P All service members receive at least a 3.7 percent pay raise. Certain mid-level noncommissioned officers, petty officers and officers will receive targeted pay raises of up to 6.25 percent. The average pay raise is 4.15 percent.
P The bill continues the "buy-down" of out-of-pocket expenses by increasing the Basic Allowance for Housing. Currently service members living "on the economy" pay 7.5 percent of the housing costs out-of-pocket. That percentage will drop to 3.5 in fiscal 2004, and be eliminated in fiscal 2005.
P The bill also continues hostile-fire or imminent-danger pay at the current level of $225 per month through Dec. 31, 2004. It continues separation pay at the current level of $250 per month for the same period.
P The bill gives reservists and their families more access to Tricare – the military's health care program.
P Effective Jan. 1, 2004, all 20-year retirees with a Purple Heart or a combat- related disability will be eligible for concurrent receipt. The bill authorizes a phased-in full concurrent receipt program over the next 10 years for retirees who are most severely disabled (50 percent or more). P On the equipment side, the bill authorizes $1.7 billion in research and development funding for the Army's Future Combat Systems program. It allots $2.9 billion for 42 Navy and Marine Corps' FA-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. The bill has $3.5 billion for 22 Air Force F/A-22 Raptor aircraft, and $4.4 billion for the multiservice Joint Strike Fighter program.
Some of what's provided for in the 2004 Defense Appropriations Act.
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