Why is officer bas less than enlisted

Should these items disappear without a replacement, such as the aforementioned locality allowance, then military families would see a huge impact to their monthly budgets that could have a directly negative impact on both retention rates and on the communities surrounding military bases.

If you find that this change in entitlement amounts will negatively affect your family, make sure to contact a MilitaryByOwner partner who specializes in helping military families with real estate options. BAS serves to provide servicemembers with a monthly allotment for food that they can purchase at any location they choose. BAS is included in the monthly direct deposit amount that each Servicemembers receives, and though it is delineated on the monthly Leave and Earnings Statement LES as the specified amount for food, servicemembers can choose to spend the money however they wish.

Unlike with BAH, the BAS does not change regardless of whether an individual has dependents or not; the only difference in BAH rates is between enlisted and officers, with the former receiving a slightly higher monthly amount.

The average annual increase has varied widely over the past few years from a high of 7. Only an act of Congress can make any change to these entitlements, which makes the prospect of a replacement of both with a locality allowance that much more interesting.

Given that the past year has shown that Congress finds financial planning rather challenging, expecting them to intervene and pass legislation over such a significant budgetary item for the DoD would seems humorous, if not for the fact that the long-term planning of military families and those who rent to military families rests in their hands.

With so little in the way of stability for most military families, the two tax free compensation benefits have offered at least the security of knowing that they will always have a sufficient amount allotted for food and shelter.

Updated annually, BAH rates remain directly tied to the actual costs that servicemembers have for renting housing according to the rank and dependent status. An O-3 with dependents, for example, receives an amount that should comfortably cover the average rent payment for a three bedroom townhouses; whereas, an O-4 with dependents receives an amount that should cover the rent for a three bedroom single family home. As of , all service members receive a Basic Allowance for Subsistence to pay for their meals per the U.

Special and Incentive pays are ways to earn over and above your basic rate or allowances, regardless of your time in the service or pay grade. They help the Department of Defense ensure that the right people are where they need to be to keep the country safe.

Your take-home pay will be impacted by automatic deductions for things like taxes and Thrift Savings Plan contributions. The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of non-U. Drill pay for a specific period may cover one to multiple drills.

All service members are paid based on their paygrades and total time in service. The time counts as active duty, as well as active reserve and inactive reserve time. Members of the Retired Reserve also accrue longevity pay increases. The only difference between pay for National Guard and other reserve component members is the number of days they serve for their annual active-duty training period — Guard members do 15 days of training; reservists, 14 days. Benefit formula.

To calculate how much drill pay is earned for a given month, divide monthly base pay by 30 to establish the daily rate of pay. Multiply the daily rate by the number of drill periods served that month. That is the gross monthly pay before taxes and other withholdings. To see the current basic pay and drill pay charts, visit www. BAH is the modern version of a military program dating from under which service members are provided government quarters or a cash substitute when quarters are unavailable.