Soldiers deployed for more than 60 days in an Army operation will now receive an extra $240 each month.
For those already deployed, the cash benefit is retroactive to Oct. 1, said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth.
The new benefit, dubbed “operational deployment pay,” is specifically for operational deployments and does not cover exercises at the combat training centers, Wormuth said. For example, the pay is intended for brigades and battalions who’ve deployed to Europe for Operation Assurance, she said.
“That is both to recognize the hardship of being away from families but also the rigors of deployment,” Wormuth said.
Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George told media about the new initiative during a press conference Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.
The pay benefit isn’t a limited-time offer, Wormuth said; instead, it is the new standard for operational deployment pay moving forward for the service.
Soldiers receive the same amount regardless of rank or billet, George said, much like other pay linked to job duties.
“If you get jump pay, jump pay is the same for everybody,” he said.
The new pay is in addition to existing deployment and other duty pay. Some examples include assignment incentive pay, hazardous duty incentive pay and combat zone tax exclusion.
Military.com reported in September on a draft memo the Army had not yet finalized that looked at monthly pay for operational deployments that ranged between $210 and $450. The news outlet reported that original plans would have tied the pay to rank.
Despite the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, much of the Army, especially certain job fields such as armor and air defense, are deployed at levels that reach what soldiers saw during the Global War on Terror.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
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