pay tables & budgeting while deployed

[live4christp1]

Okay. I know where to find the current pay tables but we are trying to lay out a budget for when DH is deployed and how much we want to go straight into the savings plan. We have never been through this before and none of it makes sense to me. Can someone please explain. DH is Army National Guard.

I think it will be similar to when he was active duty for BCT & AIT. Not sure how to figure the daily or weekly pay rate.

Thanks!
Cristy

 

[jsmith]

you will get paid the 1st and the 15th of the month-except when those days fall on a Saturday or a federal holiday-then it will be the last business day before hand.
pays you will recieve-Basic Pay-found on the pay tables for ACTIVE duty-for his pay grade and years of service
BAH-to find out what the ammount for this is google basic allowance for housing-it will bring up a link to a calculator-enter your zipcode and his pay grade-you will recieve the with dependants rate
you will also recieve Basic allowance for susistance-this amount can befound on google-its a fixed abmout per pay grade
Additionally-once he has been gone from home to mob station for 30 days you will recieve 250 dollars a month family seperation allowance.
Once his ID card is scanned into theater the day he arrives you begin recieving 100 dollars a month hazardous duty pay, 150 dollars a month immenant danger pay and in some locations and some MOS's 100 dollars a month SAVE pay.
All these are divided between the two pay checks. Once he is boots on the ground in theater you will also recieve rebate of all the federal and state tax with held in the pervious month on the 1st of the month check-if they hit the ground late in the month it might take two months for this to kick in-but you will get it all back. SGLI premiums are withheld from the 15ths check -debt payments if you owe the army money for any reason are with held equally from both.
I highly advocate using the combat savings plan-it pays 10 percent interest-you can begin depositing the first day in theater and can deposit up to 10K-the money can stay in the account until 90days after the solder leaves theater-thats important because its 90 days after they leave theater not 90 days after REFRAD.
If you have other questions shoot me a pm-i might be a bit slow but i will answer.
Also i suggest you investigate the discussion boards at military.com-there is a section there for military spouses and under spouse connection a specific board for reserve and national guard spouses. I moderate there but it is a completely military community and a great place to get these questions answered.

 

[live4christp1]

Thanks. I've been to that website before.....don't know why I've never noticed the discussion boards. Will have to checkit out.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

I just wanted to add that after dh had been in Iraq our tax return the next year was insane! It was 3K more than we normally get back. Just something to think about.

 

[Silent1CB]

I'm just entering the stage of these questions too & know its too early to ask, so glad to see this thread.

DH is full time & part time National Guard. He's been doing lots of training with the unit he's going with during the week, and he's been using up military leave and now starting on using up his vacation time from full time. I don't understand all this yet, as to who is paying him for what time and for where, but all I know is that some of the weeks have been less than what he normally makes at his full time NG job. Grrrrr.

He said we need to sit down this week & make sure he has enough time left to use to cover his training and an upcoming vacation. He makes more at full time job than he does on part time side.

I sure hope he doesn't end up making less over there than he does at home where its safer. This keeps up & I'm going to have to visit the budget board.

 

[jsmith]

what kind of full time National Guard is he-AGR (title 32 active duty) or Federal technician? It sounds from what you are saying like he is a Federal tech rather than AGR-i say this because if he were AGR he would not need to take vacation from his current job for training unless he were going to deploy with a unit from another state. I might be better able to give you an Idea of what his pay will look like if i knew which type of job he had-and pay grade. do you currently get basic allowance for housing-and use tri-care as your health insurance? if you do he is AGR-if not-he is a federal technician. You should not see him make less money deployed than he does at home-unless he is GS with a high paygrade and a lower military rank.

 

[Silent1CB]

jsmith, thank you. I'll PM you shortly once I get him to answer me. Don't want to post details here.

My above post may have been somewhat inaccurate. He wasn't explaining part of it to me correctly. My fault for not pressing until it made more sense logically.


ETA: I've followed the math in your above post & googled the pays & used online calculator. I still think he's going to be making less money when deployed. Hoping you'll tell me differently in PM. Hoping that maybe after deductions, it ends up being higher take home though? Medical? Taxes?

 

[wtccheermom]

what kind of full time National Guard is he-AGR (title 32 active duty) or Federal technician? It sounds from what you are saying like he is a Federal tech rather than AGR-i say this because if he were AGR he would not need to take vacation from his current job for training unless he were going to deploy with a unit from another state. I might be better able to give you an Idea of what his pay will look like if i knew which type of job he had-and pay grade. do you currently get basic allowance for housing-and use tri-care as your health insurance? if you do he is AGR-if not-he is a federal technician. You should not see him make less money deployed than he does at home-unless he is GS with a high paygrade and a lower military rank.

Sorry to go off topic but I have to know what you think the Best Hometown in the Army is? We are an Army family also and love to hear about other families favorite post and why.

 

[jsmith]

Sorry to go off topic but I have to know what you think the Best Hometown in the Army is? We are an Army family also and love to hear about other families favorite post and why.

Its not what I think-or actually it is-Im at Ft Carson, Colorado-that slogan is like "the Great Place" at Ft Hood-When you come thru the Main Gate there is a large sign that says Welcome to the Best Hometown in the Army-and the gate Guards will say Welcome home some times ( its not as strictly enforced as it is at ft hooe where i am told they are fired for failing to say "Welcome to the Great Place.) I do love Carson tho-its really beautiful here and Colorado Springs is definately a military community. My husband is actually a National Gaurd Soldier-we are here because i work for one of the contract companies doing IT work supporting digital training.

 

[Silent1CB]

Its not what I think-or actually it is-Im at Ft Carson, Colorado-that slogan is like "the Great Place" at Ft Hood-When you come thru the Main Gate there is a large sign that says Welcome to the Best Hometown in the Army-and the gate Guards will say Welcome home some times ( its not as strictly enforced as it is at ft hooe where i am told they are fired for failing to say "Welcome to the Great Place.) I do love Carson tho-its really beautiful here and Colorado Springs is definately a military community. My husband is actually a National Gaurd Soldier-we are here because i work for one of the contract companies doing IT work supporting digital training.

Now that's funny. DH has been to Colorado Springs for IT training. It would be funny if you had crossed paths. Thanks again for your help by PM. You sure know your stuff!!!!

 

[wtccheermom]

Its not what I think-or actually it is-Im at Ft Carson, Colorado-that slogan is like "the Great Place" at Ft Hood-When you come thru the Main Gate there is a large sign that says Welcome to the Best Hometown in the Army-and the gate Guards will say Welcome home some times ( its not as strictly enforced as it is at ft hooe where i am told they are fired for failing to say "Welcome to the Great Place.) I do love Carson tho-its really beautiful here and Colorado Springs is definately a military community. My husband is actually a National Gaurd Soldier-we are here because i work for one of the contract companies doing IT work supporting digital training.

They really say "Welcome Home" that’s like pulling into the gates at a Disney Resort!!!! I have never been to Fort Carson but I heard it is really beautiful. We have always wanted to live out west and got our wish and husband got stationed at Fort Bliss which was not what we expected. It is a friendly city but I do not like desert living so I was glad when we moved back to America: laughing: JJ.

 

[Silent1CB]

Thought of another question budgeting related. I've read of being careful not to do too much online shopping while deployed. Shopping sprees for electronics, large unnessacary purchases. blah blah blah. I'm not too worried about that.

But what I want to know is what kind of expenses do they have while there? I'm expecting some expenses for things like internet if he can get it. I'm expecting he'll be on a base. What is provided to them in terms of food & beverages? Just 3 squares a day? I expect he'll have to be buying toiletries, snacks, cigarettes, coffee & beverages & whatever on base. My DH can have a way of going through money on the smallest things that really add up. lol

 

[jsmith]

You well be astonished at what they can find to spend money on in a third world country Especially with internet access. My husband has an E-bay habit that is just frightening. How we handled that was to set up a seperate account for him to use-his own debit card (yea the px takes them) and so on -he got an allowance of 300 a month for things in the PX and online-if he wanted to spend more he had to call and talk to me about it. He did get an extra 40 a month for prepaid minutes on his local cellphone-and i kept an AT and T card charged for him to use to call home-or his parents-that applied for the first two deployments-on the third one goverment paid for his cell as it was required that he be on call 24/7 and he had DSN phone access on his end and i have a DSN phone at my job so we did not need calling cards. What ever the amount-agree on it before he goes and hold him to it. You can usually save alot of money during deployments-but not if they go insane-lol.
WTCCheermom-i laughed at your 'moving back to America" My husband just graduated from SMA-we did it non resident thank goodness-but i went to Ft Bliss for his graduation-i soooooooooooo get what you mean.

 

[Silent1CB]

You well be astonished at what they can find to spend money on in a third world country Especially with internet access. My husband has an E-bay habit that is just frightening. How we handled that was to set up a seperate account for him to use-his own debit card (yea the px takes them) and so on -he got an allowance of 300 a month for things in the PX and online-if he wanted to spend more he had to call and talk to me about it. He did get an extra 40 a month for prepaid minutes on his local cellphone-and i kept an AT and T card charged for him to use to call home-or his parents-that applied for the first two deployments-on the third one goverment paid for his cell as it was required that he be on call 24/7 and he had DSN phone access on his end and i have a DSN phone at my job so we did not need calling cards. What ever the amount-agree on it before he goes and hold him to it. You can usually save alot of money during deployments-but not if they go insane-lol.
WTCCheermom-i laughed at your 'moving back to America" My husband just graduated from SMA-we did it non resident thank goodness-but i went to Ft Bliss for his graduation-i soooooooooooo get what you mean.

good tips. Sounds like debit card would work for us too.

 

[live4christp1]

Hey lots of great info here! We have been looking into the Droid phone. We have verizon and they advertise that you can use it anywhere in the world for skype. Not even sure if he will be able to take his personal cell phone. If that's an option anyone have thoughts on using the Droid for skype. We already have the unlimited data plan.

 

[Silent1CB]

Hey lots of great info here! We have been looking into the Droid phone. We have verizon and they advertise that you can use it anywhere in the world for skype. Not even sure if he will be able to take his personal cell phone. If that's an option anyone have thoughts on using the Droid for skype. We already have the unlimited data plan.

DH has a rugged laptop & blackberry provided to him by the military due to full time job. Its still too early for us to know if he'll still be in possession of those or not & if they'll be going with him. I sure hope they are.

If not, I have an old laptop that already did a tour in Iraq with its previous owner. Complete with sand in it. It would be perfect to send with him. Its just old and slow. Should check to see if it can handle Skype though.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Internet is a big expense when deployed. I mean $100+ unless someone can find others to break down the cost with. Lucky my husband is signal and has access to phones and internet on a regular basis.

Internet access also depends on where the soldier is. Things are drawing down some in Iraq and alot of bases are being downgraded with the goodies and things are sparse in Afghanastain in alot of the regions.

Think hard about electronics overseas. Things get ruined and EVERYTHING will get sand in it. I don't care if its in a ziploc bag, a tupperware container, or never even opened it will get sand in it. My husband's white IPOD is a very nice sand brown stain and his portable dvd player still leaks sand from the bottom and it was always in his CHU.

My husband also used his debit card or his STAR card and I think last deployment used his Eagle card(maybe that's what it was called) but he had his own account with specific amount in it each month. I kept a fully charged phone card on him so he could use a payphone if need be.

Don't forget that you can put money into a TSP or a retirement account for the duration of a deployment and it's all tax exempt upon withdrawl. Also don't forget about the SDP, Savings Deposit Program.

If someone can swing putting extra money in it each month, you can earn 10% interest on the duration of your deployment and then 90 days after returning to put it in another account. It's great if your pay is about the same from the regular job to the deployment pay because we would just put the federal tax money straight into this account since we weren't used to it in our check anyways.


One last thing from me, don't forget your Power of Attorney. You need a general POA at least and some of your individual financial institutions will require their specific POA and I always think keep a POA for getting DEERS(ID) card in case you loose yours.

If someone has children, make sure you have a plan IN WRITING for the children should something like a car accident happen and the children need to go somewhere else. In alot of states if there is nothing IN WRITING, the state will take custody of the children until the next of kin or a parent can get to the children.

Sorry I busted in but I've been teaching alot of Guard families the last few weeks and I feel so bad they really don't know alot of this. Good luck to ya'll.

 

[Silent1CB]

The POAs & wills have been done for years. Lots of experience with that in past field of work. Might be worth making sure all is up-to-date though.

We TSP now on full-time side, so I guess that needs to get changed to come from part-time (active duty) side. Thanks. Adding to list.

I already knew about the sand in electronics thanks to my used cheap laptop. Told him he could take the oldest iPod that we have with a ZAGG InvisiShield screen protector on it.

He just told me he definitely will have his work laptop. But not Blackberry since it won't work anyway. Won't get him a phone.

He's communications, so surrounded by computers, radios, & phones. He'll be getting internet even though its slow. And others there & already back have suggested using Magic Jack, so he's looking into that. Along with Skype. Might as well do a phone card too.

He was just assigned to this unit recently to fill a slot they needed for deployment. Haven't had any contact yet with any wives. Its not even very close to where we live. No bases here. Don't know how much support there is for families. When should they start informing us of all the types of questions I've been asking? I know I'm early on some of this, but I just feel its been up to us to think of stuff so far on our own. Luckily, he's HQ & knows many there & back already.

 

[jsmith]

DO DONT get sucked in by that-the DROID will not work in the middle east or central asia-Verizon has two phones that are quad band GSM that will work in those areas-the Blackberry 8530 that does data and internet-and the escapade that does voice and text only. Data plans for the 8530 are 69.99 a month( it is a seperate plan from the unlimited US data plan you have ) and calls run about 1.99 a minute. And some commanders do not allow soldiers to have personal cell phones because of either the distraction factor or the danger of detonating IEDs.
If you are going to get a phone that wil work in those countries you need to purchase an un locked GSM phone and a sim card for that country-or a roaming sim card.--sim card in the local country will be cheap on that end and expensive on your end-roaming sim card might allow you to call a us number will be in excess of 1.50 a minute to call and 60 to 90 dollars a month for data plans. Best options are to use a computer for chat or skype-keeping in mind that iraq and afghanistan are are third world countries and communication is going to be sketchy no matter what you do. Magic Jack has never worked particularly well for where ever Mike was at-just so you know.
IF you must spend the obscene amount of money that a GSM phone will cost you -for your own piece of mind-you will need to go to T-mobile or At and t and specifiy that you need quad band GSM.
To Tinas point about POA's- they do expires so if you have had one for a while check it-and be prepared for the fact tha a good many NG JAG attornerys will refuse to do them-i was told resoundingly that there was no valid reason for me to have one and that they were discouraged from giving Generals because of the number of soldiers whos wives or POA holder had cleaned them out-i could have a specific for ID cards or taxes but not a General. We simply went to JAG on the post i work on and got one-but you may encounter resistance.

 

[My sister's princess]

DO DONT get sucked in by that-the DROID will not work in the middle east or central asia-Verizon has two phones that are quad band GSM that will work in those areas-the Blackberry 8530 that does data and internet-and the escapade that does voice and text only. Data plans for the 8530 are 69.99 a month( it is a seperate plan from the unlimited US data plan you have ) and calls run about 1.99 a minute. And some commanders do not allow soldiers to have personal cell phones because of either the distraction factor or the danger of detonating IEDs.
If you are going to get a phone that wil work in those countries you need to purchase an un locked GSM phone and a sim card for that country-or a roaming sim card.--sim card in the local country will be cheap on that end and expensive on your end-roaming sim card might allow you to call a us number will be in excess of 1.50 a minute to call and 60 to 90 dollars a month for data plans. Best options are to use a computer for chat or skype-keeping in mind that iraq and afghanistan are are third world countries and communication is going to be sketchy no matter what you do. Magic Jack has never worked particularly well for where ever Mike was at-just so you know.
IF you must spend the obscene amount of money that a GSM phone will cost you -for your own piece of mind-you will need to go to T-mobile or At and t and specifiy that you need quad band GSM.
To Tinas point about POA's- they do expires so if you have had one for a while check it-and be prepared for the fact tha a good many NG JAG attornerys will refuse to do them-i was told resoundingly that there was no valid reason for me to have one and that they were discouraged from giving Generals because of the number of soldiers whos wives or POA holder had cleaned them out-i could have a specific for ID cards or taxes but not a General. We simply went to JAG on the post i work on and got one-but you may encounter resistance.

We met some resistance with the POA. One person gave DH the wrong paper work, and another, asked him over and over if he was sure. DH ended up driving about an hour each way to find someone who would do a general one without giving us a big fuss.