The Defense Finance and Accounting Service plans to phase in
the “Forward Compatible Payroll” beginning in March. DFAS
expects the FCP to end problems service members have
encountered from the present “Defense Joint Military Pay
System,” which is actually two barely compatible systems
for active duty and reserve component troops. The reserve
system has been unable to handle pay efficiently for the
thousands of reservists who have been mobilized because it
was designed only to pay members for weekend drills and two
weeks’ annual active duty. The Army Reserve and National
Guard are scheduled to convert to FCP in March, followed by
the active duty Army in July, the Air Force and Air Force
Reserve in November and the Department of the Navy in March
2006. The FCP also will include a more understandable Leave
and Earnings Statement.