To be fair, for at least the first couple years, your cost-of-living expenses are also essentially zero if you're single, since you'll be staying in the barracks and eating in the mess hall without having to pay anything out of pocket. So that $35k stretches a lot further than it would outside the military.

The 35k reads to me like an enlistment bonus not a base wage. You can google base wages for the US military if your actually interested. That said if we're talking the US military there isn't a chance in hell that it's a 40 hour work week. He'd be lucky for a 60 hour work week and 80 is pretty standard if your leadership sucks. I had a cot in my office I used multiple nights a week when working for a particularly dickish commander once.

There are plenty of terrible things about the military, stupid long hours, highly toxic work environment, alcohol abuse is encouraged, rape culture is accepted, etc. But the pay isn't all that bad when you add everything up (base pay, tax breaks, housing allowance, on post child care discounts, uniform allowance, free health care, dependants, re-enlistment bonuses, etc). The per hour rate isn't good but I've also never gotten the equivalent time off in PTO that I got in leave either.

There also isn't a wage gap for minorities, there's a ton of other bigotry, but no wage gap.

Assuming you work for 40 hours.

Dunno how it works in Murica, but here in Britain you serve your duty from 00:01 to 23:59

So the equivalent of about $4 per hour...

To be fair, people will also say "thank you for your service" n 'stuff

That tweet makes it sound like the 35k is a bonus for signing up "35k AND a job"

Maybe the 35k is a signing bonus?