WASHINGTON — Soldiers on approved operational deployments will soon receive $240 per month under the recently approved operational deployment pay program.
“This initiative underscores our unwavering commitment to honoring the daily sacrifices made by Soldiers and their families,” said Dr. Robert Steinrauf, Plans and Resources Director, Deputy Chief of Staff G-1.
The change, effective Oct. 1, 2024, authorizes E-1 to O-6 Soldiers to receive special duty pay in recognition of the greater than normal rigors of operational deployments.
“The Army is dedicated to ensuring that the sacrifices made by our Soldiers and their families are appropriately rewarded. Operational deployment pay represents a significant advancement in this effort,” said Dr. Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
The regulation that governs the pay is Department of Defense Instruction 1340.26 (Assignment and Special Duty Pay). The pay is earned on a prorated basis.
A memorandum on the ODP can be viewed here.
ODP is not retroactive to before Oct. 1. Soldiers who were on an approved operational deployment on Oct. 1 will receive ODP for the remainder of their deployment.
Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers are also eligible for ODP when they are participating in operational deployments.
Soldiers in combat zone tax exclusion status pay no tax on the ODP, but it is taxable for Soldiers serving outside such locations, Steinrauf said.
By Jonathan Austin, Army News Service
Quick tip for US Personnel – ADF personnel are paid $188.47 per day (tax free) when deployed to Iraq/Syria/Mali/South Sudan.
They are paid $102.69 per day (tax free) when serving in any of the Gulf States (UAE, Bahrain etc).
They even get $101.98 per day in the Solomon Islands!
I don’t even know what to think about this. Are “Operational Deployments” wars? Not trying to sound like a salty vet bro or anything but at what point does the gray area become constitutional law?
Operational deployments are not wars. The U.S. Navy has carrier groups deployed operationally worldwide, but they are not at war. U.S. soldiers, airmen, and marines are deployed worldwide as force projection and for contingency operations (think the “Kuwait is not a deployment” jokes), but they are not at war. In terms of constitutional law these authorities are granted in articles I and II. I would look to the National Defense Strategy and National Defense Authorization Act for more detail on operational deployments.
Pre-9/11 I recall the DoD had this “take care of the troops” wild hair and said they’d pay $100 per diem for any service member deployed more than 180 days in a year or some such number. The details escape me but I remember being in a unit that was always on the go regardless and everyone just kept real quiet becase we knew we’d hit their magic number handedly. When GWOT came to be I distinctly remember Rumsfeld addressing it by saying that rule doesn’t apply to GWOT operations and that every deployment was now considered in support of GWOT.
We always heard stories about how if you were on a NATO deployment there was an insane per diem the other countries got but we never did. Same with the SWA trips; the story was always the Saudis or Kuwaitis paid for our presence. A little like Forrest Gump, Uncle Sam must’ve kept that money becasue we never saw a dime. I was never bothered enough to substantiate it one way or another.
Also making the news, the USMC has recently approved a new plan that will dock Marines $240 per month to help fund Operational Deployments. This initiative comes on the heels of forcing a 2 week stand down for west coast Marines to self repair their own condemned barracks that already have servicing contracts that were funded. /S except for that last part. That be true.
small price to pay for being the best.