| PAY & BENEFITS |
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There is no amount of money great enough to pay for some of the sacrifices you will make and risks that you will
take as an officer of Marines. However, the compensation that you will receive for your work is very very good. It
is much better than the vast majority of your peers will do. I laugh to myself when I am around people who know
nothing about what Marine officers do and assume that because I am in the military, I must be scraping by. You will
cetainly never have to scrape by as the base salary is very good and the benefits are even better. Here arejust a
few.
1. Comprehensive Medical Coverage: When I say comprehensive, I mean comprehensive. You pay for
nothing for you or your family. Knee braces, Tylenol, Robitussin, chemotherapy,etc. It is all covered. You can
even get corrective eye surgery on active duty at no cost to you. You never have to worry about whether you
should see a doctor or not because of cost, because there is none. No other employer in the world has better
medical coverage than this.
2. Retirement: You can retire after just 20 years and begin drawing 50% retirement the very next day for the
rest of your life. This beats any 401K because you can begin drawing money when you are 42 instead of waiting
until you are in your 60's.
3. Vacation: You get 30 days paid vacation per year the first year you are employed. You get this nowhere else.
You can roll over 60 days at the end of the year and accumulate up to 89 days. You can save this up and sell it
back or get out and take a 90 day paid vacation. You also get a lot more holidays in the military because you get
two days off for most major holidays which does not count against your leave.
4. Tuition Assistance: There are several programs to help you get more schooling. In one program, the
Marine Corps will pay 100% of your tuition while you go to school for a master's or PhD on your own time while on
active duty. There are also programs where the Corps will pay you full pay and benefits and all school tuition and
fees for you to go back and get your advanced degree. They will even pay you to go to Law School to become a
Marine Jag Officer. Of course, there is the GI Bill. This is an awesome program where you pay in $100/month your
first year on active duty and then you get back over $20,000 towards school.
5. Free Worldwide Travel: As an active duty servicemember, you have priority on military flights anywhere in the
world aboard space A travel. You can take your family on a trip to Europe, Australia, or Hawaii with no cost for the
flight.
6. Low Cost Term/Whole Life Insurance: You can get very low cost coverage, $250,000 for yourself and
$100,000 for your spouse. You can even continue the coverage once you get out.
7. Recreation: There is an almost infinite amount of recreational opportunities for you in the Marine Corps.
Every major base has 5-10 major state of the art fitness centers that are free for you and your family. There are
sports teams, cabins, golf courses, auto and wood hobby shops, horse stables, fishing, hunting, and the list goes
on and on. Active duty also rate huge discounts at time share vacation homes world wide.
These are just a few of the limitless benefits to serving in the military. Now what about PAY.