Pay starts to catch up to the civilian sector in your second enlistment.
Much also depends on your MOS
I disagree, I mean how much are 18 year olds with only a high school diploma generally making? Very little. When you count only the pay E1-E4 make very little but when you start including the free (crappy) housing, free food, free health care, etc, overall military compensation is very competitive.
I have to say that for me in 2002 as a high school dropout with no training outside of what the navy gave me, I was pulling in the equivalent of about $55,000 a year + full health benefits, life insurance, etc. Accounting for inflation that's approximately equal to $71,000 today.
So yeah, I made only marginally less as a high school dropout in the navy as I do with a masters degree now. Sure the deployments sucked, but all things considered that's pretty crazy. How many people with a GED do you think make more than $70k at age 21?