Revisions made to Pentagon travel rules went into effect this month and the result is often less money for service members on temporary duty. The biggest change is to the per diem rate reimbursement for lengthy TDYs.
According to Army Times, a person on TDY for 31 to 180 days will receive only 75 percent of the official per diem rate. For TDYs longer than 180 days, the reimbursement rate drops to 55 percent. The Defense Department believes service members on lengthy TDYs should be able to find less costly housing perhaps by paying weekly or monthly rates.
Also, expenses such as laundry, tips and bank-machine fees will not be paid as separate expenses, but will fall under “meals and incidental expenses.” Cell phone calls will not be reimbursed under the new rules.
Army Times says the new rules were prompted by the uproar in 2012 following news reports of about 300 employees of the Government Services Administration spending $822,000 at a Las Vegas casino and spa.
