I probably should mention that during college my "second job" was to be a member of the National Guard.

The pay was the same as that of the regular Army for the rank, but figured on a daily basis. As a private, that worked out to US $2.40 per drill (8 hour day, or $4.80 per weekend). Lunch, such as it was, was paid for, as was military coffee. After the initial issue, you were responsible for your uniforms and everything else -- although if you were injured while on duty the State of Illinois would pay your medical bills.

I bring this up because it occured to me today that for $2.40 per day plus a cheap meal, during floods on the Mississippi I walked on levees so water sodden that they shook with each step. I had volunteered to put my tender body on the streets during the riots of the '60s. And eventually, the gummint took my frail body out of college and slammed it into the Army full time.

Of course, by then I was a three-stripe sergeant making LOTS more money....