LtCol Civilian Pay Equivalent

A question came up at work about a LtCol that was retiring from the Air Force in 2007.  I wondered what an “equivalent” civilian salary would be in the contractor world for this person.  The military web pages at about.com provided numbers.

For a LtCol with 23 years in service, on flight status, monthly salary is:
$  495.00 flight pay
$ 7373.10 base pay
$  192.74 BAS (Basic Allowance for Sustenance)
$ 2324.00 BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing, Edwards AFB)
———
$10384.84 /mo 

BAS and BAH are not taxed at the marginal 28% Federal tax rate, giving another $629.19 /mo benefit when converting to civilian pay.

Equivalent monthly civilian income would be:
$ 11,014 /mo

Equivalent annual salary:
$132,168.36 /year

That’s not counting the approximately 2.5% x 23 years => $4239.54 /mo retirement pay from the military.  Adding them together gives about $183,042.75 /year income.

Maybe I should have stayed active duty military!