In my opinion, there is no way a person employed to defend a country should be "scraping by."
When I joined the Canadian Military in 1980 I was making about 650 clear a month. That was not a lot at the time. With the White Paper in the 1990s the military was looked at by the government and pay was raised substantially. I lived in Toronto and as a Leading Seaman (same as Cpl, not sure what American equivilant is) and with the bonus for cost of living, I made about 72k in 2002.
Retired now and trying to live off 20k a year
LInk to Current Canadian Military Pay Rates:
http://www.forces.gc.ca/dgcb/dppd/en...on=3&sidecat=2