That chart for pay levels at different military ranks is not a good reference. It's only showing "basic pay." I recommend instead playing with this: https://mil

That chart for pay levels at different military ranks is not a good reference. It's only showing "basic pay." I recommend instead playing with this: https://militarypay.defense.gov/calculators/rmc-calculator/ https://militarypay.defense.gov/calculators/rmc-calculator/ You also have to understand how career progression works. Like it's nonsense to look at the basic pay for an O-5 with less than two years of service, even though there's a number on the chart for that. Outside of exceptionally rare circumstances, an O-5 will have at least 15 years of service.