37 U.S.C. § 204 — Entitlement

(a) These people get base pay for their pay grade, based on years of service under section 205: (1) a uniformed-service member on active duty; and (2) a uniformed-service member, or a National Guard member who isn't an Army or Air Force Reserve, doing full-time training or duty under specific listed statutes. (b) Under presidential regulations, travel time counts as active duty: for a member called to active duty for more than 30 days, the time it takes to travel from home to their first duty station, and from their last duty station back home. (c)(1) A National Guard member called into federal service for 30 days or less gets base pay starting from the day they contact their unit — in person, by phone, or electronically. (2) This doesn't authorize pay for any time before the unit actually receives that contact. (3) The Army and Air Force Secretaries must write regulations to carry this out for their respective Guards. (d) Full-time National Guard training or duty counts as active duty for purposes of this section. (e) A payment owed to a member for leaving active duty, or for traveling home afterward, can be paid before they actually leave — whether or not they end up making the trip. If the member gets this payment but dies before it would otherwise have been paid, the government can't take any of it back. (f) A cadet or midshipman who graduates and becomes a second lieutenant in the Army or Air Force starts getting O-1 base pay on their graduation date. (g)(1) A reserve-component member (or a Space Force member in active status, not on sustained duty) who becomes physically disabled gets the same pay and allowances as a corresponding regular-component member, if the disability happened or got worse: (A) in the line of duty during active duty; (B) in the line of duty during inactive-duty training (with some exceptions for correspondence courses or schooling); (C) while traveling directly to or from that duty or training; (D) in the line of duty while staying overnight around inactive-duty training; or (E) in the line of duty while doing funeral honors duty, traveling to or from it, or staying overnight nearby beforehand if it's too far to commute. (2) If the member also earns income from a civilian job or self-employment in a month they're getting this pay, their total pay and allowances get reduced by that income. Income from an income-protection plan, vacation pay, or sick leave the member chooses to take also counts. (h)(1) A reserve-component member who's physically able to do military duty can request part of the pay and allowances a regular-component member of the same grade and service length would get, for each month they show a loss of civilian earned income because of a disabling injury, illness, or disease that happened under the same line-of-duty circumstances listed in (g)(1)(A)-(E). (2) The monthly amount can't exceed the member's proven loss of civilian income. The same income sources from (g)(2) count here too. (i)(1) Total pay under (g), (h), and compensation under section 206(a) can't exceed what a regular-component member of the same grade and service would get for that period. (2) Pay under (g) or (h) can't run more than six months, though the relevant Secretary can extend it if fairness requires. (3) A member isn't entitled to (g) or (h) benefits if their injury or illness resulted from their own gross negligence or misconduct. (4) Procedures for paying (g) and (h) benefits must be set by the Secretary of Defense for the armed forces, and by the Secretary of Homeland Security for the Coast Guard when it's not part of the Navy. (j) A member entitled to medical or dental care under section 1074a of title 10 also gets travel and transportation allowances (or a cash allowance instead) for necessary travel connected to that care, and to get home after treatment ends.