Tuesday, April 13, 2004
The US Navy Strikes Back! And a Question...
Geez, guys--I have a little irreverent fun at Jesus' expense and give advice to Satan and it doesn't bother anybody. But the minute I mention Navy incentive pays my hotmail account turns to Flame Wars III.
Go figure.
Anyway, yet another sailor takes umbrage with my reference to them mint-julep-sipping swabbies on them Nimitz-class aircraft carriers:
No one on a submarine is reading it while sipping lemonade in
an internet café, trust me on that one. Many of the things I've done at in
my 12 years at sea onboard submarines I think of as routine but could be
considered "imminent danger" by any definition. The O-2 you described may
have quite a few carrier take-off and landings under his belt and returned
from dodging SAMs in a no-fly-zone. A discussion about the compensation
differences between with Armed services could have been done without the
condescension.
Yeah, I didn't mention submarines, since that's its own thing--there's nothing in the Army that's really comparable to submarine duty.
Nevertheless, using my own rank as the point of comparison, an O-2 on a submarine collects $325 a month incentive pay. An E-4 with four years in might collect much less than that--maybe $95 dollars, depending on accrued sea time. So Navy personnel are compensated to an extent for the risks and hardships of submarine duty.
A carrier pilot with my time in commissioned service would collect $650/month flight pay, if all his time were in aviation service. This in addition to $225/ month hostile fire pay, if he actually were "dodging SAMs." Then there's 'hazardous duty incentive pay,' which for Navy personnel is a minimum of $150/ month, for non crew-members, and up to $250 for a crew-member, non-AWAC.
I see nothing in navy regs which prohibits concurrent receipt of anything except career sea pay and hardship duty pay, which is yet another category of special incentive pays, separate from hazardous duty and imminent danger pay.
Further, the Navy authorizes "command at sea pay" to officers in command billets between the ranks of O-3 and O-6.
There is no comparable kicker for, say, an Army infantry company or battalion commander in Fallujah.
So, let's see... If I were dodging SAMs as a carrier pilot instead of RPGs and IEDs as an infantry officer, then I'd be collecting up to $1285/month extra, in various hazardous duty incentive pays, as compared to the $225/month I got in hostile fire pay.
(And before you say that the surface-to-air missile is a totally different level of threat, bear in mind my infantry battalion did lose one soldier--an attached truck driver from the 603rd Transportation Company killed by a SAM in a helicopter over Fallujah in January. His name was Craig Davis.)
Using an E-4 with 5 years service as a proxy for enlisted rates: a carrier deck crew member with two years' sea time serving in the Persian Gulf collects $525 in incentive pay. ($150 in hazardous duty pay, $225 in hostile fire pay, and $160 in career sea pay. Stop me if I'm screwing this up.)
The same E-4 with five years' service in my infantry unit collects $225 hazardous duty pay for crashing doors in Fallujah.
My point is NOT to belittle the Navy. My point is simply to point out some issues of interservice pay equity.
Should a carrier deck crewman be collecting more than TWICE the incentive pay as a combat infantryman?
Splash, out,
Jason
References: http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil/bup_updt/upd_CD/BUPERS/MILPERS/MILPERSMAN%20%207220%20-%20MILITARY%20PAY.PDF (The Navy Pay stuff is way at the bottom)
http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/2004paytable.pdf
Go figure.
Anyway, yet another sailor takes umbrage with my reference to them mint-julep-sipping swabbies on them Nimitz-class aircraft carriers:
No one on a submarine is reading it while sipping lemonade in
an internet café, trust me on that one. Many of the things I've done at in
my 12 years at sea onboard submarines I think of as routine but could be
considered "imminent danger" by any definition. The O-2 you described may
have quite a few carrier take-off and landings under his belt and returned
from dodging SAMs in a no-fly-zone. A discussion about the compensation
differences between with Armed services could have been done without the
condescension.
Yeah, I didn't mention submarines, since that's its own thing--there's nothing in the Army that's really comparable to submarine duty.
Nevertheless, using my own rank as the point of comparison, an O-2 on a submarine collects $325 a month incentive pay. An E-4 with four years in might collect much less than that--maybe $95 dollars, depending on accrued sea time. So Navy personnel are compensated to an extent for the risks and hardships of submarine duty.
A carrier pilot with my time in commissioned service would collect $650/month flight pay, if all his time were in aviation service. This in addition to $225/ month hostile fire pay, if he actually were "dodging SAMs." Then there's 'hazardous duty incentive pay,' which for Navy personnel is a minimum of $150/ month, for non crew-members, and up to $250 for a crew-member, non-AWAC.
I see nothing in navy regs which prohibits concurrent receipt of anything except career sea pay and hardship duty pay, which is yet another category of special incentive pays, separate from hazardous duty and imminent danger pay.
Further, the Navy authorizes "command at sea pay" to officers in command billets between the ranks of O-3 and O-6.
There is no comparable kicker for, say, an Army infantry company or battalion commander in Fallujah.
So, let's see... If I were dodging SAMs as a carrier pilot instead of RPGs and IEDs as an infantry officer, then I'd be collecting up to $1285/month extra, in various hazardous duty incentive pays, as compared to the $225/month I got in hostile fire pay.
(And before you say that the surface-to-air missile is a totally different level of threat, bear in mind my infantry battalion did lose one soldier--an attached truck driver from the 603rd Transportation Company killed by a SAM in a helicopter over Fallujah in January. His name was Craig Davis.)
Using an E-4 with 5 years service as a proxy for enlisted rates: a carrier deck crew member with two years' sea time serving in the Persian Gulf collects $525 in incentive pay. ($150 in hazardous duty pay, $225 in hostile fire pay, and $160 in career sea pay. Stop me if I'm screwing this up.)
The same E-4 with five years' service in my infantry unit collects $225 hazardous duty pay for crashing doors in Fallujah.
My point is NOT to belittle the Navy. My point is simply to point out some issues of interservice pay equity.
Should a carrier deck crewman be collecting more than TWICE the incentive pay as a combat infantryman?
Splash, out,
Jason
References: http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil/bup_updt/upd_CD/BUPERS/MILPERS/MILPERSMAN%20%207220%20-%20MILITARY%20PAY.PDF (The Navy Pay stuff is way at the bottom)
http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/2004paytable.pdf
Comments:
Post a Comment
