Every month, military service members receive a Leave and Earnings Statement (LES). Raleigh has done a great job of reviewing LES basics in this article, How To Read A Military LES. It's an epic post! And because it is so epic, there wasn't really room to include what all those Entitlements, Deductions, and Allotments abbreviations actually mean. In fact, it is so much that I'm not even going to try to cover it in one post. So, today you get Entitlements. The Entitlements section of your LES contains everything that the military is paying you, both pays and allowances. I'll do Deductions and Allotments within the net few days.
The Big Three of Pays and Allowances
The most common pay and allowances are BASE PAY, BAS, and BAH.
BASE PAY
BASE PAY is pretty simple - this is the basic monthly pay that you receive based upon your rank and time in service.
BAS
BAS stands for Basic Allowance for Subsistence. This is the monthly allowance that is given for feeding the military member. Historically, military members were provided with room and board (a place to stay and food) as part of their military service. As the military evolved, more and more military members began to be authorized to eat outside of the dining facilities, and BAS was developed to compensate for this expense. Now, all members who are not in the initial training pipelines receive BAS, though those who are expected to eat in a dining facility or on board a ship will be charged for those means, often through a meal deduction.
BAH
BAH stands for Basic Allowance for Housing, though it is also used for Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA) and Utility/Recurring Maintenance Allowance (they get lumped together into one dollar amount.) This is either:
- if stationed in the United Stations, the BAH for your location and rank,
- if stationed overseas, or the actual rental costs, up to the OHA limit for your location and rank, plus the Utility/Recurring Maintenance Allowance based upon your location and rank.
If you live in the barracks, or in certain government owned quarters that are not public-private venture (PPV), you may not receive BAH. Those who live in PPV housing typically receive BAH, and have it deducted again the deductions section.
Other Pays and Allowances
There is a huge list of less common, rare, and truly odd special pays and allowances. I'm not going to write about them all here, as this post would be 10 times as long as it already is. If you have one of these pays or allowances on your LES, and you are not sure what it is for, you can do a quick internet search by using the actual name listed below.
AB = Accession bonus
ACIP = Aviation Career Incentive Pay
ACP = Aviation Continuation Pay
AIP = Assignment Incentive Pay
ASP = Additional Special Pay
BAQ = Basic Allowance for Quarters
BCP = Board Certified Pay Special Pay
CCA = Civilian Clothing Allowance
BRA = Basic Replacement Allowance
Continuation Pay
CCCA = Continuing Civilian Clothing Allowance
CCRA = Cash Clothing Replacement Allowance
CEFIP = Career Enlisted Flyer Incentive Pay
CIP = Combat-related Injury & Rehabilitation
CMA = Clothing Maintenance Allowance or Clothing Allowance
COLA = Cost of Living Allowance
CONUS COLA = Continental U.S. Cost of Living Allowance
Combat Duty
Combat Zone Pay
CRA = Clothing Replacement Allowance
CSP = Career Sea Pay
CSP-P = Career Sea Pay – Premium
CSRB = Critical Skills Retention Bonus
CVI = Conditional Voluntary Indefinite Status
DLA = Dislocation Allowance
Dive Pay
DSCT = Meal Discount Meal
FDP = Foreign Duty Pay
FLPB = Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus
Flight or Fly Pay
FSA = Family Separation Allowance
FSH = Family Separation Housing
FSSA = Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance
HALO = High Altitude/Low Altitude
HDIP = Hazardous Duty Incentive Pay
HDP – Involuntary Extension =Hardship Duty Pay – Involuntary Extension
HDP – L =Hardship Duty Pay - Location
HDP – M =Hardship Duty Pay – Mission
HFP/IDP = Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay
HFP-L = Hostile Fire Pay - Location
HZD = Hazardous Duty Pay
ICCA= Initial Civilian Clothing Allowance
IDP = Imminent Danger Pay (can also mean Independent Duty Corpsman)
ISP = Incentive Special Pay
Jump Pay
LQA Living Quarters Allowance
Maternity Clothing Allowance
MIHA – Miscellaneous = Moving Housing Allowance - Miscellaneous
MIHA – Rent = Moving Housing Allowance – Rent
MIHA – Security Moving = Housing Allowance - Security
MRB = Multiyear Retention Bonus
MSP = Multiyear Special Pay
NIB = Nuclear Career Annual Incentive Bonus
NPAB = Nuclear Power Accession Bonus
Nuclear – Continuation Pay
OEP = Overseas Extension Pay
OHA = Overseas Housing Allowance
OCONUS COLA= Outside Continental United States Cost of Living Allowance
OTEIP = Army Overseas Tour Extension Incentive Pay
OVERSEAS COLA = Overseas Cost of Living Allowance
Overseas Extension Pay
PCCA = Partial Civilian Clothing Allowance
RBMA = Reserve Basic Maintenance Allowance
SBP = Military Survivor Benefits Plan
SAVE PAY = used for a variety of different pays
Special Duty Assignment Pay
SDIP = Submarine Duty Incentive Pay
Sea Pay
SEA = Subsistence Expense Allowance
SEB = Selective Enlistment Bonus
SepRats = Separation Rations
SMA = Standard or Separate Maintenance Allowance
Special Duty Pay
Specialty Pay
SPO = Split Payment Option
SR = Separation Rations
SRA = Standard Replacement Allowance
SRB = Selective Reenlistment Bonus
Standard Initial Clothing Allowance
Submarine Pay Submarine Pay
SUPP CMA = Enlisted Supplemental Clothing Allowance
TDYCCA = Temporary Duty Civilian Clothing Allowance
TLE CONUS = Temporary Lodging Expense in US
TLA = Temporary Living Allowance
TLA OCONUS = Temporary Lodging Allowance Outside US
TQSA = Temporary Quarters Subsistence Allowance
VI = Voluntary Indefinite Status
VBSS = Duty Maritime Visit, Board, Search & Seizure Duty
VSP = Variable Special Pay
As you can see, this is quite a list. If you have a pay not listed, I'd love to hear about it!
See the next post on this subject, Understanding LES Deductions.
