i'm so confused looking at my husbands army les papers HELP?

First column is all pay & allowances he is eligible for (Basic, BAS, BAH, FSA, etc..)

Second column is all the standard deductions such as FICA, Social Security, AFRH, SGLI, FSGLI, Mid-Month Pay, etc...

Third column is for allotments and other deductions such as money to housing, savings, etc...

All pays are taxable while all allowances are not. So if you deduct the BAH w/dependents from the first column then that is the monthly amount he makes before deductions.

This is from DFAS and specific for the Army and should help you out - www.dfas.mil/.../pdf/Army_reading_your_LES.pdf

I would really suggest once you get to the first post, if not already there, that you take the Spouse class offered through Family Services. It will give you a lot of information including how to read the LES, paperwork, Tricare, etc..

The column that has his entitlements and Base Pay will be the first entry. When all entitlements are added together they will have a total at the bottom. The next column has deductions to include taxes and the total amount of his mid-momth (15th of the month) pay. The final column will have voluntary allotments. On the right side in the summary section the EOM column will have what he gets paid on the 1st.

All you have to do is look at the military pay charts.

You look up his rank and his time in service and you will get a gross figure as to his pay.

Ignore the housing allowance and the subsistence allowance as they do not count.

See the chart below. Lets say he is an E-5 with four years of service.

Look down the left to the E5 row and then go across to over 4 years. He gets paid $2530 a month.

He will not get that much as take home because they take out taxes, social security and etc. But that is is gross pay and that is the figure you need.

Here are the Army pay tables. Click on January, 2013 to open the pdf file.

http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlement...

One the LES, what he makes a month before allowances and deductions is called "base pay."

take the Spouse 101 class.

the pay stub is actually very easy to read.

Don't worry you are not the only one