With the Iran conflict now in its seventh month, the Pentagon has enacted an increase in hostile fire and imminent danger pay for all troops. It’s the first bump in these monthly stipends since 2002, officials said Thursday as they announced the change.
A memo from Assistant Secretary of War for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Timothy Dill increases hostile fire pay to $450 per month from its previous top rate of $250, and imminent danger pay to $275 monthly, or $9.16 per day, up from the prior cap of $225 or $7.50 per day.
The memo, released by the Pentagon, is dated July 14, but sets the change to take effect Thursday with the start of the new fiscal year.
It cites a Department of War Instruction updated in 2024 that gives the assistant secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs the authority to determine hazard pay amounts.
The Marine Corps had already announced earlier in September that it was updating its pay caps to the amounts set in the memo, but did not describe the move as a military-wide change.
“Those who face combat deserve higher compensation that reflects the risks that they willingly undertake on behalf of our nation,” Anthony J. Tata, undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness, said in a statement. “Raising imminent danger and hostile fire pays for the first time in two decades is a step toward recognizing that sacrifice.”
Hostile fire pay and imminent danger pay are mutually exclusive.
According to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, hostile fire pay is permitted for troops who meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Subjected to hostile fire or explosion of a hostile mine
- On duty in an area in close proximity to a hostile fire incident and the member is in danger of being exposed to the same dangers actually experienced by other service members subjected to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines
- Killed, injured or wounded by hostile fire, explosion of a hostile mine or any other hostile action
Imminent danger pay is authorized on a geographic basis according to a list maintained by DFAS. Last updated in May, the list includes 58 locations, ranging from Afghanistan to Yemen. Iran, the oldest location on the list, has been designated an imminent danger location since 1979; it’s also one of 19 regions newly designated in February as dangerous with the start of Operation Epic Fury.
“If an [Imminent Danger Pay]-designated area escalates into active combat, commanders can transition personnel from IDP to [Hostile Fire Pay] immediately,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a separate statement Thursday. “This provides a clear and timely mechanism to acknowledge heightened risk levels.”
The memo also noted that the changes include a decrease from $150 to $100 monthly in hardship duty pay-location, another pay governed by a separate list of regions — in order to keep from exceeding set maximums.
The Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request in May contained indicators that the services were seeking to increase hazardous fire and danger pays for troops, though officials at the time said a decision had not been made about doing so. Officials noted in announcing the change that, even at the old pay rates, service members rarely got the maximum allowed.
“Before the last increase in hazardous pay in 2002, pay rates varied by qualifying duty and the service member’s rank/pay grade — typically ranging from $100 to $240 per month,” officials said in a release. The new increases, they added, “are designed to appropriately compensate Service members for the varying levels of operational risk they face while serving the United States around the world.”
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