Navy officials got the green light to continue paying sailors cruise pay — extra bucks for extended deployments. 

But the pay's future is in jeopardy. The approval is only for one year — not the two-years the services requested in July — and could be cut by October 2017 unless the Navy and Marine Corps can justify its effectiveness.

Under this Hardship Duty Pay-Tempo, sailors and Marines are paid an additional $16.50 per day for each day deployed past 220 days. The special pay, intended to reward sailors on extended deployments, is worth up to $495 dollars a month but ran out on Sept. 30. It has now been renewed for a full year.

"The Navy is in high demand and is present where and when it matters," said Vice Adm. Robert Burke, the Navy's chief of personnel, in a written statement.  "Hardship Duty Pay – Tempo is designed to compensate sailors for the important roles they continue to play in keeping our nation safe during extended deployments around the globe."

The new approval to pay will run out on Sept. 30, 2017, and Defense Department said that future approvals will be contingent on the Navy and Marine Corps’ ability to quantify the impact the pay has on each service.

"During the extension of the HDP-T … Navy and Marine Corps shall submit an execution report on the effectiveness of this program," the Sept. 30 approval letter said.

That report will be due to DoD no later than Aug. 1. Navy sources familiar with the decision say DoD is under pressure to cut budgets and won't approve further extension without justification the program is effective.

The sources say it will be difficult to quantify the effectiveness of the pay, an offering the service began in 2014 after years of lengthening and erratic deployment schedules that drained morale. Rescinding this pay would likely mar morale in the Navy and Marine Corps, they added.

"This is something that the Navy wants for our sailors as we believe it positively affects sailors' morale," said Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the chief of naval personnel. "It's one small way to help them during long and difficult deployments away from home."

Over the past two years, 23,842 personnel from 1,129 commands have gotten the pay to the tune of $15,561,381. The most recent payments went to the 4,162 sailors of the Truman Carrier Strike Group sailors, who returned home July 13 after 240 days away. Those extra 20 days cost the government roughly $1.3 million.

About Mark D. Faram

Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.

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