In World War II, US soldiers were the highest paid with enlisted personnel earning (in 1994 dollars) an average of 750.00 a month and offers earning 2,200.00 a month. Soldiers in other armies received token amounts, or, at most, 2-300 dollars a month. US soldiers were qucik to note that not only were they better paid, but the also received "trade goods" as part of their normal rations. Cigarettes and candy were particularly valuable.
This in turn led the British soldiers to refer to the GIs as "oversexed, overpaid and over here!' This led the GIs to crack back that the Tommies were "undersexed, underpaid and under Eisenhower!"
"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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