Incentive and Special Pay

HIGH DEPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE

Service members carrying out lengthy or numerous deployments or frequent mobilizations may be paid high-deployment allowance at the discretion of Secretaries of each military department.

Eligibility

Officers and enlisted members are eligible for this incentive for each month during which they are deployed, and at any time during that month:

• Have been deployed for 191 or more consecutive days, or
• Have been deployed 401 or more days out of the preceding 730 days.

Members of the Selected Reserve are also eligible if they are on active duty:

• Under a call or order to active duty for a period of more than 30 days that is the second (or later) such call or order to active duty in support of the same contingency operation, or
• For a period of more than 30 days under a provision of law referred to in Title 10, United States Code (U.S.C.), section 101(a)(13)(B), if such period begins within one year after the date on which they were released from previous service on active duty for a period of more than 30 days under a call or order issued under such provision of law.

Payment

The rate of high-deployment allowance for each military department, which may not exceed $1000 per month, is set by the Secretary concerned. This is usually a taxable income. However, for members serving in a combat zone (any area the President of the United States designates by Executive Order as an area in which the U.S. Armed Forces are engaging or have engaged in combat), portions or all of the allowance may be exempt from federal and state taxes under the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion (CZTE).

*In a memorandum dated October 8, 2001, the Deputy Secretary of Defense indefinitely suspended the accumulation of deployment days for purposes of determining eligibility for high-deployment allowance due to national security issues.