” the pay for two stripes was just as hard to live on as it is now”
An E-3 with wife stationed in Florida could be drawing more than 50k with all allowances for living off base.
That has changed drastically, then-I think an E-3 now makes about $2000 per month, which isn’t great if you are married and have a kid-unless your spouse works-so the housing allowance must be 3-4 times what it was-there were places where you got more for a higher cost of living-Alaska and Hawaii were two of them, but I don’t remember if Florida was.