Recently, I started researching how much someone in the Mexican Army earns because several acquaintances are considering joining. The truth is, the salaries are quite interesting, especially when compared to other professions.

To begin with, a private earns around 18,840 pesos per month. It sounds good, but what's interesting is to see how the salary increases as you advance. A corporal earns 19,548, sergeants between 20,000 and 21,000, and once you reach lieutenant, we're talking about nearly 26,000 pesos a month.

But what surprised me the most was seeing the salaries of the higher ranks. A colonel is already earning almost 92,000 pesos per month, and if you reach general — whether brigadier or division — we're talking about more than 122,000 pesos a month. That is, how much a military officer earns in the higher ranks easily exceeds one million annually.

In addition to the base salary, the Mexican Army offers benefits that are not negligible: a 40-day Christmas bonus, a 20-day vacation bonus, a pantry allowance between 1,500 and 1,600 pesos, transportation allowance of nearly 1,000 pesos, and a technical allowance that adds 40% more. If you add everything up, the total compensation is quite decent.

Most of these jobs require studying at the Military Educational System — there are options at the Heroic Military College and other specialized schools in medicine, engineering, and aviation. So if you're interested in knowing how much someone in the Mexican Army actually earns, these numbers give you a pretty clear idea of how income scales according to rank and years of experience.