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Clothing allowances go up for sailors

Sailors, Coast Guardsmen, airmen and Marines will see relatively robust increases in their annual clothing allowances to pay for wear and tear on their military uniforms in fiscal 2008, but soldiers had no changes to their uniform clothing bag and thus will see no change in their clothing allowances in fiscal 2008.

The biggest increases are going to sailors and Marines, whose services have made big changes to their working and combat uniforms and have added other comparatively costly items to their seabags. For example, the Navy has a new Gortex parka and liner, which combined list for $236.18.

The charts

2008 clothing allowances

2008 seabags, men and women (E7-E9)

2008 seabags, men and women (E1-E6)

2008 Coast Guard seabags

The new allowances took effect Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The military provides a complete set of uniforms for enlisted members when they first enter service. They are then paid annual allowances based on how long it takes each item to wear out, dividing the cost by how many years the item is expected to last. For example, a duffel bag might be expected to last 10 years or more, while T-shirts would be expected to be replaced after a few months.

The clothing allowance typically is paid on the anniversary of the day members entered the military. People with fewer than three years of service receive a basic clothing allowance to begin replacing items from their initial issue as they wear out. Also, at the end of the first year of active duty, enlisted troops receive only half of the yearly allowance because it is assumed they do not need to replace any clothing in their first six months.

After enlisted troops complete three years on active duty, they begin receiving the standard clothing allowance, which is higher than the basic allowance.

Navy

To replace an entire set of uniforms, Navy enlisted men in paygrades E-6 and below would pay $1,203.64, which is $28.99 more than last fiscal year. Navy enlisted women in the same paygrades would pay $1,432.15, which is $22.14 more than last year.

For male sailors, the Navy’s standard replacement allowance is $662.40, a jump of $270 from last fiscal year, and the basic allowance is $464.40, an increase of $190.80.

For female sailors, the new standard replacement allowance is $680.40, which is $277.20 more than last year, and the basic allowance is $475.20, up $194.40 from last year.

Navy chief petty officers in grades E-7s and above have their own seabag list. A complete set of uniforms costs $1,172.20 for male chiefs, an increase of $130.10 over last fiscal year, and $1,042.10 for female chiefs, an increase of $90.30 from last year.

As with lower-ranking sailors, chief petty officers will see large hikes in their standard annual clothing replacement allowances. The allowance for chiefs is now $871.20, an increase of $226.80 over last fiscal year, and $939.60 for women, up $270 from last year.

Coast Guard

A full clothing bag for male Coast Guardsmen costs $1,142.36 in fiscal 2008, an increase of $10.73 over last year. For women, a full clothing bag costs $1,244.28, a drop of $8.38 since last year.

The standard and basic clothing replacement allowances increased for both men and women. For men, the standard allowance is $478.26, up $65.79 from last year, and the basic allowance is $337.78, up $49.80 from last year. For women, the standard allowance is $494.94, up $44.17 from last year, and the basic allowance is $346.47, up $30.93 from last year.