Military personnel who were deployed in 2006 were eligible to receive various special pays, which are listed below.⁽¹⁾ Generally, such pays are earned on a month-to-month basis: A service member who spends any part of a month—even less than a day—in a designated area is entitled to pay for that month.

• Assignment Incentive Pay. All of the military services use this pay (which is capped at $3,000 per month) to compensate for unusual assignments. Members with certain skills who had been deployed for more than 12 months in Iraq or Afghanistan last year and who agreed to extend their tours received as much as $1,000 per month in assignment incentive pay, depending on their skills and the length of their extension.
  
  
• Imminent-Danger Pay or Hostile-Fire Pay. Service members could receive $225 per month in imminent-danger pay in 2006 by being in an area that was officially designated as dangerous. Alternatively, members who unexpectedly came under hostile fire in a foreign country could receive hostile-fire pay (also $225 per month). The same person could not receive both types of pay, however.
  
  
• Family-Separation Allowance. This allowance, intended to compensate members with dependents who serve away from their families for at least 30 days in a row, was $250 per month in 2006.
  
  
• Hardship-Duty Pay—Location. Enlisted personnel or officers serving for at least 30 days in an arduous area qualify for this pay, which can vary from $50 to $150 per month depending on the area. Service in Iraq or Afghanistan qualified for $100 per month last year (in addition to $225 in imminent-danger pay, for a total of $325 per month). Service members whose tours in the Iraq theater were involuntarily extended beyond 12 months received an additional $800 a month in assignment incentive pay and $200 a month in hardship-duty pay.
  
  
• Hardship-Duty Pay—Mission. This type of special pay is earned by personnel who perform crash-site investigations or who recover the remains of U.S. service members in remote foreign locations. In 2006, it was $150 per month. (Individuals may be eligible to earn both location-based and mission-based hardship-duty pay at the same time.)
  
  
• Overseas Tour Extension. Enlisted members who extended their overseas tour for at least 12 months in 2006 could choose from additional monthly pay ($80 per month), a lump-sum cash payment (up to $2,000, though not offered by the Navy), or extra rest-and-recuperation leave.
  
  
• Savings Deposit Program. Personnel who were deployed to the Iraq or Afghanistan theaters in 2006 could participate in this program, which allowed them to receive 10 percent interest on deposits of up to $10,000 earned in those theaters. The deposit amount and accrued interest was generally returned to a member within 90 days after he or she left the region.
  
  
• Career Sea Pay. Designed to compensate for the challenges of sea duty, this pay may be earned by any service member, although it is primarily paid to people in the Navy. Last year, sea pay for enlisted personnel ranged from $50 to $646 a month. Officers are not eligible for sea pay until they have spent a total of at least three years (which need not be consecutive) on shipboard assignments.
  
  
• Sea-Pay Premium. Enlisted sailors in grades E-4 and below who had been on sea duty for more than three consecutive years earned an extra $100 per month in addition to their career sea pay in 2006. (That premium amount is built into career sea pay for people in higher enlisted pay grades.) Officers could also receive the $100 per month premium any time they served more than three consecutive years at sea.
  
  
• Combat Zone Tax Benefits. Enlisted members and warrant officers serving in a designated combat zone in 2006 could exclude all their income from federal income tax. That exclusion included basic pay and some types of special pays, such as assignment incentive pay, imminent-danger pay, hardship-duty pay, and sea pay. Commissioned officers could exclude part of their income, but the exclusion is capped at the highest enlisted pay less any imminent-danger or hostile-fire pay received.
  
  
• Submarine Duty. Enlisted members and officers who serve on board submarines receive this pay in addition to sea pay. Last year, submarine pay ranged from $75 to $425 per month for enlisted personnel (depending on pay grade and years of service), from $425 to $835 a month for officers, and from $375 to $425 per month for warrant officers.