Senators Seek Hardship Pay for Hurricane Ops

Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., have written to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging him to authorize hardship-duty pay for troops assigned to recovery operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “As you know, hardship-duty pay is awarded to service members performing particularly difficult missions, such as the recovery of remains,” they wrote. Hardship-duty pay eligibility normally requires assignment to a designated hardship location for more than 30 days. Designating the location — now complicated by the advent of Hurricane Rita — could exclude service members who operate within the location for 30 days or less. DoD could, however, designate Katrina — and perhaps Rita — recovery operations as specific hardship missions, which would avoid tying the pay to location or a number of days. As of press time, Rumsfeld had not responded to the senators’ letter.