Compensation of all ABRI personnel was on a sliding scale according to rank and was uniform throughout the country and among the services. It included, for both officers and enlisted personnel, housing for married personnel of appropriate rank, subsistence items and rations paid in kind, and a variety of allowances in addition to base pay.

Compensation for military personnel has increased considerably since the 1970s, both in separate allowances, such as basic food allowances, and in basic pay. Military compensation, especially for lower ranking or nontechnically trained personnel, was believed to compare favorably with compensation in the civilian sector when extra allotments were figured in. Pay raises for the military paralleled raises for the entire civil service.

Officers' tours of duty were officially established at three years, but these limits were not strictly observed. Retirement age was mandatory for enlisted personnel at age forty-two and for officers at fifty-five. However, the president had the authority to grant an unlimited number of extensions on active duty of one year, usually to officers in key posts of the armed forces leadership. Officers were eligible for small pensions at age forty-eight and those failing promotion to lieutenant colonel had to retire at that time. Two years before their retirement, personnel could be placed on preretirement status in which they drew full pay and allowances while they began to develop civilian careers. Higher level retired personnel often worked in the government, in military-owned businesses, and in industry. Many lower ranking members were offered land under the government's transmigration program (see Glossary) or have been given vocational training (see Migration , ch. 2 Economic Benefits and the Transmigration Program , ch. 3).

Data as of November 1992