Is it true that if you are a off the street OCS Grad that you qualify for Per Diem for the entire time that you are in PCola waiting to get into and through API until you get to Primary? If so, how does that work and what is the going rate for diem? Also is there a cap on that since there are so many ensigns spending so much time in Pcola?
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Per Diem While In P'Cola
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Nope, not true. That rumor was making the rounds of A-pool a couple of weeks ago. Another one was that Corpus/Vance/Moody guys were getting A-pool per diem checks while Whiting guys were not. Geez, you think with all the stash time people would come up with better rumors.
No you don't get per diem cuz there's govt quarters and govt mess available. If not, you get BAH. If you're geo bach, and there's no govt quarters, you are entitled to per diem but someone says they've found a way to screw you out of it. But that's the only way you'll get per diem. I'm a former PN1 and I'm going geo bach so if there's no govt quarters they better pay me or show me an instruction.
I just got my paperwork for the money I got for my move from Pcola to Corpus. I was in Pcola from Jun-Dec, and only got $35 of TDY per diem. The guy who files paperwork in Corpus said there's no way you can get per diem for your entire time in Pcola. I did get $612 in PCS per diem. All told I got over $1000 for moving here, which aint bad at all
Here's how it works, for me anyhow. It depends on how your orders are cut. My orders state that API is 139 days. Since it's less than 140 days, API is not considered a PDS (Permanent Duty Station). When you report geo bachelor to a non-PDS location for temdu and there's no govt quarters available, then you're entitled to per diem. Primary is more than 139 days, so it's a different story. What I hear is that if there's no govt quarters in P'cola, they make you get a room at Whiting. If both Whiting and Pcola are full (crossing my fingers), you should be able to draw per diem. You single guys can either live in the Q or draw BAH.
I admit, I wasn't a great PN who committed instructions and manuals to memory, but it doesn't take a great PN to know where to look this crap up.
I admit, I wasn't a great PN who committed instructions and manuals to memory, but it doesn't take a great PN to know where to look this crap up.
JayManC
Registered User
i dunno, the way i understood it, SNAs in API that were considered to be temporary duty under instruction with posted follow-on orders to ANYWHERE BUT WHITING were entitled to per diem. SNFOs were not due to sherman being on NASP. coming out of OCS we were given a brief on how to get it. something about reporting to API immediately following graduation and not taking advantage of OPDS orders. truthfully i wasnt listening seeing as how i wasnt entitled to it. i will say this. my roommate was receiving per diem for a short period, but when his orders ran out (given the a-pool stash time) he went in to Capt. Opry for an extension on his per diem and was told that it would not be approved (at least not by him) for an extension. how this pans out into the scheme of things eludes me. Capt. Opry said he needed to wait till he got to his follow-on command and to see if theyll okay it.
as for living in govt quarters on p-cola; i thought they were kicking guys out of the Q to make room for enlisteds, and as for living on whiting...who wants that commute?
as for living in govt quarters on p-cola; i thought they were kicking guys out of the Q to make room for enlisteds, and as for living on whiting...who wants that commute?
T37Driver
Lone Warrior
Well, I know for sure that the BDCP guys get per diem while they are in Pensacola given that you are not going to Whiting. I graduated OCS back in January and did not leave Pensacola until mid May for Vance.
I did get per diem and if I remember right, I was getting it at a rate of $55.00/day. That was a really good chunk of change. Just being off the street doesn't get you per diem though. BDCP guys get per diem because Pensacola is considered their TDY assignment. Hope this helps. Oh yeah, under the BDCP program, only SNA's who are not going to whiting get per diem. NFO's don't.
That is the extent of my knowledge on this subject.
I did get per diem and if I remember right, I was getting it at a rate of $55.00/day. That was a really good chunk of change. Just being off the street doesn't get you per diem though. BDCP guys get per diem because Pensacola is considered their TDY assignment. Hope this helps. Oh yeah, under the BDCP program, only SNA's who are not going to whiting get per diem. NFO's don't.
That is the extent of my knowledge on this subject.
Fly Navy said:
That sounds about right, but then I got a different story in Pensacola and Corpus so who knows. 180 or something like that is the cutoff for TDY.
140 days is the cutoff for TDY. Lets say you hit the 120 day mark (20 days left) but you still have 4 weeks of school. They will recompute and say "he has another 48 days left, which is less than 140, so he can continue to get per diem. That's how guys can go longer than 140 days and still receive per diem. If they were to recompute at the 20 day mark, and there's like 4 weeks left, they would say "he has 168 days left, so now this is a PDS" and per diem goes away. I had found this in the JFTR so later on I'll try to find it again and post the chapter number. But now that I think about it, with 140 days being the cutoff, and my orders being written to reflect 139 days for API (which technically is only 42 days), it seems like they did it so that I could draw per diem if I have to. Wow, {sniff} the Navy loves me!
The only guys who got per diem when I was there were the BDCP guys. ROTC, OCS (non-BDCP), academy......no love. The BDCP guys were collecting per diem and BAH.....lots of cash. But at least one BDCP guy I know got a nice little call from PSD saying "oh by the way ENS **** Bag you owe us xxxxx thousand dollars"
I think the collecting of per diem by some and not all is total horse sh1t and some people are skirting the edge of defrauding the government.....seriously, does anyone actually think it is OK for a few people to collect a couple of thousand of dollars in living expenses while going through API???
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I think the collecting of per diem by some and not all is total horse sh1t and some people are skirting the edge of defrauding the government.....seriously, does anyone actually think it is OK for a few people to collect a couple of thousand of dollars in living expenses while going through API???
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