Hazardous Duty Pay: HDIP, Hostile Fire Pay and Imminent Danger Pay

A war.gov statement dated October 1, 2026 says “The updated policy increases the monthly rate for HFP to $450 and the monthly rate for IDP to $275, effective October 1, 2026.” and “Since October 2002, both HFP and IDP pay have been set at a flat monthly rate of $225.” It describes how the amounts apply: “HFP will be issued at the full monthly rate of $450 for any month in which a Service member is exposed to a hostile fire event.” and “IDP will be prorated at $9.16 per day, up to a maximum of $275 per month, based on the number of days a Service member is present in a designated imminent danger area.” It adds “Consistent with Department policy, Service members may not receive both HFP and IDP for the same period of service.” The statute sets the ceilings: “In the case of a member who performs duty in a designated hostile fire area, as described in subsection (a)(1), hazardous duty pay may not exceed $450 per month.” and “In the case of a member who performs duty in a foreign area designated as an imminent danger area, as described in subsection (a)(3), hazardous duty pay may not exceed $275 per month.”

Older figures in the DoD documents this page could read. DoD Instruction 1340.09 (Change 1, February 2, 2024) says “Service members may receive the following amounts for HzP payments, unless otherwise updated by the ASD(M&RA) in accordance with Paragraph 2.1.b. (a) HFP at a monthly rate of $225 (may not receive simultaneously with IDP).” The instruction lists these amounts “unless otherwise updated by the ASD(M&RA).” The FMR chapter on hostile fire and imminent danger pay (Volume 7A, Chapter 10, October 2024) says “This entitlement is paid at the rate of $225 per month” and “IDP is payable on a prorated daily basis not to exceed a monthly rate of $225.” Those are the $225.00 amounts the new rates replace. The chapter has not been updated in the version this page read, so use the statute and the war.gov statement for the amount and the chapter for the rules.

• Who gets IDP. “IDP may be paid to a service member who is subject to the threat of physical harm or imminent danger based on civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism, or wartime conditions in a designated foreign area.” Leave: “A member who takes leave in the IDP designated area that the member is assigned for duty remains entitled to the payment of IDP.”
• HFP and IDP together. “A member is not authorized to receive concurrent payments for hostile fire and imminent danger duty.” The war.gov statement says “Consistent with Department policy, Service members may not receive both HFP and IDP for the same period of service.” A member exposed to a hostile fire event is paid the full month of hostile fire pay for that month and no imminent danger pay for it; imminent danger pay can resume in a later month, as the regulation's Examples 2 and 4 show (hostile fire pay for March, imminent danger pay from April 1). Example 2: “will be entitled to HFP for the entire month of March and IDP for the period April 1 through 29.” Example 4: “will be entitled to the full monthly amount of HFP of $225 for the month of March, and daily IDP for the period April 1 through 20.”
• Proration. “The proration does not apply to the 31st of a month for Active and Reserve component members who are on active duty for 30 days or more. HFP will not be prorated.” Example from the regulation: “A member on active duty for less than 30 days in an IDP area for the period March 29 through April 20 will be entitled to IDP for the period March 29 through 31 and April 1 through 20 for a total of 23 days.” For hostile fire pay the statute lets the Secretary concerned, for a member exposed to hostile fire, “in the case of a member who is exposed to hostile fire or an explosion of a hostile explosive device in or for a day or portion of a day, may, at the election of the Secretary, pay the member hazardous duty pay in an amount not to exceed the entire amount of hazardous duty pay that would be payable to the member under such paragraph (1) for the month in which the duty concerned occurs (with the total amount of hazardous duty pay paid the member under this clause in any given month not to exceed such entire amount)”

A member who qualifies for the entire month is paid the full $275.00; DoD Instruction 1340.09 requires proration only for members who do not qualify for the entire month: “Prorating the monthly HzP is required for Service members who fail to satisfy the eligibility requirements for the pay for the entire month.” The daily rate: “In the case of a Service member receiving IDP for serving in an IDP area or HDIP for performing a hazardous duty, the Secretary concerned will calculate the prorated payment amount using a daily rate, calculated by multiplying 1/30th of the monthly payment rate by the Service member’s actual qualifying days of service during the month.” The table lists partial months only; your finance office counts your actual qualifying days.

The DFAS HDIP rates page (updated March 5, 2026) is the current table. DoD's regulation says “A member who qualifies for HDIP under this chapter may receive a monthly amount up to the rate prescribed for the type of duty performed. The most current rates are in the HDIP Rates table on DFAS.MIL.” The statute's own ceiling for HDIP is “In the case of a member who performs a designated hazardous duty, as described in subsection (a)(2), hazardous duty pay may not exceed $275 per month.”

• Flying duty. DoD's aviation incentive pays chapter (Volume 7A, Chapter 22, March 2024) says “HDIP for aircrew members may not exceed $250 per month.” and “HDIP for non-aircrew members is $150 per month.”
• Military free fall: $240.00 or $225.00. The DFAS table prints $240.00. DoD's regulation, Chapter 24, says “HDIP for a military freefall parachutist is $225 per month (see the HDIP Rates table for the most current rate).” and sends the reader to the DFAS table for the current rate, so this page leads with the DFAS figure. IRS Publication 3 lists “Incentive pay • Submarine • Flight • Hazardous duty • High Altitude/Low Opening (HALO)” as incentive pay, and the FMR's special warfare skill incentive pay table (Table 24-2) lists “Military Free Fall (MFF)/HALO: $225” with the older $225 amount, so the FMR pairs military free fall with HALO.
• Army static line: $200.00. The DFAS page is headed “Hazardous Duty Incentive Pay (HDIP) Rates.” The DFAS table row “Army Static Line (Oct. 1, 2025-May 20, 2029)” shows $200.00.
• Parachute duty. “Only one type of parachute duty payment (regular or military free fall) is authorized for a qualifying period.” A member who qualifies for both gets the higher rate.
• Flight deck. “Four days of such flight operations, or the equivalent thereof, will constitute the basic calendar month qualification criteria.”
• More than one HDIP. “A member may not receive hazardous duty pay under this section for a month for more than three qualifying instances described in subsection (a)(2).” “Service members performing multiple hazardous duties may receive a maximum of three HDIP payments per month.” DoD Instruction 1340.09 says “Although a Service member may perform more than three hazardous duties in a month, a Service member may not receive simultaneous payments for more than three HDIP duties in a month.”
• Proration. “The prorated monthly amount for Service members serving on active duty is calculated by multiplying 1/30th of the monthly rate of HDIP by the actual number of qualifying service days during the month.” Ten qualifying days of a $150.00 duty are paid $50.00. Some duties are paid in full for any month: “Subparagraph 2.3.2.1 does not apply when the Secretary concerned has requested to specifically designate a hazardous duty as one which, when performed by a Service member in a month, entitles the Service member to the full monthly rate of HDIP for the duty regardless of the duration of qualifying service during the month and such request has been approved by ASD (M&RA).”
• With other pay. “A member may be paid hazardous duty pay under this section in addition to any other pay and allowances to which the member is entitled.”

The amounts are DoD-wide. DoD's regulation says “The Secretaries of the Military Departments may offer hazardous duty incentive pay (HDIP), special warfare skill incentive pay (SWSIP), or Naval special warfare (NSW) skill incentive pay (SKIP) payments to Service members who under competent orders are required to perform duties designated as hazardous, based upon the inherent dangers of the duty and the risks of physical injury.” The statute and the instruction both bar separate rates for officers and enlisted members: “The regulations prescribed to administer this section may not include varied criteria or rates for payment of hazardous duty for officers and enlisted members.” and “DoD and Service regulations prescribed to administer HzP may not vary criteria or rates for payment of HzP for officers and enlisted members.”

What differs by branch is which duties are designated and who qualifies, and the DFAS table prints one branch-specific rate (Army static line parachute duty). This page read DoD documents only, so it does not list branch regulations; your unit or finance office confirms what you are designated for.

IRS Publication 3 (2025), Table 1: “These items are included in gross income, unless the pay is for service in a combat zone.” The table's special pay list includes “Hostile fire or imminent danger” and its incentive pay list is “Incentive pay • Submarine • Flight • Hazardous duty • High Altitude/Low Opening (HALO).”

The combat zone exclusion changes that: “Gross income doesn’t include compensation you received for active service in the Armed Forces for any month during any part of which you served in a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty area.”

• Enlisted members, warrant officers and commissioned warrant officers. “If you are an enlisted member, warrant officer, or commissioned warrant officer, none of your combat zone pay is included in your income for tax purposes.”
• Commissioned officers. “If you are a commissioned officer (other than a commissioned warrant officer), there is a limit to the amount of combat zone pay you can exclude.” “The amount of your exclusion is limited to the highest rate of enlisted pay (plus imminent danger/hostile fire pay you received) for each month during any part of which you served in a combat zone or were hospitalized as a result of your service there. For 2025, the applicable amount is $10,983 per month (that is, $10,758 for the highest enlisted pay + $225 for imminent danger pay).”
• Partial months. “If you serve in a combat zone for any part of 1 or more days during a particular month, you are entitled to a combat zone exclusion for that entire month.”

The $10,983 limit is the IRS's 2025 figure. This page did not find a 2026 edition of Publication 3, and the limit changes with the highest enlisted pay and the hostile fire or imminent danger pay received. Our deployment pay calculator estimates the officer limit from the 2026 pay table.

37 U.S.C. 351(h): “No hazardous duty pay under this section may be paid after December 31, 2026.” The statute's amendment notes show Congress has moved the date each year; the latest note reads “Pub. L. 119–60, § 611(d)(6), substituted “December 31, 2026” for “December 31, 2025”.” DoD's regulation says “Unless reauthorized by Congress, HDIP, SWSIP, and NSW SKIP may not be paid after the date listed on the Duration of Authority (DOA) table.”

The statute text is from the Cornell Legal Information Institute copy of 37 U.S.C. 351, which includes Public Law 119-60 (December 18, 2025). The .mil sites block automated downloads, so these were read from Internet Archive captures: the FMR chapter on hostile fire and imminent danger pay (read from an Internet Archive capture of December 19, 2025), the aviation incentive pays chapter (read from an Internet Archive capture of December 18, 2025), the hazardous duty chapter (read from an Internet Archive capture of December 18, 2025), DoD Instruction 1340.09 (read from an Internet Archive capture of November 17, 2025), the DFAS HDIP table (read from an Internet Archive capture of October 3, 2026) and the war.gov statement (read from an Internet Archive capture of October 3, 2026). IRS Publication 3 (2025) was read directly. All were checked on October 27, 2026. The memorandum the war.gov statement links is an image scan and is not quoted here. A source may have changed since a capture was taken.