37 U.S.C. § 301 — Incentive pay: hazardous duty

(a) Subject to regulations the President prescribes, a member^* of a uniformed service entitled to basic pay^* is also entitled to incentive pay, in the amount set in subsection (b) or (c), for performing hazardous duty required by orders. "Hazardous duty" here means duty (1) involving frequent and regular participation in aerial flight as a crew member (as the Secretary concerned^* determines), except for a member already entitled to incentive pay under section 301a of this title; (2) involving frequent and regular participation in aerial flight, but not as a crew member under paragraph (1); (3) involving parachute jumping as an essential part of military duty; (4) involving demolition of explosives as a primary duty, including training for it; (5) inside a high- or low-pressure chamber; (6) as a human subject for acceleration or deceleration experiments; (7) as a human test subject in thermal stress experiments; (8) involving frequent and regular participation in flight operations on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier or another ship that launches aircraft; (9) involving frequent and regular exposure to highly toxic pesticides, or laboratory work using live dangerous viruses or bacteria; (10) involving (A) servicing aircraft or missiles with highly toxic fuels or propellants, (B) testing aircraft or missile systems using those fuels or propellants, or (C) handling chemical munitions; (11) involving regular participation on a team conducting visit, board, search, and seizure operations to support maritime interdiction operations; (12) involving use of ski-equipped aircraft on the ground in Antarctica or on the Arctic ice-pack; or (13) involving frequent and regular participation in aerial flight by a member serving as an air weapons controller crew member (as the Secretary concerned defines) aboard a designated airborne warning and control system aircraft, who is not entitled to incentive pay under section 301a.

(b) For hazardous duty described in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) — regular flying as an aircrew member — a member is entitled to monthly incentive pay set by pay grade^* in a table in the statute. The amounts run from $150 to $250 a month: officers in grades O–1 through O–9 and O–10 receive between $150 and $250, warrant officers in grades W–1 through W–5 receive between $150 and $250, and enlisted members in grades E–1 through E–9 receive between $150 and $240, with the exact rate for each grade set out in the statute's table.

(c)(1) For hazardous duty described in paragraphs (2) through (12) of subsection (a), a member is entitled to $150 a month. A member performing the parachute-jumping duty in paragraph (3) who also performs military free-fall jumps — where the jumper deploys the parachute without a static line — is entitled to $225 a month instead.
(c)(2)(A) For hazardous duty described in paragraph (13) — air weapons controllers — a member is entitled to monthly incentive pay based on pay grade and years of service as an air weapons controller, set out in a detailed table in the statute. Rates generally start around $150 to $200 a month for less senior grades and fewer years of service, rise with both grade and experience to as much as $350 a month for many mid- and senior-grade members with several years of service, and then generally decrease again for members with more than about 20 to 25 years of service, exactly as the table sets out for each combination of grade and years of service.
(c)(2)(B) A member's years of service as an air weapons controller are counted, under regulations of the Secretary concerned, from the date the member began training toward that designation. Any stretch of more than 90 days during which the member's primary duty was something other than air weapons controller is excluded from that count.

(d)(1) In time of war, the President may suspend incentive pay for any hazardous duty described in subsection (a).
(d)(2) A member is entitled to no more than two payments of incentive pay under this section for any period during which the member qualifies for more than one payment.

(e) A member entitled to basic pay may also be paid incentive pay of up to $150 a month for any month in which the member performs duty involving regular participation as a firefighting crew member, as the Secretary concerned determines.

(f)(1) Under regulations the President prescribes, and to the extent appropriations allow, a member of a reserve component^* or the National Guard^* who is entitled to compensation under section 206 of this title, and who performs under orders any duty described in subsection (a) for members entitled to basic pay, is entitled to an increase in compensation equal to 1/30 of the monthly incentive pay a member of a corresponding grade entitled to basic pay would get for that duty. The member is entitled to this increase for as long as qualified, for each regular period of instruction or appropriate duty of at least two hours (including on a Sunday or holiday), or for other equivalent training or duty the Secretary may prescribe under section 206(a). This paragraph does not apply to a member entitled to basic pay under section 204 of this title for the entire month.
(f)(2)(A) If in one calendar month a member performs duty described in paragraph (1) and, while entitled to basic pay, also performs the hazardous duty under subsection (a) that is the basis for that entitlement, the earned units measuring incentive pay entitlement are combined. If the combined units meet or exceed the minimum standard the President sets for entitlement under subsections (b) and (c) for a corresponding-grade member entitled to full-time basic pay, the member is entitled to the same 1/30-per-month increase for that hazardous duty.
(f)(2)(B) A member who qualifies under this paragraph is entitled to the increase for each day in that month the member is entitled to basic pay under section 204 or compensation under section 206 of this title.
(f)(2)(C) In this paragraph, "units" means the significant increments of performance the President prescribes as qualifying standards by regulation.