Quick Boot Camp questions

[cellistcs]

I had roughly $10500. I spent 4.5 months in boot but the reason for the money is being married, with dependents. (It included my housing allowance).

Dependants are a wonderful thing! I've got my wife and new son. I think maybe I asked the wrong question originally, so let me rephrase it.

Can anyone tell me what all you have to pay for in boot camp, and approximately how much it runs a month?

[Lisa 23]

Can anyone tell me what all you have to pay for in boot camp, and approximately how much it runs a month?

You have taxes, all of your hygiene items that are purchased during recruit training, uniforms, shoes, go fasters (sneakers), boot camp pictures and I believe the graduation book, your travel home, that is if you don't go home with your family if they choose to attend graduation.....just about everything that is issued to you, you pay for.
It's hard to say what money you will have at the end of boot camp. Everyone is different. All depends on if you go to boot camp as a PFC or not also.

Ask your recruiter for more info on this. He/she should be able to help you out more.

[NoRemorse]

Getting back to your first question, you can actually ask your recruiter for a form letter in lieu of orders to present to your employer, utilities company, phone company, creditors, etc...

Also, have a letter handy for each of the above explaining the situation so they don't have to guess what your official form letter or copy of original orders means.

[thezero]

You buy what they issue you. When you go to the recruit PX you buy what they tell you to buy with your money. Why is it such a big deal you get paid the 1st and 15th unless it's the weekend or major holiday. You make 3 recruit PX calls, expect to spend $350-400 on items FOR THE PLATOON, does it suck yes do you learn to get over it? You better.

Like WMarine said you have taxes, graduation book, your ring, grad DVD, and some extra crap they will sell to you, you also have the "Option" to buy a time piece on recruit liberty if you can get there.

[MLMonk]

You buy what they issue you. When you go to the recruit PX you buy what they tell you to buy with your money. Why is it such a big deal you get paid the 1st and 15th unless it's the weekend or major holiday. You make 3 recruit PX calls, expect to spend $350-400 on items FOR THE PLATOON, does it suck yes do you learn to get over it? You better.

Like WMarine said you have taxes, graduation book, your ring, grad DVD, and some extra crap they will sell to you, you also have the "Option" to buy a time piece on recruit liberty if you can get there.

He wants to know how much he's going to get since he has a wife and child with him, too, and has to support those. If he was single, yeah sure I can understand why he shouldn't care, but that is not the reason.

[cellistcs]

Nah, I know approximately how much I'll be bringing into my bank account.

I know that there are deductions for taxes, and that some of the allowances like the housing is tax-free, and I know that there's a difference between Private pay and PFC pay, etc. I'm really just wanting to know about how much the average recruit spends over the course of 13 weeks.

I've got a killer recruiting team her in CO; they're fantastic. I worked with this same office four years ago, and let me tell you what, the Marines running this office now have brought it leaps and bounds in that amount of time. They've done a really good job of keeping me informed about what's going on, but they're all Sgt's and SSgt's... Been a while since they went through boot camp, so a question like "What are my expenditures during boot camp?" may just be one of those questions that they can't answer; Hence why I'm trying to get a round idea of what the overall COST is during boot camp from someone who's been through recently.

For example, if you went in as a PFC in 2009 you're making close to $1570/month - assuming you don't have dependants. So, over the course of three months, you'll have earned $4710. As a Pvt. you made $4200 over the same period. How much did you Marines have left over after that was all said and done? And please don't include the trip home, etc.; Just your expenditures during the approximated 13 weeks you were at your respective MCRD.

[thezero]

He wants to know how much he's going to get since he has a wife and child with him, too, and has to support those. If he was single, yeah sure I can understand why he shouldn't care, but that is not the reason.

Ah alright, missed that part. I've only been on around 0200-0300 so I've been tired. But I know the prior service army guy in my platoon graduated with $8400 with no kid, there were only a couple guys married that had kids in the Co. and I believe they were in lead series so I have no clue what they were making.

Cellistics, I told you. You spend 350-400 in recruit PX calls. Then final bills can be as cheap or expensive as you make them, the average was around $200 dollars. So say thats $600 since you always want to go with the most when calculating how much money you have. Then you have all of your deductions for your gear and uniforms plus your plane/bus ticket from home to MCT/SOI. With out a plane ticket home I would've graduated with around $2200 dollars as a PFC. So if your calculations are correct and I made $4710 expect to have around $2500 deducted total.