Newbies/Refresher .....shh stole this from another group=)

[harleymama30]

Yes I kinda "borrowed" this post from another group! I will work on breaking it down to have individual posts for each or what do you think?



RANK CHART

Enlisted

Private No Rank


 Private (PV2) E-2


Private First Calss (PFC) E-3

 Specialist E-4

 Corporal (CPL) E-4

 Sergeant (SGT) E-5

 Staff Sergeant (SSGT) E-6

 Sergeant First Class (SFC) E-7


 Master Sergeant (MSG) E-8

 First Sergeant (1FG) E-8

 Sergeant Major (SGM) E-9

 Command Sergeant Major (CSM) E-9

Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) E-9


WARRANT OFFICERS
Warrant Officer (WO1) W-1



Cheif Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) W-2


Cheif Warrant Officer  3 (CW3) W-3

 Cheif Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) W-4

 Cheif Warrant Officer 5 (CW5) W-5



OFFICERS


 2nd Lieutenant (2lt)  O-1 AKA butter bar

 1st Lieutenant (1lt) O-2

 Captain (CPT) O-3

 Major (MAJ) O-4

 Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col) O-5

 Colonel (Col) O-6 aka Full bird

 Brigadier General  (BG) O-7

 Major General (MG) O-8

 Lieutenant General (LTG) O-9

 General  (Gen) O-10

 General of the Army (reserved for wartime only)



Always remember silver is better than gold when it comes to rank! (or on some uniforms black is better than brown)  And something to help you remember the order of generals...

Be - Brigadier
My - Major
Little - Lieutenant
General


ACRONYMS

JRTC ~ Joint Readiness Training Center, it is a month long training at Ft. Polk, LA

NTC~ National Training Center, also a month long training in FT IRwin, Ca .

BDU ~ Battle Dress Uniform

ACU ~ Army Combat uniform

PLDC~ Primary Leadership Developement Course (school needed for e-5)

WLC~ Warrior Leader Course (same thing as PLDC)

ANOC~ Advance Non-commissioned officer course (e-7)

BNOC ~ Basic Non-commissioned officer course (e-6).

NOC ~Non-commissioned officer (e-5 to e9 and e-4 corprals)

CO ~ Commanding Officer

XO~ Executive Officer

AIT ~ Advance Individual training (after basic training, teaches you your specific job)

wo~ Warrant Officer

DLA~ Dislocation Allowance

Ed Center~ Education Center

FRG~Famliy Readiness Group (a support group run at the company level)

FRC~ Family Readiness Center

DFAC~ Dining Facility

Dentac~ Dental Facility

Centcom~ Central Command of the US Military

LES~ Leave and Earning Statement (pay stub)

CQ~ In charge of quaters





HOW TO READ AN LES


On the 15th of the month, the LES has no detail just the amount paid. On the last day of the month is when his LES will have the breakdown of his pay. If his paycheck is the same every month, this is no problem. However, when he is in training, has just arrived at a new base or is deployed, he will rarely get two paychecks that are the same. Sometimes, the amounts vary greatly. You will have no idea what you are getting paid for until the end of the month. One word of advice: If his paycheck suddenly becomes larger, do not spend the money until you know that it is definitely yours to spend. The Army will quickly debit your account when they realize they have made a mistake. In fact they will debit your account to get their money back much quicker than they will credit your account with money they owe you!

On to the LES:

ID Row:

Soldier’s Name, SS#, Grade (Rank), Pay Date, Years of Service, ETS (date his current enlistment will end), Branch, ADSN/DSSN (number used to identify the finance office), Period Covered (period he is being paid for)

Entitlements: his income

Base pay: this is his base pay (which is taxable) and is dependent on his rank. For instance, base pay for E3 is $1,407 (as of September 2004). This pay is generally not taxable if he is deployed (certain circumstances apply)

BAS: Basic allowance for subsistence (food). This is also non taxable.

BAH: Housing allowance (non-taxable). The amount is determined based on dependents and the zip code. Note that whether you are married with no kids or married with ten kids, the BAH remains the same.

Special pay: this could be parachute pay, diving pay, etc. Generally, this pay results from your soldier attending a special training course.

Other entitlements can include hardship pay (common for those stationed in Korea), hazardous duty and imminent danger pay (extra pay when deployed to one of these areas), and family separation allowance (if your solider is away from dependents for thirty days or more).

Deductions:

This includes all deductions from his pay including all federal and state taxes.

SGLI: this is his contribution towards his $250,000 life insurance policy

MGIB: he must pay $100 for the first twelve months in service towards his Montgomery GI Bill

Mid-month pay: on the last paystub of the month, his mid-month pay will show as a deduction.

Allotments:

This column is for any items that are being deducted such as money that is going to a checking/savings account, insurance payments, bonds, etc.

Summary:

+ Amt Fwd: the amount of any unpaid pay or allowances from the prior LES

+ Tot Ent: the total of all entitlements

- Tot Ded: the total of all deductions

- Tot Allt: total of all allotments

= Net Amt: net amount of his pay

- Cr Fwd: all unpaid pay or allowances due to appear on the next LES

= EOM Pay: amount to be paid at the end of the month

DIEMS: date initially entered military service

RETPLAN: type of retirement plan

Leave Row:

BF Bal: brought forward balance

Ernd: amount of leave earned (in days)

Used: amount of leave used (in days)

Cr Bal: amount of leave available (in days)

ETS Bal: projected leave balance to the member’s ETS

Lv Lost: amount of leave lost

Lv Paid: amount of leave paid to date

Use/Lose: projected number of days that will be lost if not taken

The next three rows are for taxes: Fed Taxes, FICA Taxes, State Taxes:

M/S: Denotes married or single

Ex: Denotes number of exemptions

Pay Data Row:

BAQ Type: type of basic allowance being paid (with dependents or without dependents)

BAQ Depn: type of dependent (i.e. “spouse”)

VHA Zip: the zip code used to compute BAH (or BAQ)

Rent Amt: amount of rent paid (if applicable)

Share: number of people the soldier shares housing costs with

Stat: VHA status – accompanies or unaccompanied

JFTR, Depns, 2nd JFTR: for COLA purposes

BAS Type: type of rations the soldier is receiving

Charity Type: amount of charitable contributions

TPC: this field is not used

PACIDN: active unit identification code (UIC)

Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Row:

Base Pay Rate: amount elected for TSP

Base Pay Current: reserved for future use

Spec Pay Rate: percentage of special pay elected for TSP

Spec Pay Current: reserved for future use

Inc Pay Rate: percentage of incentive pay elected for TSP

Inc Pay Current: reserved for future use

Bonus Pay Rate: percentage of bonus pay elected for TSP

Bonus Pay Current: reserved for future use

TSP YTD Deductions: total deductions year to date for TSP

Deferred: total amount deferred for tax purposes

Exempt: total amount exempt for tax purposes

Remarks Section:

YTD Entitle: total of all entitlements in the calendar year

YTD Deduct: total of all deductions in the calendar year

You will then notice a section of remarks that are used to make you aware of general notices.

And that is it! I hope this makes it easier for you to understand your soldier's pay stub each month.

[lindalpn]

THIS IS AWESOME  THANKS SO MUCH, ARMY IN SHORTHAND, LOL

[mapleleafwoman]

This is really helpful information...thanks so much.  Even my daughter has never shared this stuff with me.

[lupita_mom_of_5]

thank you so much for this my hubby barely left in nov for basic and i still can't read the LES. this is really helpful.  thanks again.

[Mom2LeahNathan]

Wow, it took me years to learn most of this stuff!  What is really confusing is that I was brought up in the Air Force (Dad retired Full Cnl) and their rank system is completely different!  Hubby is Army NG (well, he may be forced to retire soon because he was disabled in 2005 in Iraq from an IED).  My poor husband had to put up with SO MANY questions from me!  One was, "Do you salute a higher ranking officer from another branch of the military?"  Still no clear answer here.  Sean just says, it depends.  Or, "I don't know their ranking system."  AHHHHHH!  Thank you so much for this!

[dknoxaspano]

This is awesome!  Those darn LES's are incredibly difficult to comprehend..... It's like secret coding..

[hiswords777]

This is a great list with the actual rank signs!!
Could I make a small correction....my hubby is a 1st SGT and he is 1SG. 
Though the call him "Top". 
Thanks!

Amanda

[Angel1492]

I wish I had something this easy to read back when we started out. It took a few years of active duty life for me to get all this stuff and I still don't remember it all.

[BrieGTTC]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I am so new at this and my guy talks nothing but army! LOL I try to learn quickly but its hard to get it all down. I was just little when my dad was in the service so this is just new I am so glad you posted all this information!

[harleymama30]

Your welcome! Yeah I wish I had this when DH rejoined. I did alot of head shaking and saying "uh huh" when he would talk to me!

[BrieGTTC]

Ok I am not going to feel bad for saying uhuh and just nodding now LOL!! Sometimes its just hard but he is so sweet he just looks at me and say "babe don't worry you'll get it." Sometimes I wonder though LOL!!