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Special Duty Assignment Pay

If you are an enlisted member who is performing duties which have been designated as extremely difficult or involving an unusual degree of responsibility in a military skill, you may be entitled to Special Duty Assignment Pay (SDAP).

The following table reflects the most recent SDAP monthly rates:

What Military Specialties Qualify For Special Duty Assignment Pay?

Some of the qualifying military specialties include:

• Nuclear Trained Sailors
• Special Operations Forces
• Production Recruiter
• White House Communications Agency
• Defense Threat Reduction Agency
• Defense Courier Operations
• Senior Enlisted Advisor to the JCS

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Special Duty Assignment Pay

If you are an enlisted member who is entitled to basic pay and are performing duties which have been designated as extremely difficult or involving an unusual degree of responsibility in a military skill, you may, in addition to other pay or allowances to which you are entitled, be paid special duty assignment pay. Examples of these jobs include parachuting instructors, fuel specialists and combat controllers.

The following table reflects the most recent DOD changes to SDAP:

Eligibility Requirements Enlisted members serving in pay grade E-3 or higher are eligible for Special Duty Assignment Pay. Officers/Warrant Officers are not eligible for Special Duty Assignment Pay. Eligibility is contingent on meeting the basic requirements and those provided by specific service regulations. Special Duty Assignment Pay replaces Proficiency Pay; therefore, only one or the other may be paid to a member for a given period.

• Enlisted members of the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force are authorized to receive SDAP when on a second or subsequent enlisted term of service; and first term person who is serving in an enlistment, an enlistment is extended, or an extension of an enlistment that will total 6 or more years of service.
• Enlisted members of the Navy are authorized SDAP when on second or subsequent terms of active duty enlisted service and first term personnel who are serving in an enlistment, an enlistment as extended, or an extension of enlistment that will total 7 or more years of active service.
• Enlisted members of the Reserve Components must be assigned to a duty position characterized by extremely demanding duties or duties demanding an unusual degree of responsibility. Appropriate authorities must annually review the enlisted member’s eligibility to receive either proficiency pay or special duty assignment pay.

Rates Payable Special Duty Assignment Pay is broken into six pay rates ranging from $55.00 to $375.00 per month. Each military branch assigns those rates to specific duty specialties and assignments.

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Assignment Incentive Pay (AIP)

Assignment Incentive Military Pay is the military's preferred way to compensate troops from all services. Assignment Incentive Military Pay is often paid to service members for unusual assignment circumstances.

Those service members who have involuntarily extended their tours in Iraq and Kuwait combat zones receive an additional $200 in hardship duty pay and another $800 in assignment incentive pay for a total of an extra $1000 a month. Those service members in certain skills who have served 12 months Iraq and Afghanistan and volunteer to agree to extend their tours receive this assignment incentive military pay.

They receive additional pay for extensions including $900 per month for a 12 month extension, $600 a month for a 6 month extension and $300 a month for a three month extension. Service members with critical intelligence skills will receive up to $1000 a month for each month's extension. Service members in other areas such as South Korea may also receive Assignment Incentive Military Pay for extensions of their tours.

The Assignment Incentive Military Pay Program has become extremely popular and is the military's preferred way to compensate troops from all of the services for certain unusual and extended assignments. The pay cap was increased to $3000 a month Assignment Incentive Military Pay is taxable unless in a combat zone.

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Marine combat instructors can avoid recruiting or drill instructor duty

The Marine Corps has made the combat instructor job a special duty assignment once more, effectively allowing those instructors to sidestep the sometimes-dreaded recruiter or drill instructor jobs .

Each year, a portion of Marine noncommissioned officers are given special duty assignments, which take them out of their regular jobs for a few years to perform other duties on behalf of the Corps. Now, the combat instructor job, which entails training Marines in combat skills, counts as a special duty assignment.

“It’s an extremely rewarding duty because you actually get to affect and to teach the warfighting skills that all Marines learn through the entry-level training pipeline, and it’s really critical for the operational readiness of the force,” Gunnery Sgt. Tyler Stokes , the enlisted assignments monitor for the combat instructor community, said in a video the Marine Corps recently posted to LinkedIn.

Marines get plucked from their regular jobs and placed into special duty assignments through the annual Headquarters Marine Corps Special Duty Assignment Screening Team screening process, often called HSST for short.

The Marine Corps itself said in an administrative message in 2023, “A successful SDA tour is a hallmark of a competitive Marine and makes him or her exceptionally qualified for promotion.”

The other special duty assignments are recruiter, drill instructor and Marine security guard detachment commander. Before a rule change that was announced in 2017, combat instructor and Marine security guard watchstander also counted as special duty assignments.

After that change, those two jobs became Type 1 screenable billets, a category that also includes Marine Corps security forces guards, staff noncommissioned officer academy faculty advisors and curriculum developers, and Marine special operators, among others, according to Marine spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Eason.

“Designation as a Special Duty Assignment increases the staffing priority of this duty, ensuring maximum fill of available billets,” Eason said of the recent redesignation of the combat instructor role via email May 3.

A 2019 analysis by the Marine Corps of the impact of special duty assignments — which at the time didn’t include combat instructor — on Marines’ lives found they were correlated with better promotion chances but also with higher rates of divorce, addiction and suicide attempts.

“Due to increased responsibilities and duties outside of one’s normal occupational field, SDA tours are often viewed as a Marine’s most stressful noncombat tour,” the analysis stated.

Now that being a combat instructor is a special duty assignment again, Marines who complete that role won’t end up on future HSST lists, according to Eason.

For the next special duty assignment season, fiscal year 2026, combat instructor may be an option for Marines who end up on the list “but will be subject to availability after the volunteer period,” Eason said.

“Unlike other SDAs, there are a limited number of Combat Instructor billets open to any primary military occupational specialty, and these routinely fill with volunteers,” the spokeswoman added. “The preponderance of Combat Instructor billets requires an infantry primary (military occupational specialty), so Marines in this field will likely be able to request Combat Instructor duty during the HSST.”

As a special duty assignment, the combat instructor role will come with incentives that include easier promotions and choice over a next duty station, according to Eason. Combat instructors will continue to receive special pay.

A plan to make the combat instructor job a special duty assignment again has been in the works since at least 2021, as the Corps planned to lengthen the infantry course from nine to 14 weeks, creating a demand for more instructors. Training Command did not respond by time of publication to a Marine Corps Times question about the current length of the course.

Irene Loewenson is a staff reporter for Marine Corps Times. She joined Military Times as an editorial fellow in August 2022. She is a graduate of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.

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Watchdog blasts VA for errors leading to $11M in improper bonuses

A key Republican lawmaker accused Veterans Affairs leaders of knowingly misusing nearly $11 million in incentive pay awards to benefit senior department officials instead of retaining in-demand staff following the release of a critical report by a federal watchdog on Thursday.

The controversy stems from erroneous bonuses doled out to senior executives last summer and fall as part of the $117 million Critical Skill Incentive Payments program authorized by Congress. Money from that fund has been given to more than 13,000 staffers with high-demand skills in an effort to keep them in VA hospitals and benefits offices.

Last September, VA leaders acknowledged that about $11 million was given to 182 senior VA leaders who should not have qualified for the bonuses. In a statement, a department spokesman said investigators found no legal wrongdoing in the matter and attributed the improper payments to administrative mistakes.

However, a VA inspector general report into the errors released Thursday blamed the errors on “breakdowns in leadership and controls at multiple levels of VA,” including insufficient communication about bonus plans from Veterans Health Administration leaders and poor oversight by the department’s legal team.

VA to recoup nearly $10 million in mistaken bonuses to senior staffers

The money was designed to help retain employees with in-demand skills but was awarded improperly to 170 senior officials..

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost , R-Ill., called those findings disturbing.

“During oversight visits across the country, we have consistently heard from VA police officers, medical supply technicians, housekeepers, and other VA staff about the need for VA to better retain quality employees,” he said in a statement.

“Instead of using all of the critical skill incentives to do this, VA inappropriately used the money to line the pockets of VA executives to the detriment of VA’s workforce and the veterans they serve.”

Bost promised a full investigation into the matter by his committee, saying the evidence so far indicates that the errors were “not some type of administrative mistake.”

The inspector general report specifically singled out leaders in the Veterans Health Administration and Veterans Benefits Administration, but not VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who did not learn about the improper payments until last September.

In a statement to the inspector general’s office, McDonough agreed with recommendations to strengthen incentive pay administration within the department and said he hopes those reforms can be implemented by the end of September.

But he also pushed back on assertions of malfeasance by other department leaders, calling the mistakes issues of “timing, miscommunication, and inadvertence.”

In a statement Thursday, VA press secertary Terrence Hayes noted that “as soon as VA identified this error, we immediately cancelled and began recoupment for all payments made to career senior executives at VA headquarters. We also began instituting additional reviews and stronger controls for all CSIs awarded to all career senior executives, paused all awards ... and referred the matter to VA’s inspector general.”

He also said that officials will “continue to work to ensure that everyone who receives a [bonus] meets the criteria to do so.”

VA officials have already announced plans to recoup all of the improper bonus payments. Investigators said they do not have a full accounting of those efforts yet, but noted the pullback of the money “negatively affected employee morale” and led to the early retirement of at least three senior officials.

Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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