Taking the figures that I gave you we can figure out what the average (mean) retirement pay would be for the U.S. Army, per year.
Retired service person: $19, 956.00
Spouse of deceased member: $10,975.00
As the above is the mean, some would recieve more and some would recieve less.
As a point of interest, 83% of the people who serve in the U.S. military recieve no retirement pay. Why, those who serve in the active forces are required to serve 20 years on active duty before they become eligible for any retirement pay. If they drop out at 17 years, they earn no retirement pay.
NOTE: Those who are injured recieve disability payments, but not retirement pay. Those disability pays are based upon the per-cent of injury.
NOTE: The retirement pay system for those who serve in the Reserve is much more complex and the figures that I have given do not give us information for those who retire through the Reserves. Reserve people serve one week-end a month and two weeks a year, unless mobilized.