GovernmentExecutive.com

The Defense Department has posted a new site on

the World Wide Web that explains the military pay changes taking

effect Jan. 1, including the 4.8 percent pay raise.

Pay2000 (pay2000.dtic.mil) provides details on the January pay raise and briefly covers new retirement options; the

Thrift Savings Plan that would allow service members to

build a retirement nest egg; special pay and incentive pay

improvements; and new rules on housing allowances, temporary

lodging expenses and leave sell-back. The site also offers

a means to provide e-mail feedback.

According to Thomas Tower, an assistant director for

compensation in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for

Personnel and Readiness, user feedback will contribute to the

site's providing more in-depth information during its second

phase, expected to go online by mid-November. The third stage,

toward the end of this year, will be interactive and allow

service members to calculate and compare retirement choices they

have after 15 years' active duty, he said.

The option of choosing retirement plans is one of the most

important improvements to military pay according to Tower.

"Members now have a choice of retirement plans, including a

reduced monthly payment with a $30,000 lump sum payment at 15

years or a higher annuity at 20 years, " he said. Those who

elect the lump sum payment at 15 years are still required to

serve on active duty through their 20th year, he said. "We will

provide financial comparisons of what they can save."

Pay2000 doesn't duplicate information like pay tables that are

available on the Defense Finance and Accounting

Service Web site, said Tower. He said, Pay2000 conveys

information pertaining directly to compensation issues in the

fiscal 2000 Defense

Authorization Act, while the

DFAS site contains more standardized information.

"The message we want to convey is that military compensation has

been dramatically improved," Tower said. "A military career is a

more attractive option, particularly in relation to the private

sector, because service members each year will get a .5 percent

higher pay raise than the private sector."

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen called the pay changes an

"investment in our warriors" at the signing of the defense

authorization act Oct. 5. "We can never pay you enough,"

he said, "but we can pay you more. And that is precisely what

this bill is going to do."