Vet News: Soldiers Extended in Iraq Get Extra $1K Monthly

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2004 -– About 20,000 Soldiers who have been involuntarily extended beyond their expected 12 months of duty in Iraq or Kuwait will be eligible for extra pay of $1,000 a month.

The incentive package includes an additional $200 in hardship duty pay (above the $100 already being received) and $800 monthly in Assignment Incentive Pay, or AIP. This pay will be available to Soldiers in 42 units required to stay in theater past their expected rotation date due to operational needs, officials said.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the unit extensions April 15, saying the period would be for up to 90 days in Iraq plus another possible 30 days in theater before redeploying home.

The extra pay will only be available once a Soldier exceeds 365 consecutive days in the Central Command theater. That’s 12 consecutive months or 365 days out of a 15-month period, explained Lt. Col. Gerald Barrett, chief of Compensation and Entitlements, G1.

“This is the Department of the Army’s way of providing for Soldiers in the identified units who were promised that they were leaving at a certain time, but because of operational requirements, they were required to stay longer,” Barrett said earlier this year when the incentive-pay program actually began.

The program began in February when about 1,500 Soldiers from 12 units were required to stay in Iraq longer than their expected 12-month rotation. Then the Army offered the $200 hardship duty pay and either the $800 Assignment Incentive Pay or a guaranteed stabilized assignment once they redeployed. If they opted for the stabilized tour, Soldiers were guaranteed to spend at least the same amount of time at home station as they did in theater.

No one opted for the stabilized tour, though, said Deborah Holman, a senior compensation analyst for the Army’s G1.

Barrett said the old stabilization option will no longer be offered. He said this is contrary to what was misreported in the Army Times. Only the extra pay will be offered to troops recently extended.

In order to receive the $800 AIP, extended Soldiers must sign a DA Form 4187, personnel action form, recognizing that their extension was involuntary. The signature is necessary because, by law, AIP must be based on a written agreement between the secretary of the Army and the Soldier, Holman said.

This is only the third time the Army has ever offered Assignment Incentive Pay, Barrett said. He said the Navy first used the special pay for a number of specific “hard to fill” assignments.

In February, the Army offered AIP for the 1,500 Soldiers extended in Iraq. Then in March, the Army offered AIP in the amount of $300 per month to Soldiers who extended in Korea for an additional year, volunteered for a two-year unaccompanied or three-year accompanied tour in Korea. Originally, the AIP program for Soldiers in Iraq was to expire June 1, but now has been extended.

“In order to maintain equity, we will apply the involuntary extension incentive to this group also,” Barrett said referring to the 20,000 troops just extended. “We want to be fair to Soldiers.”

The $200 extra hardship duty pay and $800 AIP will both be given to Soldiers who serve in theater any amount of time past 365 days.

“It will not be pro-rated,” Barrett said about the extra pay. He explained that Soldiers who serve one day of the extension period will receive the extra pay for the entire month.

The pay will also be provided for time Soldiers spend in Kuwait after departing Iraq, Barrett said. It will be paid as long as “boots are on the ground” in the Central Command theater, he said.

When Soldiers are calculating their time on the ground, they should not subtract the time they spent away on emergency or R&R leave, Holman said.

SOURCE: VNIS