Longer tours, more pay in Korea now official - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Longer tours, more pay in Korea now official

Longer tours with family members in South Korea, and the incentive dollars that go with most of them, are now a reality.

The Pentagon approved the changes to the Joint Federal Travel Regulation on March 2 and put out an internal news release, but U.S. Forces Korea did not publicly announce them until April 7.

The new policy allows for 24- or 36-month accompanied duty tours at Pyeongtaek, Osan, Daegu, Chinhae and Seoul, and 24-month accompanied tours at Dongducheon and Uijeongbu.

Any Army or Air Force service member on one of the three-year tours will receive $300 monthly incentive pay from arrival in Korea until departure.

Those accepting a two-year accompanied tour in Dongducheon and Uijeongbu also will receive the incentive pay, but only if their family members live with them in Area I — generally, the area north of Seoul.

The tour options aim to build more continuity of service by steering troops toward longer tours in an increasingly Westernized country that an in-service poll has shown is less desirable than other long-tour overseas locations where troops can bring their families, officials say.

More online

Read the release

Gen. Walter Sharp’s discussion of the changes