Pay Grades in Military Actions

Factual Questions
1

This is going to sound like a strange question, but my husband and I are having a hard time agreeing.

When our military troops are involved in an acutal “war” (formally declared against another country by the US) versus fighting in a “police action” (Korea, Vietnam, etc,) do the pay grades differ? I had always assumed “combat pay” was given in either situation - he says it doesn’t.

If our country doesn’t issue a formal declaration of war against another country, do our vets, even if they are fighting in that conflict because we’re allies, basically get screwed?

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks. And sorrry for the serious subject - been a long day.

2

Here’s the areas they’re receiving combat pay in, formal declaration of war or not:

2011 Combat Zones

Afghanistan land and airspace
Algeria land
Azerbaijan land
Bahrain land and airspace
Djibouti land
East Timor land
Egypt land
Eritrea land
Ethiopia land
Greece land (within 20k radius from center of Athens)
Haiti land
Indonesia land
Iran land
Iraq land and airspace
Israel land
Ivory Coast land
Jordan land
Kenya land
Kosovo land and airspace
Kuwait land and airspace
Kyrgystan land
Lebanon land
Liberia land
Malaysia land
Montenegro land and airspace
Oman land
Pakistan land
Phillipines land
Qatar land and airspace
Rwanda land
Saudi Arabia land and airspace
Serbia land and airspace
Somolia land and airspace
Sudan land and airspace
Syria land
Tajikistan land
Turkey land
Uganda land
United Arab Emirates land
Uzbekistan land
Yemen land
Arabian Sea north of 10 deg north lat, west of 68 deg east long.
Gulf of Aden sea
Gulf of Oman sea
Persian Gulf sea and airspace
Somalia Basin sea

3

The pay you speak of is basically always the same - combat pay.

The information below comes from Military Pay and Allowances and is specific to the US Navy, but similar language and benefits apply to all US military service members.

4

Pay grade refers to your pay rate per rank. Is the same regardless of rank. And as noted it does not have to be during a formally declared war.

5

There are other forms of bonus pay as well. I got flight pay, which amounted to about $100 or maybe a little more per month, 20 years ago.

6

Your list is incomplete and inaccurate. I’m guessing you pulled this from about.military.com
Please do not use that source for any military information. Rod Powers is wrong more often than he is right, and he refuses to ever print a retraction or correction. IIRC, he served like 4 years in the Air Force and somehow got a job as the resident “expert” on all things military over at about.com.

Anyway, the complete list from the official source can be found here:
http://comptroller.defense.gov/fmr/07a/07a_10.pdf

And to answer the OP: As others have stated. Formal declarations of war are not required to receive Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay.

7

Thank you all very, very much. I appreciate it!

8

How do they justify that list? Bahrain, Indonesia and the Philippines are combat zones? Ok Indonesia and the Philippines have some remote areas that have some danger zones but most of those countries are pretty damn safe.

Bahrain? Its about as safe as you can get. Is that not just “posted overseas away from family” bonus pay?

9

Just guessing, but in the case of Indonesia and the Philippines, AFAIK no regular US units are assigned there, only some Special Forces advisers helping the national government fight insurgent domestic guerrilla elements. Since those SF guys are in the line of fire and often in combat, this may be the reason for it. As far as Bahrain goes, this may be to cover naval forces in the area that are combating piracy in the regional waters.