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Commissioned Officer Pay Raise (Percentage)

Congress has passed the Fiscal Year 2004 Military Authorization Act (H.R. 1588) and the President has signed it into law. Among other things, the act includes the base pay raise for Fiscal Year 2004.

As with the past five years, the Congress have elected to "target" the pay raise. That means that mid-level officers and mid-level NCOs will receive a larger percentage raise than other paygrades. The average payraise is 4.1 percent with some members receiving as little as 3.7 percent, and others receiving as much as 6.25 percent.

Under language in the current legislation, the payraise will be effective on 1 January 2004, which means military members should see the raise in their January 15th (2004) paychecks.

The below chart shows monthly base pay. A military member may be entitled to other pays, such as a housing allowance (if authorized to live off base), or a monthly food allowance (if authorized to consume meals outside of the chow halls). Unless serving in a designated combat zone, base pay is taxable (federal income tax, social security tax, medicare tax, state income tax, etc). Some states do not tax military pay.

Active duty military members are paid twice per month, on the 1st and the 15th of each month. If "payday" falls on a weekend or holiday, they are paid on the duty day preceeding the weekend or holiday. For example, if the 15th of the month falls on Sunday, the member would be paid on Friday. Because the below chart shows MONTHLY pay, the member would receive 1/2 of this on each payday.

FY 2004 Military base pay is based upon grade (rank) and years of service:

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS WITH OVER 4 YEARS ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE AS AN ENLISTED MEMBER OR WARRANT OFFICER