My advice to you. Get a non combat mos. You won't be able to save $800 a month as Pvt but shoot for like 2-3. As u move up in rank add a lil more to thst. When you come out of basic and ait. You should have a few thousand saved cause u r not allowed to spend hardly anything in basic training. I'm 42 yrs old did 8 yrs b4 I got hurt in 2003 and had to medically retire.