A provision in the fiscal 2005 DoD authorization act authorizes troops with orders to combat
duty for at least one year, or assignments extended to at least a year, to request advance pay
of up to three months of their basic pay. To be eligible, a service member must be assigned to
duty in a location that qualifies for hostile-fire or imminent-danger pay. One month will be
granted automatically, while a second or third month will depend upon financial hardship.
Although the Defense Department has not yet formulated regulations to effect the changes,
officials say that military finance offices have procedures in place to meet requests for
advance pay. The money is essentially an interest-free loan with repayment to be made in 12
equal monthly installments. If a service member dies before repaying the money, the survivors
are not responsible for any balance owed.