AMC, located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is responsible for providing strategic airlift, including air refueling, special air missions, and aeromedical evacuation. As part of that mission, AMC is responsible for tasking 67 C-5 aircraft: 35 stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California and 32 stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Unlike other Air Force aircraft, the C-5 is rarely deployed for more than 30 days, since it is primarily used to move cargo from the United States to locations worldwide. As a result, C-5 aircrews are deployed away from home for several weeks and then return to their home station. Other Air Force aircraft, such as the KC-10, can carry cargo but are primarily used to refuel other aircraft and can be deployed to locations around the world for extended periods of time. Since September 11, 2001, C-5 aircrews have been deployed for periods of time less than 30-days, generally ranging from 7 to 24 days. Known for its ability to carry oversized and heavy loads, the C-5 can transport a wide variety of cargo, including helicopters and Abrams M1A1 Tanks to destinations worldwide. Recently, the C-5’s have been used for a variety of missions, including: support of presidential travel, contracted movement of materials by other government organizations, training missions, and support of operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. In addition, the C-5 can also transport about 70 passengers. The aircrew for a C-5 is comprised of two pilots, a flight engineer, and two loadmasters. At Travis Air Force Base there are 439 active duty and 383 reserve aircrew members. At Dover Air Force Base there are 650 active duty and 344 reserve aircrew members. Within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) is responsible for DOD personnel policy, including oversight of military compensation. The Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) leads the Unified Legislation and Budgeting process, established in 1994 to develop and review personnel compensation proposals. As part of this process, the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) chairs biannual meetings, attended by the principal voting members from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), including the Principle Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs), the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), the Joint Staff, and the services’ Assistant Secretaries for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. In 1963, Congress established the $30-per-month family separation allowance to help offset the additional expenses incurred by the dependents of servicemembers who are away from their permanent duty station for more than 30 consecutive days. According to statements made by members of Congress during consideration of the legislation establishing the family separation allowance, additional expenses could stem from costs associated with home repairs, automobile maintenance, and childcare that could not be performed by the deployed servicemember. Over the years, the eligibility requirements for the family separation allowance have changed. For example, while the family separation allowance was initially authorized for enlisted members in pay grades E-5 and above as well as to enlisted members in pay grade E-4 with 4 years of service, today the family separation allowance is authorized for servicemembers in all pay grades at a flat rate of $250 per month. Servicemembers must apply for the family separation allowance, certifying their eligibility to receive the allowance. The rationale for establishing the 30-day threshold is unknown. However, DOD officials noted that servicemembers deployed for more than 30 days do not have the same opportunities to minimize household expenses as those who are deployed for less than 30 days. For example, servicemembers who are able to return to their permanent duty locations may perform home repairs and do not have to pay someone to do these tasks for them. The 1963 family separation allowance legislation was divided into two subsections, one associated with overseas duty and one associated with any travel away from the servicemembers home station. The first subsection was intended to compensate servicemembers who were permanently stationed overseas and were not authorized to bring dependents. The second subsection was intended to compensate servicemembers for added expenses associated with their absence from their dependents and permanent duty station for extended periods of time regardless of whether the members were deployed domestically or overseas. Originally, this aspect of family separation compensation was also to be based on the allowance for living quarters. At that time, members would receive one-third the allowance for living quarters or a flat rate of $30 per month, whichever amount was larger. In July of 1963, the Senate heard testimony from DOD officials who generally agreed with the proposed legislation, but raised concerns about using the allowance for living quarters as a baseline. Their concerns were related to the complexity of determining the payments and the inequities associated with tying payment to rank. Ultimately, DOD proposed and the Congress accepted a flat rate of $30 per month for eligible personnel. DOD has not identified frequent short-term deployments less than 30-days as a family separation allowance issue. No proposals seeking modifications to the family separation allowance because of frequent short-term deployments have been provided to DOD for consideration as part of DOD’s Unified Legislation and Budgeting process, which reviews personnel compensation proposals. Since 1994, a few proposals have been made seeking changes to allowance amounts and eligibility requirements. None of the proposals sought to change the 30-day eligibility threshold. Further, our discussions with OSD, service, and reserve officials did not reveal any concerns related to frequent short-term deployments and the family separation allowance. To analyze concerns that might be raised by those experiencing frequent short-term deployments, we conducted group discussions with Air Force strategic C-5 airlift aircrews at Travis Air Force Base, which we identified as an example of servicemembers who generally deploy for periods less than 30 days. We did not identify any specific concerns regarding compensation received as a result of short-term deployments. We found that the C-5 aircrews were generally more concerned about the high pace of operations and associated unpredictability of their schedules, due to the negative impact on their quality of life, than about qualifying for the family separation allowance. DOD has proposed few changes to the amount of the family separation allowance and no proposals have been submitted to alter the 30-day eligibility threshold. Our review of proposals submitted through DOD’s Unified Legislation and Budgeting process revealed that DOD has considered one proposal to change the amount of the monthly family separation allowance since 1994. In 1997, an increase in the family separation allowance from $75 to $120 was proposed. This provision was not approved by DOD. Since 1994, three modifications to the eligibility criteria have also been proposed. In 1994, a proposal was made to allow payment of the family separation allowance for members embarked on board a ship or on temporary duty for 30 consecutive days, whose family members were authorized to accompany the member but voluntarily chose not to do so. The proposal was endorsed by DOD and accepted by Congress. In 2001, DOD considered but ultimately rejected a similar proposal that would have applied to all members who elect to serve an unaccompanied tour of duty. The third proposal sought to modify the use of family separation allowance for joint military couples (i.e. one military member married to another military member). According to a DOD official, while this proposal was not endorsed by DOD, Congress ultimately passed legislation that clarified the use of family separation allowance for joint military couples. The family separation allowance is now payable to joint military couples, provided the members were residing together immediately before being separated by reason of their military orders. Although both may qualify for the allowance, only one monthly allowance may be paid to a joint military couple during a given month. If both members were to receive orders requiring departure on the same day, then payment would be made to the senior member. Overall, C-5 aircrew members and aircrew leadership with whom we met noted that the unpredictability of missions was having more of an adverse impact on crewmembers’ quality of life than the compensation they receive as a result of their deployments. For example, several aircrew members at Travis Air Force Base indicated that over the past two years, they have been called up on very short advance notice, as little as 12 hours, and sent on missions lasting several weeks, making it difficult to conduct personal business or make plans with their families. According to the aircrew members and both officer and enlisted leadership with whom we met, the unpredictability of their missions is expected to continue for the foreseeable future due to the global war on terrorism. Officials informed us that the average number of days by month that aircrew members have been deployed has increased since September 11, 2001, with periods of higher activity, or surges. For example, as shown in figure 1, the average number of days in September 2001 that AMC C-5 co-pilots were deployed was 9. Since then, the average number of days by month that C-5 co-pilots were deployed has fluctuated between 12 and 19. Prior to September 2001, available data shows a low monthly average of 5 days in January 2001. While the average number of days deployed has fluctuated, aircrew members expressed concern about the intermittent suspension of pre- and post-mission crew rest periods that have coincided with increased operations. Generally, these periods have been intended to ensure that aircrew members have enough rest prior to flying another mission. However, aircrew members noted that crew rest periods also allow them to perform other assigned duties and spend time with their families.