I'll throw another shitburger in the works, DUmmies.
I'll even use my example, brought up to 2013 standards. I got out as an E-6, over 12, with Sea Pay, Sub Pay, SDAP (nuke). Had I been married when I was on the boat, yes, I could have gotten into Navy housing (which in Pearl, sucked ass) or gotten COLA which wouldn't have even come close to covering living even in a 2 BR apartment out in Pearl City.
All of the listed are per month:
Base Pay-3495
Sea (over 8)-450
Sub (over 12)-375
SDAP (Supervisory)-175
COLA (with dependents)-950
TOTAL 5445/month, or 65,340/year (give or take). That's before taxes.
Sounds good, right? Yeah, until you consider the cost of living in places like Pearl Harbor, Guam, San Diego, Seattle/Bremerton, for examples. Try finding an apartment in San Diego for under $1500-1800, or Aiea/Pearl City for under $2000/month. Throw in the cost of transportation, gas, food, utilities, etc.
Not so much any more, now is it?
Now let's look at the hourly rate. A submarine, even in port, takes a LOT of time. Think 3 section duty, 4 if you're REALLY lucky (usually not.) That means you're on the boat for 24 hours. No going home. Standing watches, doing maintenance, etc., probably 16-20 hours of that day. Your non-duty days are about 10-12 hours. So even in port, you're looking at an average of 80-90 hours a week. At sea, in an 18-hour rotation, you're up and working for probably 13-14 of that, so an 18-hour day (out of 24) is normal. That's 7 days a week. No days off. That comes out to a 120-hour week.
So let's say, for sake of argument that in a typical month, you're on local ops for three weeks out of the month, and in port for a week. That still comes out to MORE than 100 hours a week.
Oh, did I happen to mention that's BEFORE the boat goes on deployment? Then you're looking at the same 120-hour weeks, but now you can't even go home cause you're 6000 miles away!
Even if you do knock it down to 100 hours a week, with OT over 40, that means the 1350/week that sounded so good would translate to an hourly rate of just over (drum roll please)....
$10.30 an hour. And that's IF the guy was drawing all the bonuses, etc., to which he was entitled (I never got COLA, being single.) So now that's more like $9/hour.
Think about that. $9/hour for a nuclear-trained, college-educated, deployed sailor, working and living in conditions that most people would consider inhumane, let alone be willing to subject themselves to said environment. Now consider the consequences of a mistake in each job.
You still want to tell me a burger flipper is worth $15/hour?