Nugget,
With allowances the cadet salary is more like 6k US a month. Take out the over 2k USD for rent every month (for by US standards a tiny apartment) they you are left with about 3.5k. After expenses and other things takes it down to 2.5k. This is great if you are single. If you have bills at home or kids to send to school then you are going to struggle.
Titan I see your concern but this is a thread about hiring standards, not voting on CC. How many times have you guys voted on CC now?