Should we really get BAH and BAS if we are deployed?

@SP6 Michael Primm "By SP6 Michael Primm about 7 hours ago:
Those entitlements are for your family not you."

An interesting statement, wrong on it's face, yet, a position the Army at least agrees with at times... let me explain.

At its base, BAH and BAS is authorized to the service member... both those with and without family. Yes there is an increased amount based on family,,, yet still the moneys are not per say, for the family.

Yet, should a service member voluntarily or or by order , be removed from the home.. Army Regulation 608–99, Personal Affairs Family Support, Child Custody, and Paternity comes into pay.. and now that same service member who receives BAH and BAS is not obligated to provide some it it to the spouse (BTW Im not advocating a servicemember should NOT be providing for their spouse and children, not at all)

(from Paragraph 1-5-b):
Soldiers are required to manage their personal affairs in a manner that does not bring discredit upon themselves or the U. S. Army. This responsibility includes—
(1) Maintaining reasonable contact with family members so that their financial needs and welfare do not become official matters of concern for the Army (see para 2–1).
(2) Conducting themselves in an honorable manner with regard to parental commitments and responsibilities (see chap 2).
(3) Providing adequate financial support to family members (see paras 2–3 through 2–9)

To answer the OPs question directly .
Yes the service member should be allowed to retain BAH. The service authorized other than government furnished housing,, they should not rescind that authorization upon deployment orders.

BAS.. like it or not, that funding is to provide from the servicemembers substance.. period. Yes that money bundled with other is used collectively to feed the family, but that is a decision of the service member.. If the service is providing sustenance directly (food while deployed or in training) then there is no "right" for BAS, even though budgetary wise there may be a need on the servicemembers part. My only want for this is a standard established, and service members informed, counseled, and acknowledge the loss of BAS well in advance of the benefit being stopped. The patchwork of enforcement is difficult for junior service members to deal with in many cases

Well said rite from the REG shuts them down others just dont get it

Agreed at:SGM Erik Marquez]

I had to look these up to find out what they stood for but my feeling for a long time has been that BAH should be a servicemen's right whether deployed or not. It was in my day but that was 45 years ago and an E-1 was getting $125 a month so you just about had to have it.
BAS I think you should be getting if you have a family. Whether you're at home or deployed you still have them to support. Your meals shelter, etc. of course should be covered whenever you're deployed but perhaps not in the States. The Armed Forces are paid almost 10 times what we were paid back in the '70s.
Medical, dental and the like I will always contend that they should be a part of what you are accorded as a member of the Service. I understand that these have to paid for nowadays and I heartily disagree with that policy.
I'm assuming I got the right definition for the acronyms but feel free to correct me if it doesn't look as if I haven't. A lot of what we were accorded has changed since I wore a uniform.

1SG (Join to see), can you cite a reg? Yes Single SM's in the barrack/dorms would not get BAH while deployed simply because they don't get BAH to begin with. But a single SM that does not have government quarters would still get BAH while deployed. They CAN use their TDY orders to break lease, but are not required to.

Not entirely true. .. I received BAH as an E4 due to base overcrowding. I didn't have a choice.

The Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), known prior to 1 Oct 14 as the Joint Federal Travel Regulations, Vol. 1 (JFTR), cover the rules for BAH in Chapter 10. They are needlessly complicated, currently at 106 pages. There are cultural differences between the services on housing as with many things. In the Air Force, it is more common than other services to have insufficient housing on base for junior enlisted personnel. 1SG (Join to see) cites an example of single E-6 and below being required to live in government quarters. I was forced off base as an E-3 with just 17 months service. Anyone who is receiving BAH for living off the installation should continue to receive BAH while deployed, since that is a temporary situation and one needs to maintain their residence. The rules are different if you are TDY instead of deployed. TDY of over 180 days is actually considered a PCS, and per diem is curtailed.

As with everything else in the finance world, there are plenty of exceptions, and the possibility for some waivers. Your actual mileage may vary....

1SG (Join to see) - I think you will find that most post restrict CNA's of E5's and below, E6 and above can live on the Economy. Deployment does not cancel your BAH as long as your original base is listed as your PCS location.

Then dont sign the contract

SSgt (Join to see) - more easily said than done, SSgt, especially for the services not named USMC. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to be on deployment with someone whose focus is not on the mission because he's worried about his family's financial situation. If BAH/BAS scratches that itch, then it's a small price to pay

The army pays huge bonuses for most of these soldiers to come back pay millions to private weapon contractors while putting soldiers on the side. This makes a lot of soldiers not want to re-up. The reason why you don't see them coming back of this bullshit the army pulls off, taking benefits away using their broad so called rules, this happened with education benefits for part time soldiers where they were going to take it out entirely by bending broad term rules and now this.

Most of the young ones make more back at home and they can't survive and support themselves making ends meet back home.

You are losing out on good soldiers.

SSgt (Join to see) - That’s a little narrow minded yes? I’m in the National Guard and still have a family back home to house whilst deployed. Should they just be put out on the street? As mentioned above, the allowance is for the family...not the SM.

PO1 (Join to see) BOOM! Yes BAS is only for you not for your family. That is the hard truth!

I never bought any food while in Kuwait/Iraq, maybe a snack or two. It didn't matter to me what the mess hall served, I ate it or MREs. After a while Burger King opened at BIAP, but I never went. As my Dad told me many years ago, "Why by the cow, when you can get the milk for free." I've been places and times when I had nothing to eat, so as long as I had to use the TP the next day, it was fine with me.

I still regret buying food from Iraqis. I was worried it mutated my dna and my daughter might be born with six toes on each foot.

I got BAS in Iraq with no defendants. Never really understood it, but I'm not upset about the extra pay.

SMSgt (Join to see) then why get separation pay?

LTC (Join to see), family sep pay is to offset the additional cost of running two households due to military orders.

LTC (Join to see) Separation pay is just to offset the cost of two households. Obviously BAH is to cover the housing cost for you dependents.

CW3 (Join to see) reservists also do not earn BAH or BAS normally.

When we're called to active duty, we do.

CW3 (Join to see), they only get them if their orders are for more than 30 CONSECUTIVE days. When I was in the guard and on orders for pre-mobe training which was 30 days we were given TWO sets of orders. The first set was for the first 15 days and the second set was for the last 15 days just to keep from paying BAH.

I'm aware of that, but the question of this thread is about getting BAH/BAS while deployed...so by definition that is more than 30 consecutive days.

Which is why they require us to prove we lease or own homes. We can't just be single and below E-5 and live on base. If you live on base you don't get it so with that said why are the Regulations being questioned? Is it because some of our members own their homes and don't pay anything monthly and they don't get BAH so they make the same as an E-5 with children and house? If so I can see an issue. But that's a pay raise issue. Bah is payed the way it should be. Sure some get by by their wives going to live with mom and dad and they don't pay mortgages but if you own or lease your house you can't just break a lease and change your kids school so your wife can move home.

Cpt Brian Maurelli I have to say your wrong here this doesn't fuel the tops wife thinking she's the leader. Leaders marry leaders. The tops wife normally is just as successful as he is. The BAH isn't rewarding the family. Do you think an E-4 can afford to keep his family fed while deployed making the base pay for his rank and time? If not for BAH I would have only made 25,000 a year. The military doesn't pay near enough. But to say our spouses don't deserve to have us be able to pay the house payment is crazy. Consider what a senator and congressmen family gets. The presidents family gets all the respect and benefits in the world. He is the LEADER of the military. He is commander in chief they get paid 175,000 a year and up for working in the government if cuts are made it should be at that level the men and women who choose to send us to war and they choose what to pay us. So many guard and reservists make 40k and way better civilian jobs and when deployed they make 25k on average. Without BAH so not paying bah would cause them to lose everything they worked so hard to get. Federal law prohibits us from firing guard members because of deployment but with 12-18 month deployment a police officer or corrections officer isn't guaranteed that his position is still available. Cars have to be filled and patrols must be done. So they can't get their jobs back. They find a position but lose the one they had and its at a low cost. To the government. House payments is the least we can do! That's not for the spouse it's for the 3,5,7 year old at home that would be homeless in a few months if daddy can't make more money.

Cpt Maurelli your a LEADER and to think you agree with hanging your men out to dry and their families is gross. I know officers and single men get stiffed when it comes to BAH but use some logic please. I saw young E-2s deploy and making nothing have newborns at 19-20 years old fact is there's kids coming out of high school getting married because of small town values and they deploy and fight and leave wives for 1,012 dollars bi weekly? I went to bat to get everyone who was eligible a promotion e-2 - E-3 and if they could make E-4 and had time in rank from 3-4. But we had to have the slot available. I just can't see not paying it. It's not for the spouse it's for the livelihood of the service member. You have to always think about them as a leader. The wives normally allow tops wife to be head of the wives clubs. Our unit voted them CO wife and Tops wife did indeed act different but we always at Christmas and other unit functions treat them like we do Top. My wife was a big part of the wives club. They sent boxes to young men who didn't have family. It has to be organized with strong leaders and a woman who has 1-3 children and is suddenly single because daddy is gone is not going to be able to make enough money to cover everything. College kids get paid BAH while attending full time under GI Bill so yeah Simone fighting deserves it.

CPT Brian Maurelli, spouses act like they are in charge or need to be saluted because they are TAUGHT that by their military spouse allows it to happen and they are not told otherwise. It is NOT because they receive BAH.
Why should a family be left with no BAH just because their husband/wife is deployed? They still need a roof over their heads. They still need food in their bellies. And that soldier needs to focus on the mission at hand and not whether or not his family is left struggling because they aren't home to receive BAH.
I think the idea that BAH should stop because of a deployment, leaving the family without that needed boost in income, is simply ignorant and short sighted. Taking that away would CERTAINLY create more problems than it solves.

LTC Dallas Powell if we trying to make cuts which do you want to make cuts to this or training or positions?

How about neither? Are any senior military officials or civilian leaders even suggesting that cutting BAH/BAS for deployed servicemembers is on the table?

They're nickel-and-diming us enough already. I guarantee in five years we'll be wondering why we can't keep the good ones in (who haven't left already by now).

LTC Dallas Powell with lowered standards to increase the size of the military we are losing good ones as they are subjected to leaders who should have never been in the military let alone be leaders in it....

MAJ (Join to see) , are you sure? I cant find anything in Chapter 10 of the JTR. From a quick search, the tables seem to make it look legal. If you are not assigned government quarters you are authorized BAH for single members it is covered in Table 10E-1 Rule 1 (and specifically note 2). In table Table 10E-2 Rule 5, if you are TDY (not for PCS) BAH continues as long as the PDS doesn't change.

The Fraud section deals only with false dependency claims.

Im not saying that your wrong, I just can't find anything that supports the claim

My information is about six years removed so it may have changed, but you need to submit a lease agreement, it only needs to be a room, but it must provide you an adequate living quarter. A storage shed does not meet the definition of "housing." Temporary storage of HHG is specifically covered under the JFTR. The FMR 7a Chapter 260101 states "BAH provides members a monthly allowance for housing" for housing not storage of HHG's. Back when I was a finance 73A unless they had certified dependents, we had to check specifically for a lease .

I have never had a troop have to produce a lease/rental/mortgage in 16 years. Might be a more restrictive army rule?

Everything in the current FMR 7a refers you to the JFTR chapter 10 which I discussed above.

CPT Zachary Brooks what about single Soldiers? They are already paid different for BAH and do not receive separation pay. How do you retain them?

LTC (Join to see)

Remind them how much women love a man in uniform?