about what you plan on doing after high school. The two most popular options are going to college or joining some type of military base. I would like to talk to you and just give you an over view of some of the benefits that you would receive if enlisted in the military.

I'll start with the pay since the world revolves around money. You can't really live if you don't have money. If you join the military in any branch and serve your country they do there part and pay you back for it. When you first enlist you have a base pay but there are about 70 different types of special pays and allowances that can be obtained. Depending on your situation and your experience or years in service your pay could be anywhere from $200 a month to over $1,000 a month. Like I said there are all kinds of ways to increase pay through military. For example, having kids, bringing buddies to the military with you, and also the type of job you do while enlisted. Right now they are trying to increase military pay to at least 5% above the average pay for civilians. If this passes Congress the military pay will see yet another pay increase.

Now I will explain some health insurance and life insurance benefits. There is a life insurance plan that is called SGLI which gives you $400,000 in life insurance for only $29 a month. This plan as of December 1, 2005 also covers traumatic injuries. There is also life insurance for family which is $100,000 for the spouse and $10,000 for each child. The pay per month is anywhere from $.55 to $5.00 depending on the size of the family. Now I will explain quickly, the health care benefits. The military pretty much says, "If you are willing to risk your life for your country, we will take care of you and your family". What I'm saying is, have you ever heard of Medicaid or Medicare? Medicaid is a card issued to a person or family and when you go to the hospital or doctor you show them your card and the visit is paid for. The military is the same way. They issue there active duty members a card along with their family that pays for every hospital and doctor visit they make. Now for someone who is going reserve, this won't apply. These medical plans only apply if you are active duty.

The education benefits is also another big benefit especially because most of the new recruits are young and still need that special education. The military has a couple options for you. Active duty and Veterans can receive up to $1,500 a month for college education. Let's say you do your time in the military then you decide to go back to college, being in the military is pretty much like a guaranteed scholarship. They also have a program you can enroll while completing your military training. It's called Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC). This program helps pay for books and tuition. It is basically like getting a degree while you are completing your training in the military.

The last benefit I would like to mention is the housing benefits. First off if you are active duty you can get a house for free on the base. A house that is paid for, no electric, no water bill, everything is totally free except if you want cable or things like that. Let's say you don't want a place on the base. You can get a VA loan. With a VA loan you can get up to $415,000 for a new home and the good thing is you don't have to put any money down. Also the VA loan has some of the lowest interest rates ever and they are solid so they won't change on you at all. The rates remain the same until the loan is paid off. Another thing you could use the loan for is to simply remodel your home. Let's say you have a house and you want to do some home improvements, you can get a VA loan and right then and there you got your money for what ever improvements you need to make. You can also refinance to get really low monthly payments.

These are the basic benefits of joining the military. Like I said, "I can't go through all of them because it would take me days". There are literally tons and tons of benefits from joining any branch of the military. If you are seriously thinking about joining I suggest you call a local recruit for that particular branch and have a talk with him or her. I'm sure they can go over all the benefits in more details. Serve your country and reap the benefits.