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By Wesley Landrum
50th Public Affairs Detachment
The policy, known as the Assignment Incentive Pay program, applies to Soldiers who are extended past their scheduled 12-month deployment. The incentive is also payable to Soldiers who volunteer to extend beyond their year-long tour.
The AIP is not just an Army program either. The Navy, Air Force and Marines all have different forms of AIP.
"Effective June 15, all Soldiers, active duty, reserve component and Army National Guard that are involuntarily extended, exceeding their 12 months 'boots on ground' date, will receive $1,000 for each month they are extended," said Staff Sgt. Tamisha B. Patterson, 13th Finance Group. Assignment Incentive Military Pay is the military's preferred way to compensate troops from all services, according to the web site www.militaryconnection.com.
The site says those service members involuntarily extended in Iraq and Kuwait receive an additional $200 in hardship duty pay and another $800 in assignment incentive pay for a total of $1,000.
Soldiers in certain skills who have served 12 months and volunteer to extend their tours receive this assignment incentive military pay as well.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized the tour extensions on April 15, 2004. He said the extension period would be for up to three months in Iraq, plus, Soldiers would be in the Third Army/U.S. Army Central Area of Operations an extra month before going home.
"This is the Department of the Army's way of providing for Soldiers in the identified units who were promised 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 Army first used Assignment Incentive Pay in Iraq in February 2004 when more than 1,500 Soldiers from 12 units were required to stay in Iraq longer than their expected 12-month rotation. To compensate them, the Army offered the $200 hardship duty pay and either the $800 AIP 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. Not one Soldier opted for the guaranteed stabilization.
In order to receive the $800 AIP, Soldiers must sign a personnel action form recognizing that their extension was involuntary.
"Under new guidelines, the DA Form 4187 must be signed by the first field grade officer in the Soldiers's chain of command," Patterson said. "This will happen once the extended unit receives orders stating they have been extended."
"The signature is necessary because, by law, AIP must be based on a written agreement between the secretary of the Army and the Soldier," said Deborah Holman, a senior compensation analyst for the Army's G-1.
The AIP will also 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 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.
Service members with questions regarding the AIP should contact their G-1 or S-1.
| Date Taken: | 08.21.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.21.2007 03:51 |
| Story ID: | 11907 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 268 |
| Downloads: | 133 |
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