In discussing any pay/benefits for government employees, I always look at the state of the taxpayers first. I don’t know specifics (I plead ignorance on that), but I do know that expecting workers to shoulder the burden for benefits that have disappeared for most of them decades ago will never be popular.
There are variants in military pay that the civilian market would not likely be able legally to get by with. Who draws a larger paycheck on active duty? An E-5 single and no dependents or an E-5 married with kids? Now keep in mind both would have the same job. The married E-5 makes more per month.
There is also this. Many government agencies are not Constitutional yet have huge numbers of federal workers making far more money and far better lifetime benefits than the military. However according to the Constitution the Congress sets the number of allowed military members and must pass legislation that provides for their needs and wages. You live under different laws, even legal double jeopardy, and only mandatory you get one hot meal a day and an hours sleep when I was in.
My Rating Machinist meant when I was in a 6/2 duty ratio. Six years sea duty to two years shore. A 20 year enlistment you'd see maximum 6 years shore duty if that. At sea work hours were 4 & 4 or 4 on and 4 off. Of the 4 off likely two of them were on Watch which is additional duty.
The working environment? 120 plus degrees in 100% humidity. A hand being placed near a steam leak you could neither see nor hear meant you lost your hand if it got over the pencil lead sized leak.
In peace time when we went to see there was a good chance someone wasn't coming back alive. Either by accident or natural causes. I know about that one my shop had to stand watch over the deceased until transported off. My last year in we were at three section duty in port. Any sailor can vouch for what that means. One night in three you stayed onboard till the next evening. This was supposed to be downtime but the Iranian Hostage Crisis had crews doing shipyard workers jobs in the yards to speed it up. Some nights I left the ship as late as 10:00pm to be back at 0700 next morning and that was my non duty night. Again no overtime, no compensated time, the jobs had to get done. We stayed at sea typically 9 - 10 months of a year. Then you had to make sure your division could spare you to take leave for a vacation. Yes it was 30 days but every day counted. I got out early because I had unused days on the book.
The enlistment obligation has also been increased from a total of six years to eight. Meaning an 18 year old enlisting is obligated for years past their four years active served for being called back up and that is now common. Take 18 years in age and that puts a first enlistment teenager obligated till age 26. Why? Because troops are spread too thin.
Some specialties like Nuclear Propulsion, Intelligence, jobs Etc where the military has vested over a year in schooling an extended obligation can be justified. But not for a typical enlistment.
Peace time can be as deadly as war. I escaped serious injury or death several times in four years while on board ship. My senior NCO's with 20 years in looked like 50 year old men when they were 40. Then there was the mid 1990's blood letting. Persons who had vested even 16 plus years were booted out due to force reductions. Yet Social Engineering like women on carriers was made top priority. Oh and likely at a cost of hundreds of millions in ship alterations to make it possible.
Congress needs to get it's priorities straight. The EPA for example is not a Constitutional function of federal government. It was Nixon's idea. The military has been a Constitutional function of government since ratification of the Constitution. Yet it is the very first place the budget cutters head for usually trying to either lower pay or cut retirement.
In 1980 retention in critical jobs was so undermanned the Navy offered me $15K and E-5 as a bonus if I would simply re-up. Why the shortage? Because Jimmy Carter and congress also thought the military needed cuts back then. They created a military no one wanted to be in including many lifers.
By 1983 a turnaround had occurred and most ratings were once again manned because we had a POTUS that cared about our troops and insisted Congress give them their due. No POTUS since Reagan has done like wise. None of them have.
It's been cuts after cuts both in manpower and critical programs to pay for new federal agencies and new civilian entitlements. I say we look first at non Constitutional agencies as well as the very generous Congressional Retirement Program for cuts. Elected Office should not be a career for any office at any level of government so why give them retirement pay? Give them Term Limits instead and force them back to private sector.
There are retired congresscritters drawing in excess of $150K a year retirement. Have you read any mainstream media stories on their retirement cost to taxpayers? But Joe is in the military & is making a fortune by golly. A myth that has been around every since. My dad at the end of WW2 made so little money he had to leave the service on a hardship to come home and make enough money to support the family. His dad had passed away after my dad had been in the Navy for only seven months. His brother stayed in and eventually went from E-1 to 0-5 before retirement. Dad did 45 year for Ma Bell. Dad came out better on retirement and money made over their lifetimes.