Around 200 years ago, the navy and army had "half pay" officers. if you weren't needed on board ship or for regimental duties, you were sent home on half pay until such time as you were needed again, although in many cases this period of inactivity became permanent. Service pay in those days was not meant to provide an income on which you could live, as nearly all officers had private means of a sort, so half pay was certainly not enough to subsist on - just a way of keeping you at the behest of the Admiralty or War Office, should you be needed