New enlistee comes in about $1400 per month. Reaching about E3 after basic and one advanced training, you are looking at about $1700 per month. Count the free housing, food, medical, dental, transportation, training,..well you get the idea... that leaves about $1375 per month disposable cash income, going up to about $1675. Anyone out there have that much extra cash every month??
500 per month is more than enough. Certainly more than I get. And probably most of us here. Well, except for the rich right wing.
Up to probably E4 or E5 it should be draftees only.
I was in the US Navy during the transition from draft/volunteer to volunteer in the early 70s'. I was drafted in July 72. I joined the Navy rather than go in the Army. Personal choice, I do not want to belittle anyone's choice of service branch.
Let us not forget that free housing is frequently living in the barracks. After initial training, for shore duty that was mostly a 4 man room with the shower and toilets down the hall somewhere. As an E-5, (my last two years of 4 active duty) I was eligible for a 2 man room if one was available. If some E-6s wanted it, I would get bumped back to a 4 man room. The allowance for quarters if one chose to live off base would only cover a dump in the NAS Oceana (Va Beach, VA) area if you got a roomie.
Food in the chow hall was generally not bad. Thanksgiving they would have real turkey. Breakfast included real eggs. Trying to satisfy tastes from around the country was never quite possible as everyone wanted things cooked just a bit differently. This was all shore duty. Sea duty food depended somewhat on the size of your boat/ship. The allowance for food if you lived off base was enough to eat in the chow hall on a charge per meal basis.
I was fortunate enough to not need much of the "free" medical and dental benefits. I put free in quotes because I was making a LOT less than I would have as a degreed mechanical engineer in the civilian world. (I applied for OCS but they were full.)
Things that were free when my hitch started converted to fees similar to the civilian world by the time I was done. The "Hobby Shop Garage" started by only charging for consumables like the grease gun. By the end of my hitch, they were charging for time on the lift etc.
When I was in the Navy, I paid Social Security and US and Oklahoma (address of record) income taxes. Want to start saving for your future? Take about 10% to 15% of your gross off the top. I don't know if the service has something like a 401K available.
Training? Do you think that private businesses do not provide training? When I got out of the Navy, I went to TU and got a Master's Degree on the GI bill. A friend from my pre-Navy college days got a MBA paid for by his employer.
$500 per month is enough? For what? Living like a hermit? Sure if you are on ship or in a war zone there may not be much to spend your $ on. Not all duty is always that way. Some first hitch people are married and have to support a family. Transportation from the barracks to your work place may be provided (shoes). If you do anything for entertainment, you will at least need to pay for public transportation, if it's available. Most of the bases I've been to are not right next to anything. Our service people deserve better, even if they are draftees.
Do you believe that a select portion of the citizens (universal service would probably be more expensive than what we now have just due to quantity of people) should give up nearly everything for several years while their buddies are out starting their careers? That's hardly a way to convince anyone to stay to become an E-6 or above. All draftees below E-5? Can you imagine the effectiveness of the service if everyone was a beginner. As it is now, we have some talented, dedicated personnel serving our country well past the time of a drafted enlistment. Make the service unattractive enough and all you will have is draftees and personnel that can't make it on the outside. Not the service I want protecting me.
The above mostly covers enlisted ranks. What about Officers? Draftees below what level? O-5? Pay them dirt too? Expect any continuity?