I have several contractor buddies who make damn good money. But then again, it all depends on what your contracting job is. In my field of work, pay starts at $70k + full benefits as a civilian. It doubles when you deploy.
I'm making just under $20k right now, $34k adjusted if you include the benefits. If you do comparisons of several jobs in the military and in the civilian side, you will find that there are a lot of jobs that pay a lot more as a civilian doing the same thing.