President Donald Trump signed the annual defense authorization bill into law Dec. 18, confirming a 3.8% raise in military basic pay.

Service members saw their biggest pay raise in 22 years — 5.2% — this past January. The pay bump in 2025 likely won’t be as large for all troops, but some junior personnel could get a windfall if ...

Basic pay is just one component of servicemember compensation. Analysts generally compare military and civilian pay using regular military compensation (RMC), defined in law as the total of “basic pay ...