http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/military-pay-charts.html. O is officer. E is enlisted. 1 is the lowest for both. the top row is number of years served.

with all of the extra stuff, you'd have to be crazy to do it for the "extra" stuff. military members, especially the army and marines, spend many, many years away from my family. many times a year at a time. and nobody cares if it's tearing your family apart. nobody.

of course, it's not like they're hurting, either. that gets overblown, too. the pay is good enough, and the benefits are good enough, too.