Military benefits no small part of compensation

Published May 14, 2010
By Senior Master Sgt. Nick Grba
Tinker First Sergeants Association

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Throughout my Air Force career, my appreciation of the benefits and advantages the Air Force provides me and my family has grown significantly. When I was a first-term Airman many years ago, I was a bit ignorant of how Air Force benefits and compensation stacked up against those in the civilian world.

While reading through the following excerpts, try to think of any civilian companies that offer these benefits to 100 percent of their entry-level employees. Talk to civilian friends and relatives about the benefits offered by their employers. Very few offer anything close to what our Air Force does in the areas of professional development and advancement or ensuring their members and families are taken care of. Here are just a few of the common pay benefits available to military members. We will examine other benefits in the future.

· Military pay raises: The National Defense Authorization Act has directed that military pay raises will automatically be one-half percent above the private-sector wage increases. In recent years, pay raises have varied from 2.2 percent to 3.9 percent. The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act included an across-the-board 3.4 percent military pay raise.

· Annual leave: Annual leave is accrued at a rate of 2.5 days of leave for each month of active duty service for a total of 30 days of leave each fiscal year. Members who are unable to use leave due to military necessity may accumulate a maximum of 75 days by the end of a fiscal year.

· Federal tax advantage: While all pay is taxable, most allowances are tax-exempt. The primary allowances for most individuals are Basic Allowance for Subsistence, Basic Allowance for Housing or Overseas Housing Allowance and Family Separation Allowance. Tax savings can be significant as BAS and BAH usually average over 30 percent of a member's gross military income.

Basic Allowance for Housing: The intent of BAH is to provide uniformed service members accurate and equitable housing compensation based on housing costs in local civilian housing markets and is payable when government quarters are not provided. The amount is based not on actual expense, but on median rental costs, utilities, and renter's insurance. Housing allowance rate calculations do not include mortgage costs.

· Overseas Housing Allowance is a cost reimbursement allowance to help defray housing costs incident to assignments to an assignment outside the United States. Members are reimbursed actual rental costs not to exceed the maximum OHA rate for each locality and grade. There are two types of allowances paid under OHA, Move-In Housing Allowance and monthly OHA including a utility/recurring maintenance allowance. The location MIHA (for those who qualify) is based on the average "move-in" costs for members. The monthly OHA is the rent, up to the rental allowance at a PDS, plus the utility/recurring maintenance allowance.

· Basic Allowance for Subsistence: BAS is a non-taxable allowance used to offset the cost of the service member's meals. Members assigned to single-type government quarters at their permanent duty station are required to eat in the government dining facilities, receive BAS and are charged the discounted meal rate which is deducted from their pay.

· Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance: The FSSA program increases the BAS of a service member to remove the member's household from eligibility under the United States Department of Agriculture Food Stamp Program. The FSSA is a monthly entitlement paid in whole dollars, equal to the amount required to bring the member's household income to 130 percent of the Federal poverty line.

· Family Separation Allowance: The purpose of FSA is to compensate qualified members serving inside or outside the United States for added expenses incurred because of an enforced family separation. Members are eligible for FSA-R if transportation of dependents, including dependents acquired after effective date of orders, is not authorized at government expense and the dependents do not live in the vicinity of the member's permanent duty station. FSA-T if the member is on TDY away from the permanent station continuously for more than 30 days without dependents.

· Hardship Duty Pay: It's paid to members for performing a designated mission within a location (usually due to austere conditions) designated by the Secretary of Defense.

· Combat Zone Tax Exclusion: Earnings received while performing duties in, or in direct support of areas designated as a combat zone are excluded from taxable income. This exclusion is unlimited for enlisted members and can equate to a 10 percent increase in a member's take-home pay.

· Imminent Danger Pay/Hostile Fire Pay: Both are payable for any month the member performs duty in an IDP area. These are areas where members are subject to threat of physical harm due to civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism, etc. HFP is an "event based" pay, meaning if the member is exposed to an actual occurrence of hostile fire or an explosion of hostile mine, the member is entitled to HFP for the month in which the hostile fire happened, and up to three months afterwards while hospitalized.

· Annual Clothing Allowance: All Air Force members receive a stipend on the anniversary of their enlistment to cover the cost of maintaining military uniforms.