Military pay reference
Military Pay Guides
Practical explanations for the questions that arise after you know the scheduled payday and published rate.
How to Read Your Military LES
A practical guide to the military Leave and Earnings Statement: entitlements, deductions, allotments, taxes, leave and remarks.
Read guide →Military Pay Not Deposited: What to Check
A step-by-step checklist for a missing military pay deposit, from early-pay expectations to DFAS and finance-office escalation.
Read guide →How to Change Military Direct Deposit in myPay
Safely change the bank account used for military direct deposit and reduce the risk of a rejected payment.
Read guide →Mid-Month vs. End-of-Month Military Pay
Understand what the 15th and first-of-month military payments cover and why an end-of-month payment can arrive in the following month.
Read guide →When Will I Get My First Military Paycheck?
What affects the timing and amount of a first active-duty military paycheck, including accession processing, partial pay periods and missing documents.
Read guide →When Does Military Promotion Pay Start?
How effective dates, personnel updates, pay-system cutoffs and retroactive adjustments affect the first paycheck after promotion.
Read guide →Military Pay Changes During a PCS
A PCS pay checklist covering BAH location changes, travel entitlements, advances, temporary lodging and common LES adjustments.
Read guide →Military Pay Overpayment and Debt: What to Do
How to respond when an LES shows a military pay debt or an unexpected overpayment, without making the problem harder to resolve.
Read guide →How Military Pay Is Taxed
A plain-language guide to taxable basic pay, generally excluded allowances, state withholding and combat-zone tax treatment.
Read guide →Military Pay Allotments Explained
Understand discretionary and non-discretionary military allotments, where they appear on an LES and how changes affect net pay.
Read guide →How Reserve Drill Pay Works
How drill periods convert monthly basic pay into reserve compensation and why a drill weekend is commonly described as four drills.
Read guide →Military Early Direct Deposit Explained
Why military pay can arrive early at some banks, what “up to two days early” means and how to budget around the official payday.
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