How long ago were you in? Here at Whidbey Island Washington, BAH is about $780-900 for like E-5... and Food Allowance is about $350-450, get married to someone over 50 miles away, or when deployed, you qualify for Separation pay..another $300.

So it comes out to about $1430-1650, which is why I estimated about $1500. I've seen many of my friend's Leave and Earnings Statements, its no joke that they're banking off getting "Contract Married".

I live in the barracks, its not so bad, yeah I get my occasional room inspection, but you gotta keep in mind that the military needs to preserve their facilities. My only complaint is that I'm forced to eat at the chow hall, instead of getting food allowance like married military. Oh yeah the extra pay they get would be nice too, its not uncommon for military to get married to someone they barely know, so that they can get paid an extra $1500+ a month, and then give their "partner" a cut of the money, not to mention they get all the medical, dental, and just about every benefit the military offers. Tax money well spent?