Pay & Basic Allowances
This allowance is provided to service members to offset the cost of their meals.
What is Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS)?
This document serves as the legal authorization for a member and their family to travel to a new duty station.
What are PCS Orders?
This is the standard daily entitlement intended to cover a member's lodging, meals, and incidental expenses while traveling on official orders.
What is Per Diem?
This uncharged absence is granted by a commander for medical recovery following an illness, injury, or childbirth.
What is Convalescent Leave?
If an active duty service member gets married, this specific allowance is immediately updated to the "With Dependents" rate.
What is BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing)?
This allowance is calculated based on a member's geographic location, pay grade, and dependency status.
What is Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH)?
This one-time payment is designed to help members offset the miscellaneous expenses associated with moving a household.
What is Dislocation Allowance (DLA)?
A service member must submit this document within 5 working days of returning from TDY to claim their travel entitlements.
What is a Travel Voucher?
This leave status is utilized when a service member must travel quickly due to a severe family crisis, such as the death or critical illness of an immediate family member.
What is Emergency Leave?
When a member enters a combat zone, their gross basic pay becomes entirely exempt from this type of deduction.
What are Federal Income Taxes? (Combat Zone Tax Exclusion / CZTE)
This specific pay is triggered when a member is separated from their dependents for more than 30 consecutive days due to military orders.
What is Family Separation Allowance (FSA)?
When a member moves their own household goods instead of using a government-contracted mover, it is known by this acronym
What is a PPM (Personally Procured Move) or DITY move?
This rate is applied to a member's per diem when government dining facilities (a chow hall/DFAC) are available and utilized at the TDY location.
What is the Government Meal Rate (or Proportional Meal Rate)?
This type of uncharged absence (often up to 20 or 30 days) is frequently granted to members retiring or separating to help them hunt for a house or job.
What is PTDY (Permissive TDY) / Transition Absence?
f a member is hospitalized, or placed in a field training environment where all meals are provided by the government for over 30 continuous days, this entitlement may be stopped or deducted.
What is BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistence)?
This type of BAH is paid to members who are residing in government quarters (like the barracks) and have no dependents.
What is BAH Partial?
This status describes the timeframe when a member has officially departed their old unit but has not yet arrived at the new one.
What is "In Transit"?
This is the DoD's required monetary threshold where a traveler must provide a valid receipt to claim an expense on their voucher.
What is $75 or more?
If a member is missing from their appointed place of duty for more than 24 hours without an approved leave request, their status is changed to this, which halts their entitlements.
What is AWOL (Absent Without Leave)?
When a member is on Terminal Leave, they continue to receive their basic pay and these two main allowances until their official separation date.
What are BAH and BAS?
This non-taxable allowance is paid to members assigned to high-cost areas within the United States to equalize purchasing power.
What is CONUS COLA?
This allowance helps cover the cost of temporary lodging and meals while a member is searching for a permanent home at a new CONUS location.
What is Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE)?
An absence on a travel day is not charged as regular leave if the member is actively traveling between their duty station and a temporary location under these.
What are official TDY orders?
This entitlement protects members from the standard "use or lose" 60-day rule, allowing them to carry over extra leave due to operational deployments or specific mission constraints.
What is Special Leave Accrual (SLA)?
If a dual-military couple (with no other dependents) is stationed together, they are both entitled to receive BAH at this rate.
What is the "Without Dependents" (or Single) rate?