They have pussified basic training

[Peaches]

They don't really pay for that stuff, you get allowances. Sometimes those allowances cover everything, sometimes they don't. One think I found out with my son is to get EVERYTHING in writing. His recruiter forgot to put he was going in as an E3 on his paperwork and if he hadn't caught it, there was literally nothing that could have been done at that point.

I have a link to a good military website http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/start/
That may take you directly to the forums - I can't reach half the sites today and that's one of them - but there are links to some EXCELLENT articles about what does and doesn't happen. There's one called "What your recruiter didn't tell you" or something to that effect that's quite informative.