Deployment compensation

I got my first LES (Leave and Earnings Statement) for the deployment today. It came with a few extras over last month.

First is the 1.4% increase in base pay; though not much (~$50 a month), it was 1.4% more than the raises I've gotten at other places. Second is the $225 "imminent danger pay," which I get for spending at least one day in a dangerous place.

Third is hardship pay, which would be $100 a month for Kandahar, but was prorated for the time I've been in country. I was thinking I'd get the maximum $150 because Kuwait rates $100. I'm surprised they get the same amount as others in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Fourth is the fact I'm not paying any income taxes -- neither state (it's a Texas thing), nor federal, due to the combat zone tax exclusion. As an officer, about the first $7000 per month of income is excluded from taxation. If they include my student loan repayments and otherwise non-taxed things like BAH and BAS, I'll be cutting it close. I'm not sure how that's going to work out.

Last is the social security holiday, which reduces the withholding from 6.2% to 4.2% for this year. For me, it couldn't have come at a better time -- because my income's not taxed, I get to enjoy the full 2 reduction, which I can then put into the Army's Savings Deposit Program. The SDP is like a bank account, but it returns a guaranteed 10 percent. Good deal there.

Next month I'll start getting Family Separation Allowance, which is another $250 a month. Although I'm not sure how it'll be prorated, it looks like it will work out to be a 20% increase in take home pay compared with December.

So I've got some extra money. All I have to do now is not blow it.