Army ups special pay for recruiters, drill sergeants and Old Guard soldiers

Other changes include a raise for some drill sergeants, who can move up from the baseline $300 extra a month to $375 “based upon service as a drill sergeant, completion of a certification program and approval by their battalion commander,” Taylor said.

There's also a new payment scheme for recruiters, who start at $300 a month.

Beginning Jan. 1, production recruiters can move up to $375 a month after a year on the job, successfully completing the Advanced Training Program, and getting a recommendation from their battalion commander.

In addition, recruiting station commanders assigned to a recruiting center or station; recruiting guidance counselors who are master sergeants and below; recruiting battalion operations noncommissioned officers; recruiting battalion master trainers; and recruiting company first sergeants will be authorized $375 extra pay a month.

Soldiers with the recruiter MOS of 79R who are assigned to staff positions are authorized an extra $75 a month.

Special duty assignments are those designated as having extremely demanding duties requiring extraordinary effort or an unusual degree of responsibility, according to the Army.

Assignments that qualify for SDAP include the sergeant major of the Army, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nominative command sergeants major and sergeants major, the White House Communications Agency, Ranger-qualified sergeants and higher in the 75th Ranger Regiment, air traffic controllers and Army Cyber Command.

“The goal of the Special Pay Panel was to validate recommendations of challenging positions that require soldiers to consistently perform in an 'above and beyond' manner and then make recommendations concerning levels of incentive payments,” Lock said.

The panel, which meets biennially to review SDAP, looked at every military occupational specialty or program that requested consideration for the special pay.

Officials said soldiers should speak to the human resources specialists in their unit to see what duty assignments are approved for SDAP under the new policy.