<p>Murphy, there would generally be 3 types of workers--military, civilians working for the government, and civilians working for private companies contracted by the government. </p>
<p>The military pay depends on rank and how many years you've been in uniform, with extra pay if you are flying, in combat, or involved in other special or dangerous duties.</p>
<p>The civilians working for the government are mostly in the "GS" system (GS-7, GS-8, etc.). </p>
<p>The exact amounts the military and civilian government employess get are public record, and I'm sure you can find them on the internet. Civilians often get slightly more than their military counterparts at the same level, but they don't have the 20-year retirement and other great military benefits.</p>
<p>The civilians working for government contractors are the ones who can make really good money--often for doing the same thing as military and government civilans. I knew one guy who retired as a Navy petty officer cryptologist a few years back making somewhere around $30,000 per year. The day after his retirement, he went back to the same job at the same desk, and was making about $120,000 per year as a civilian working for a company that was contracted by the government. EXACT same job, but making 4 times as much.</p>
<p>Another guy I know who retired from the Navy works as a civilian for one of those private companies that provide "security" for American government VIPs in Iraq. He's basically a bodyguard, and makes more than the Ambassador whom he often guards.</p>
<p>Often the people who get these lucrative government contractor jobs are ex-military people. They get the training and clearances from the military, so when they retire or otherwise leave the military, they are ready to get hired, and the companies don't have to spend a lot on training or getting the clearances.</p>
<p>So to answer your question, yeah, some people get paid way more than others, but it's not an analyst/field thing--it's a government/private company thing.</p>
<p>You didn't say which branch of the military you are going into. The 2 fields you'd want to get into are Intelligence and Cryptology. Depending on which service you are in, these fields can be very close or completely separate career paths. It's not easy getting good info on them, especially from recruiters, because what they do is usually done behind closed doors and the regular military guys have no clue what they are doing. Either one of these fields (Intelligence or Cryptology) would give you a lot of exposure to the military and political situations in specific countries and regions, and would give you a high-level security clearance, so they would therefore be good preparation for moving on to the CIA, NSA, DIA, State Dept., etc.</p>