2 birds with one stone

[kilimanjaro]

"I'd rather walk away with a voucher for 200 gallons of AvGas than any of my service weapons."

Probably a pretty good deal.

I'll bet the Admiral would like to keep one of his frigates, too !

[johnwilliamson062]

Does anyone know how much pay a Brown Bess was worth during the American Revolution? I think it was considerably more than a paycheck. Just an example of how much I think rifle prices have changed.

I know some of the veterans and patriots here will grow red when I say this, but most of the people who join today join because they are told they will have the chance to see the world, get training that transfers to a good career when they leave service, and receive the GI bill to finish their training/education. I would be surprised if more than 25% are interested in a rifle they have to pay for out of their first checks.

[rickyrick]

my first months pay was 300$

[FrankenMauser]

my first months pay was 300$

Mine was $6.
They took the cost of uniforms, laundry, travel (!), and basic essentials (that you were required to buy, whether or not you already had them!) out of my first check.

Six dollars didn't, exactly, pay the bills.


My last check was a little better, though. My unit couldn't manage to let me go early enough to use all of my leave, so I had 19 days of extra pay tacked on.

[44 AMP]

Mine was $6.
They took the cost of uniforms, laundry, travel (!), and basic essentials (that you were required to buy, whether or not you already had them!) out of my first check.

an Officer, were you??


Nice they paid you for unused leave at the end. (the nice part was you didn't have to fight them to get what was owed)

I got a letter a couple months after my discharge, stating they had overpaid me (possibly because of a pay draw I took while on leave the summer before, they weren't really clear), and they wanted it back!

I considered this, but since they last paid me on the 1st, and discharged me on the 10th (without any additional pay) I figured we were about even, and didn't pay them. I never heard another word about it.

Some years later, talking to a number of vets, I learned that a lot of them had gotten similar letters after getting out. Apparently it was a scam.

Does anyone know how much pay a Brown Bess was worth during the American Revolution?

I'm afraid I don't know, but I understand that unauthorized possession of a "Crown Musket" in colonial America was a hanging offense.

And that was before the Revolution.

[kilimanjaro]

The Brown Bess musket was the M16 of the 18th Century, entering service in 1722 and replaced in 1838. There were several patterns, Long, Short Land, Naval, Cavalry, Carbine. It remained in use in colonial conflicts until the end of the 19th Century, notably by the Zulus during the Zulu War of 1879.

The cost of the Short Land Pattern Musket varied during it's tenure of over a century, but in 1757 it was about 50 Shillings, or 2 Pounds Ten Shillings, which was a lot of money in those days. A laborer could earn perhaps 25 Pounds a year, skilled labor 50 Pounds.

A private in the British Army earned a Shilling a day, putting his musket at almost two months pay.

The more advanced Ferguson Musket of the Napoleonic Wars cost Four Pounds, which led to the continued use of the Brown Bess due to perceived excessive cost.

[FrankenMauser]

an Officer, were you??

Even worse...
An Airman.

It was far from standard procedure, but when the bus was full and going to have to make multiple trips, the Salt Lake City MEPS gave local Air Force recruits a choice:
-Stay in the reserved hotel overnight and ride the MEPS bus to the airport in the morning, followed by a 6 hour nap before the departure.
-Have your recruiter drop you off in the hotel lobby before boarding the bus.
-Or, 'call this number' (turned out to be an airport shuttle service) and everything would be covered.

As I discovered later, the airport shuttle option meant that the $32.50 'airport run flat fee' was deducted from my first check.