Only Marines and sailors will benefit from special hardship pay approved by the Defense Department this month to compensate service members who endure prolonged deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force has no plans to offer the bonus, called hardship duty pay-tempo, at least for now, said service spokeswoman Rose Richeson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 10,000 sailors each year are expected to receive the pay, which provides $16.50 per day for every day they are deployed beyond 220 consecutive days, or about 7\u00bdmonths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Service branches have to request HDP-T for its members, although the Office of the Secretary of Defense has final approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force “continually monitors and reviews its deployment tempo and overall retention levels,” Richeson said in the email. “As part of that normal review process, the Air Force considers a variety of tools to properly compensate and retain Airmen, and Hardship Duty Pay-Tempo could be used in the future if it fits a specific Air Force need.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richeson said the Air Force has worked to keep deployment ratios in check. Most career fields have a 1:2 dwell-deploy ratio, meaning if they deploy for six months, they are home for 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A revised Air Expeditionary Force system begun Oct. 1 sets this standard battle rhythm for most airmen as well as deploys more airmen from the same unit to one location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But some airmen in the highest-demand specialties, such as battlefield airmen, still may have to deploy on a 1:1 ratio, or six months in the field followed by six months at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are certainly struggling in some of those battlefield airmen career fields,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody said in a Sept. 10 interview. “But it will be cyclistic based on the demand signal from combatant commanders, and what we’re asked to do around the world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously, dwell-deploy ratios were based on an airman’s job, and some spent just as much time deployed as they did at home. Others spent far more time at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Explosive ordnance disposal technicians, contracting officers and enlisted airmen in medical jobs were away from home for contingency operations and exercises an average of 170 days or more in fiscal 2013, making them among the most deployed airmen, according to data provided by the Air Force Personnel Center. Pilots, maintainers, nurses and financial management officers also deployed more often than most. Those figures may include multiple deployments in one year, which would not be covered by the special hardship duty pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sept. 17 approval of hardship duty pay-tempo comes 13 years after lawmakers passed a bill to compensate service members up to $1,000 a month for deployments lasting more than 190 days. It also was to benefit those who deployed more than 400 days in two years. But the DoD suspended the allowance after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the late 2000s, sailors and Marines have experienced lengthier and less predictable deployments, and senior Navy officials expressed their support of the hardship pay. \u25a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Larter contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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