thedrifter
02-21-07, 07:49 PM
Conway: More cash for extended deployments
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 21, 2007 16:41:23 EST
Marines will get $250 for each month they spend deployed past the standard seven-month rotation as soon as the service can “get that signature in place,” according to the commandant.
“We don’t have the stamp of approval yet, but we’re working hard because we’d like to have it apply to those people that are being extended as we speak,” Commandant Gen. James Conway said during a Feb. 16 meeting with reporters.
Under Defense Department policy, anyone deployed to a combat zone for more than one year will receive an extra $1,000 in his monthly check. That bonus easily applies to soldiers, who deploy for yearlong combat tours and rate the cash if they stay longer than planned. But Marines typically go on seven-month tours and can be extended for five months before rating an extra cent. There are other Marines, such as those who deploy with headquarters units, who are locked into yearlong war tours.
“What we’re advocating is that there should also be some stipend there for people who serve seven months — $250 a month would be what we put against those folks that have deployed something less than a year. That would be our service policy.”
Early last month, the Corps announced that two infantry battalions — 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, and 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines — would be extended in Iraq for 90 days and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit would stay 45 days longer than initially expected.
In addition to its headquarters element, the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based MEU comprises Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines; Combat Logistics Battalion 15; and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165
Ellie
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 21, 2007 16:41:23 EST
Marines will get $250 for each month they spend deployed past the standard seven-month rotation as soon as the service can “get that signature in place,” according to the commandant.
“We don’t have the stamp of approval yet, but we’re working hard because we’d like to have it apply to those people that are being extended as we speak,” Commandant Gen. James Conway said during a Feb. 16 meeting with reporters.
Under Defense Department policy, anyone deployed to a combat zone for more than one year will receive an extra $1,000 in his monthly check. That bonus easily applies to soldiers, who deploy for yearlong combat tours and rate the cash if they stay longer than planned. But Marines typically go on seven-month tours and can be extended for five months before rating an extra cent. There are other Marines, such as those who deploy with headquarters units, who are locked into yearlong war tours.
“What we’re advocating is that there should also be some stipend there for people who serve seven months — $250 a month would be what we put against those folks that have deployed something less than a year. That would be our service policy.”
Early last month, the Corps announced that two infantry battalions — 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, and 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines — would be extended in Iraq for 90 days and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit would stay 45 days longer than initially expected.
In addition to its headquarters element, the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based MEU comprises Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines; Combat Logistics Battalion 15; and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165
Ellie