An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | May 7, 2010

Army Guard continues search for those eligible for earned pay

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill and Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., - Thousands of Army National Guard Soldiers, including those who have retired or separated, have till Oct. 28 to apply for Post Deployment Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) compensation for serving long, overseas deployments.

“We’ve got about 14,000 eligible Soldiers,” said Army Col. Dennis Chapman, chief of Personnel and Policy for the Army National Guard. “About two-thirds of those are still in service, and we’ve got packets submitted for about 87 percent of the Soldiers that are still in service.”

There are about 5,000 former Guard Soldiers that are eligible for the benefit, said Chapman, adding that packets have been received for about 20 percent of those no longer serving.

“So, the real challenge is reaching those out of service,” he said.

The Department of Defense developed PDMRA for servicemembers who were deployed longer than established dwell ratios. For reserve component servicemembers that dwell ratio is one year deployed for every five years at home station.

“If you have a tour ending today, you look back 72 months and if you were (mobilized) for more than 12 months out of that 72 months, you may be eligible for PDMRA days,” said Chapman.

Initially, PDMRA allowed Soldiers to earn additional administrative leave days for the additional time spent deployed. However, Soldiers must be in a Title 10 status to use those leave days. That meant that once Army Guard Soldiers returned to Title 32 status, they were ineligible to use those days, said Chapman.

As a stop gap measure the policy was revised and allowed eligible Soldiers to apply those leave days to their next deployment. But for those who left the service or don’t deploy again, that effectively meant they couldn’t take advantage of the benefit, said Chapman.

“Congress passed a law in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, authorizing the services to pay Soldiers at a rate of up to $200 a day for any PDMRA days they earned … but were not able to take,” said Chapman.

Primarily, those who may have earned days under the program, but were not able to use them, are those Guard Soldiers serving on active duty between the signing of the initial policy on Jan. 19, 2007, and when implementation guidelines were published by the Army on Aug. 18, 2007, said Chapman.

However, other laws and policies may affect a Soldier’s eligibility.

Typically, a Guard Soldier who serves longer than 12 months during the most recent 72 months gets one PDMRA day for each additional month or fraction of a month. The number of PDMRA days awarded increases after 18 months and again after 24 months served. 
On average, those who are eligible receive credit for about 28 days, which translates to more than $5,000, said Chapman. And those who feel they may be eligible are urged to contact their unit leadership or their state military pay officer.

“A Soldier cannot figure this out themselves,” he said. “All they can figure out is that they might be due. So, if you fall under the parameters, it may be good to check with the military pay officer in your state.”

 

 

Related Articles
Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, Maj. Gen. Russel Honore, Task Force Katrina commander, and Brig. Gen. John Basilica, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team commander, talk to news media during the aftermath of Hurricane Rita on Sep. 29, 2005. Basilica was appointed commander of Task Force Pelican, responsible for coordinating National Guard hurricane response efforts across the State. The task force included tens of thousands of National Guard Soldiers from Louisiana and other states.
Louisiana Guard’s Tiger Brigade Marks 20th Anniversary of Redeployment and Hurricane Response
By Rhett Breerwood, | Aug. 29, 2025
NEW ORLEANS – This fall, the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, known as the Tiger Brigade, commemorates the 20th anniversary of its redeployment from Iraq in September 2005, coinciding with the...

Alaska Air National Guard HH-60G Pave Hawk aviators and Guardian Angels, assigned to the 210th and 212th Rescue Squadrons, respectively, conduct a hoist rescue demonstration while participating in a multi-agency hoist symposium at Bryant Army Airfield on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 22, 2025. The symposium, hosted by Alaska Army National Guard aviators assigned to Golf Company, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, included U.S. Coast Guard crews assigned to Sector Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic out of Air Stations Kodiak and Sitka, Alaska Air National Guardsmen with the 176th Wing rescue squadrons, U.S. Army aviators from Fort Wainwright’s 1-52nd General Support Aviation Battalion, Alaska State Troopers, and civilian search and rescue professional volunteers from the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group. The collaborative training drew on the participants’ varied backgrounds, experiences, and practices, to enhance hoist proficiency and collective readiness when conducting life-saving search and rescue missions in Alaska’s vast and austere terrain. (Alaska Army National Guard photo by Alejandro Peña)
Alaska Air Guard Conducts Multiple Hoist Rescues of Stranded Rafters on Kichatna River
By Staff Sgt. Seth LaCount, | Aug. 29, 2025
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Alaska Air National Guard members with the 176th Wing rescued three rafters Aug. 28 after their raft flipped over on the Kichatna River.The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center opened...

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Brian Searcy, the Command Chief Warrant Officer of the Army National Guard, addresses attendees of a warrant officer caucus session during the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) conference in Milwaukee, August 24, 2025. The 147th NGAUS General Conference and Exhibition – which is held annually to connect delegates from all 54 states and territories to discuss the future of the National Guard – took place August 21-25 and featured various events and social gatherings throughout Milwaukee to showcase Wisconsin’s rich history and heritage.
Searcy Leaves Legacy of Advocacy for Warrant Officers in Army Guard
By Lt. Col. Carla Raisler, | Aug. 28, 2025
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Chief Warrant Officer 5 Brian Searcy, the eighth command chief warrant officer of the Army National Guard, will retire later this year after more than three decades of service.Searcy marked the occasion this...