Not sure what kind of training the plebes or even mids get on LES but make sure your plebe knows how to read his/her LES. Eventually when they enter the fleet they WILL have to explain it to their sailors, trust me. Not to mention, the government has known to make a few mistakes and either take money from you accidently or not paid you enough so make sure your plebe is checking their LES monthly to see where their money is going.[/QUOTE]
I'd like to highlight this last point. It's very important to get to know the LES. We've had pay problems a number of times over the years. When you're overpaid it's especially important to note the error right away since Cleveland will send you a bill for the total amount due immediately. Their repayment plan for overpayment can be beyond confusing as well. For instance the remedy for our most recent underpayment was a lump sum reimbursement, deletement of that pay, reinstatement of the pay for an incorrect amount, monthly withholding of several hundreds of dollars of pay to compensate for the lump sum payment, with assurances from DFAS that it's just the way "the computer" has to work it's way through the system. Be especially watchful during times when special pays get added or deleted since that's where I've noted the most common problems. It's the last thing you want to deal with during deployments but that should be on the pre and post deployment checklists. I also suggest printing out paper copies since I've sometimes needed more than two years worth of LES to help me to understand what has gone on.