At what point is a military coup better than the status quo?

How did Reacher put it? Some people join because it's a job, others as a family tradition, and others a legal means to kill people. Something like that. Seems about right.

 

I used to see it every spring when seniors started to figure out where they were headed after graduation. Some to complete their education, others into the military. I know of a couple who entered the family business. what I almost never saw was a situation where the student had offers to attend college but instead chose to enlist in the military of join the police force. Which brings us to...

Executive work (military, cops) pays poorly for what could end your life on any day (particularly beat patrolmen in reasonably-sized cities). I'd like to be able to dismiss the attraction of the bully aspect, but I'm afraid there isn't anything else that'd make up for the low pay.

It isn't free, though, not in wartime. Even in peacetime they get paid for what might happen. They should. I don't begrudge them that.

 

At one time serving in the military could put you on the fast path towards citizenship, but no longer.

 

Oh, to address the topic. We're past that point

 

I thought a cop's base salary is relatively low, but they more than make up for it with overtime? Or is that a hollywood trope?

 

They ain't driving BMWs on salary alone

 

There's various public records sites where you can look up how much public employees get paid.

I found this one which does break down salary and overtime. This site is for California - I don't know if other states have similar things - the link goes to San Mateo County, California, where I live, and it shows some sheriff's deputies and sergeants who basically double their pay through overtime. (And for some reason, a bunch of highly paid psychiatrists - I'm guessing there's not a lot of private psychiatrists so they work for a clinic that is funded by the county.) I can't say if the sheriff's office employees on this list are exceptions or the rule.

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/san-mateo-county/

You should be able to navigate around and find other counties and cities within California on that site.

There's another site that lets you look up employers, so you search for a city or county or other public entity and it brings up the highest paid employees, but it doesn't seem to include overtime, so the list for San Mateo County is almost all psychiatrists. This site includes things outside of California, so you can look up, say, the University of Alabama and confirm that Nick Saban (football coach) was the highest paid employee of the University or Alabama in 2022.

https://openpayrolls.com/rank/highest-paid-employees/san-mateo-county-ca