Non-deployed drone crews may get tax-free combat pay

I’m sure drone operators work hard. They fly very long missions and are not given any of the glory of any of the other rated aviation billets. Their morale has been a subject of debate before, so the Air Force created a medal especially for them. The Remote Combat Effects Campaign Medal is for those non-deployed flyers performing operational missions in-theater.

Now, while they get to work CONUS, go home to their families, sleep in their own beds every night, they might get the tax-free combat pay that troops deployed to overseas locations, away from all the comforts of home, receive. With none of the personal risk. A drone operator will never die in combat.

From Military Times;

New legislation aims to give drone crews tax-free combat pay

Military drone crews could soon receive the same tax-free combat pay as deployed troops, under a pair of bills slated for release Wednesday.

Service members who fly remotely piloted aircraft or operate their surveillance and targeting sensors don’t qualify for untaxed income because they largely wage war from installations in the continental U.S. rather than in combat zones like Iraq or Somalia.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., the legislation’s sponsors in the House and Senate and members of their respective Armed Services committees, want to fix that.

“Warfare is increasingly conducted stateside, yet drone crews engaged in active combat situations are not recognized as having served in combat by the military and therefore do not receive benefits or care commensurate with their service,” Blackburn said in a release.

“These servicemembers experience similar stressors to their colleagues who are physically overseas and see similar horrific events play out, and deserve to be treated as such,” she said.

It’s worth noting that none of the three sponsors are, themselves, veterans.

Category: Air Force, WTF?