I quit school after the eighth grade and went to work full time, My Mother signed and I enlisted in the army when I turned 17. E-1 private’s pay was 69 bucks a month and made out 50 dollars a month allotment to my Mother.
When I got out was twenty, came home, married, we left and never looked back to that G_D forsaken place. One thing I can say,is that early root wild hog or die life taught Wife and I the value of a work ethic and a dollar.
It was still exactly that when I enlisted in '63. A couple of months after that they raised it a little, $5 or $6 per month but by then I was no longer E-1.
I spent 4 years active duty, my memory is bad but it seems like I was making around $200 something when I got out.
When I applied for S.S., they told me to be sure to bring them my DD214 because of those "low earning" years, my S.S. would be adjusted upward. For 4 years active duty I got an extra $13 per month. Hey, I'd rather have it than not.