Like you, I was putting in at least 70 hours a week, more if you include Staff Duty Officer once or twice during the week, and every other weekend.
And who could forget those alerts? Being in an Army unit on an AF Base offered so many wonderful opportunities! On the Army side, we had Group, 32nd AADCOM, and USAREUR alerts, while on the AF side we participated in the USAFE and NATO alerts. Cut my pay? Oh hell yes! I had so much free time on my hands! When I got to Germany, I was 30 days in the hole on annual leave. Three years later, I was 58 days to the good.
I loved my time in Germany, and the Army, but any notion of a pay CUT is the fastest way I know to destroy morale.
Thanks for your service, too.
Wow! Germany, that would have been nice. My younger brother did an enlisted tour there and again as an officer, while he wasn’t stationed in Florida (twice) and New Mexico (twice). My first USMC station was Barstow, a woman behind every tree although I met my wife (a woman Marine) there, and my first AF assignment was Minot (why not minot? Freezing’s the reason). I know the alert routine and along with the training and other duties the 70 hour weeks became routine.
If you remember, in 1978 congress got into a deadlock over the budget and they officially caused the military pay to be ceased. It didn’t last long because the units supporting congressional travel and medical care for congressmen and their families staged an unofficial slowdown or shutdown that kept them from boondogling and kept their wives from getting facelifts. They quickly came to an agreement on the budget. That incident also generated a lot of serious talk about unionizing the military which would be a disaster.
A paycut would cause a plunge in morale and a steep rise in the levels of stress which would screw discipline.
Thank you also for your service.