Anyone here have family that told them how pay worked before direct deposit, credit cards, etc.?

Like in the movies you see soldiers getting paid cash and lining up for it while deployed. But I was curious how much do you get paid while deployed, and what do you do with it through the deployment? I wouldn't want to have to carry months worth of cash with me. Or did banks take deposits from the front lines?

Also, if you're working your way across Europe, did they do all they could to pay you? Or was it expected to go months without pay?

I had the "pleasure" of being a payroll officer a few times when I was stationed in Germany back in the '80s. It was normally a two man event - one of us picked up U.S. dollars and the other got Deutsche Marks. We'd report in early in the morning and were issued locking briefcases, M1911 pistols and ammo, got a driver and a jeep, went across town to the Finance office, signed for the cash, and drove back to our Kaserne and set up in the Headquarters Company dayroom where the troops lined up outside to cash their paychecks.

This was back in the days of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof) terrorist group, and I always felt a little under-gunned on the drive back with the cash, especially since our rag-top jeep couldn't outrun anything on the Autobahn. As a side note, a few years ago I heard that Vladimir Putin was one of the Red Army Faction's KGB case officers.

I was paid in cash in Vietnam, one time all the pay officer had was $5 MPC bills, my net was about $600/month so I got 120 funny looking $5 bills. Stuffed some in my wallet, some in my clean socks. I also kept back $250/month in some savings program they had, after I came home they mailed a check to my parents house, my mom thought it was another savings bond so she put it with them and I couldn't find it for 3-4 months, I needed it to pay for the car I bought. I got paid by mailed check until 1973 when I finally got on direct deposit. I was a W-1 in Vietnam. The Army still had pay officer's in the mid-1970's.

Somewhere I have paperwork when my dad was leaving the Marines after returning from the Pacific. Going on memory, but seems as if he got $146 or $176 for four or six months when he left. I have no idea what might have been deducted to get to the amount received.

Army trivia:

When does an officer not return a Soldiers salute? When receiving his pay.

Paying soldiers in cash in the origin of the (now oft-neglected*) tradition of "Pay Day Activities." In the current Army, it means a unit run for PT, dress uniform inspection at work call formation, checking/updating whatever paperwork for soldiers in the morning, then the troops are released at lunch hour.

Back in the day, troops would get paid in the morning, and the intent was that they could go pay their bills in the afternoon with the cash.

*The 82nd Airborne was the last unit to which I was assigned (2009-2011) that really did Pay Day Activities. 2ID/I Corps at Fort Lewis (2001-2003) didn't do it at all to my recollection.

I always had direct deposit but in the early 1990s we still got "split pay" when deployed afloat i.e. a portion of your paycheck paid in cash by the paymaster aboard ship. It was very convenient for ensuring that you did not overspend on port calls. This was before the Euro and the USD was the best currency to have in you wallet just about anywhere.

JA83 said:

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I had the "pleasure" of being a payroll officer a few times when I was stationed in Germany back in the '80s. It was normally a two man event - one of us picked up U.S. dollars and the other got Deutsche Marks. We'd report in early in the morning and were issued locking briefcases, M1911 pistols and ammo, got a driver and a jeep, went across town to the Finance office, signed for the cash, and drove back to our Kaserne and set up in the Headquarters Company dayroom where the troops lined up outside to cash their paychecks.

This was back in the days of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof) terrorist group, and I always felt a little under-gunned on the drive back with the cash, especially since our rag-top jeep couldn't outrun anything on the Autobahn. As a side note, a few years ago I heard that Vladimir Putin was one of the Red Army Faction's KGB case officers.

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I remember this exact same experience in West Germany. Man, haven't thought about that in forever.

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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as a 2nd lt. i got abougt 200 dollars cash. Enough to run a car, pay boq and misc. 1954 germany!

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50 dollars in Navy boot camp! 54 after. 85 overseas but nothingh to buy!