One of the truths about serving in the Military is the transitory nature of the service. While you may be blessed to be assigned to a particular duty station for a long period of time, often as a military Servicemember you are required to change your duty station, and change fairly often. When this happens you can at times receive assistance financially to help out with your permanent change of duty station orders. You can talk to your station command and apply for advance pay and allowances to help offset the cost of your move.
You can choose to apply for up to three months of your base pay at either your new assigned duty station or your old duty station. You have to have the approval of your Commander before you can apply or receive these funds. It is a type of military advance loan, and because of this it must be eventually paid back. Military pay officers and finance military officials recommend that because you have to pay it back to only apply for those funds that you estimate you actually need when you apply for advance pay. The method of pay allowance and housing advance is paid back by method of a paycheck deduction, and you can wait 30 days to start the deduction after the first advance is made. It is important to make sure you are aware how any money exchange rate affects your move, the money exchange in a foreign land can affect your finances in a large way, so its important to consider all the angles in how it affects you and your finances.
Find the Military Career right for YOU ! Click here for more Information.
Servicemembers who are married can also apply for a separate advance allowance. It is normally paid in advance, its referred to as the Dislocation Allowance, and it can be approved either with or without an authorized PCS, depending on the circumstances. The amount available in fiscal year 2007 for the Married Dislocation allowance varies from $757 dollars to a high of $3,790 dollars.
It is not an option if a service member is retiring from service, or separating from the service completely. It is an advance that can be qualified for by single Servicemembers in some cases, but there are conditions they must meet before they are declared eligible. There are also payments available to Servicemembers called the Monetary allowance in lieu of transportation, or MALT.