5 ms·

If you are captured by the enemy and held in prison, your pay is docked? It is probably my ignorance of the military payment structure, but what the reasoning i

If you are captured by the enemy and held in prison, your pay is docked? It is probably my ignorance of the military payment structure, but what the reasoning is behind this?

sbisker 9y ago
It sounded like if you are captured you are paid a dollar a day until you are released or can escape - but can't collect pay while "running away". It seemed unclear whether that was in lieu of normal pay or in addition to it. I imagine it was worded this way so someone couldn't just be "escaping" for an unknown length of time and just disappear - removes the incentive to not return right away. Still, I'm not how anyone would be able to prove or disprove which day he escaped in the first place - not like his captors gave him a receipt - so the whole thing is pretty goofy.
- rosser 9y ago
  I think your comment's parent was asking about what happens to your regular military pay, during your time as a PoW. That's what I read, anyway.
  - dogma1138 9y ago
    You keep getting it (at a different rate), you also keep getting it when you are declared MIA. You only stop getting paid when you are declared dead (or discharged), the former awards survivor benefits to your next of kin and or dependents. http://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Home/Benefit_Library/Federal_Benefits_Page/Captive__POW__MIA_Entitlements.html?serv=147 http://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Home/Benefit_Library/Feder...
- jrimbault 9y ago
  It would make for a good Monty Python skit. A calm German officer behind a desk giving "escape receipt" to a giddy British soldier.
  - vidarh 9y ago
    Hogan's Heroes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes It'd fit well - they kept trying to escape, and it'd have been easy enough to have a plot where they talk the camp commander into giving them a "fake" receipt in return for a favour, only for them to actually escape (and of course get caught again).
detaro 9y ago
POWs got additional money after the war, on top of their normal pay (somewhat adjusted for the specific conditions they were held in, and with the money taken from captured Axis assets). So no, your pay isn't docked while you are imprisoned.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  This. They're not paying him his "putting up with the Nazis" benefit for the days he was on the run. They probably consider escaping captivity to be equivalent to normal combat operations and pay as such.
  - SerLava 9y ago
    Oh. That actually makes sense. It kind of seems like the whole story is silly now...
jussij 9y ago
It's worse than that. From the article he was being docked $1 for each day he was on the run. He would have been paid if he had not escaped.
jamesfe 9y ago
It was probably different back then, but now you are paid for each pay period plus some hazard pay and additionally, you receive automatic timely promotions (on a schedule specific t each rank) up to a certain point (you cannot enter a POW camp a Captain and leave as a General for instance). This is why Bowe Bergdahl is in a big pickle if he is found guilty: he will lose 5 years of pay and return to his original low rank (he is now a Sergeant, I think he was a Private 1st Cl or Specialist) as well as be discharged as something other than "honorable".
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > This is why Bowe Bergdahl is in a big pickle if he is found guilty: he will lose 5 years of pay and return to his original low rank (he is now a Sergeant, I think he was a Private 1st Cl or Specialist) as well as be discharged as something other than "honorable". I rather thought Bergdahl was in a “big pickle” because the charges against him both carry long prison terms (one potentially a life sentence).

If you are captured by the enemy and held in prison, your pay is docked? It is probably my ignorance of the military payment structure, but what the reasoning is behind this?

sbisker 9y ago

It sounded like if you are captured you are paid a dollar a day until you are released or can escape - but can't collect pay while "running away". It seemed unclear whether that was in lieu of normal pay or in addition to it. I imagine it was worded this way so someone couldn't just be "escaping" for an unknown length of time and just disappear - removes the incentive to not return right away. Still, I'm not how anyone would be able to prove or disprove which day he escaped in the first place - not like his captors gave him a receipt - so the whole thing is pretty goofy.

rosser 9y ago
I think your comment's parent was asking about what happens to your regular military pay, during your time as a PoW. That's what I read, anyway.
- dogma1138 9y ago
  You keep getting it (at a different rate), you also keep getting it when you are declared MIA. You only stop getting paid when you are declared dead (or discharged), the former awards survivor benefits to your next of kin and or dependents. http://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Home/Benefit_Library/Federal_Benefits_Page/Captive__POW__MIA_Entitlements.html?serv=147 http://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Home/Benefit_Library/Feder...
jrimbault 9y ago
It would make for a good Monty Python skit. A calm German officer behind a desk giving "escape receipt" to a giddy British soldier.
- vidarh 9y ago
  Hogan's Heroes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes It'd fit well - they kept trying to escape, and it'd have been easy enough to have a plot where they talk the camp commander into giving them a "fake" receipt in return for a favour, only for them to actually escape (and of course get caught again).

detaro 9y ago

POWs got additional money after the war, on top of their normal pay (somewhat adjusted for the specific conditions they were held in, and with the money taken from captured Axis assets). So no, your pay isn't docked while you are imprisoned.

dsfyu404ed 9y ago
This. They're not paying him his "putting up with the Nazis" benefit for the days he was on the run. They probably consider escaping captivity to be equivalent to normal combat operations and pay as such.
- SerLava 9y ago
  Oh. That actually makes sense. It kind of seems like the whole story is silly now...

jussij 9y ago

It's worse than that. From the article he was being docked $1 for each day he was on the run. He would have been paid if he had not escaped.

jamesfe 9y ago

It was probably different back then, but now you are paid for each pay period plus some hazard pay and additionally, you receive automatic timely promotions (on a schedule specific t each rank) up to a certain point (you cannot enter a POW camp a Captain and leave as a General for instance). This is why Bowe Bergdahl is in a big pickle if he is found guilty: he will lose 5 years of pay and return to his original low rank (he is now a Sergeant, I think he was a Private 1st Cl or Specialist) as well as be discharged as something other than "honorable".

dragonwriter 9y ago
> This is why Bowe Bergdahl is in a big pickle if he is found guilty: he will lose 5 years of pay and return to his original low rank (he is now a Sergeant, I think he was a Private 1st Cl or Specialist) as well as be discharged as something other than "honorable". I rather thought Bergdahl was in a “big pickle” because the charges against him both carry long prison terms (one potentially a life sentence).