Not only are you losing out on the compounded TSP, and the 40k delay, your future certs are being delayed just as much, if not more. So it’s more than just the 40k. Sure, there isn’t any guarantee that we’ll certify anyway, but there was also no guarantee we’d pass academy or survive the flight/drive to our facility either.
There are plenty of trainees that arent just missing out on a $40k raise. People took pay cuts and left their families for this career opportunity. I took a 20% paycut and left a roommate to move across the country and live alone. My expenses immediately go up as well. There are so many factors that aren’t being considered in their arguments and it’s just going in circles about how entitled we are to “just $40k.”