Pay, pay raises, pay allowances, pay charts - Air Force Times

Hardship Duty Pay

There are two types of hardship-duty pay: HDP-L for serving in a hardship location, and HDP-M for serving on special hardship missions.

HDP-L

This is for enlisted personnel and officers serving in areas located in 150 countries the defense secretary deems arduous. Members who serve 30 or more days in a designated hardship area get $50, $100 or $150 per month, depending on the area.

The danger level of the deployment factors into hardship-duty pay. For that reason, locations such as Afghanistan or Iraq, which qualify for both hardship-duty and imminent-danger pay, are rated at $100 per month for HDP-L. Thus, service members can draw up to $325 per month in a location that qualifies for both imminent-danger and hardship-duty pay.

HDP-M

This is for troops assigned to, on temporary duty to or under operational control of the Joint Task Force Full Accounting or the Central Identification Lab Hawaii. The rate is $150 a month to perform investigations and excavations of crash sites to recover remains of U.S. service members in remote areas of nations such as Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and North Korea.

Troops assigned to the task force could qualify for HDP-L and HDP-M, earning a maximum of $300 per month if they spend 30 or more days in Laos, Vietnam or North Korea.

Iraq and beyond

In a special situation, the Defense Department has authorized an additional $200 in hardship-duty pay — for a total of $300 — for troops involuntarily spending more than 12 months of continuous duty in the Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones. By law, the Pentagon can pay no more than $750 per month in hardship-duty pay.

Hardship-duty pay is taxable unless received in a designated combat zone.