(Navy) 2010 lookahead: What’s ahead in the new year

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The ($600+ million dollar) littoral combat ship Freedom will go on its maiden deployment to U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Pacific Command early this year.


(Navy) 2010 lookahead: What’s ahead in the new year
Staff report
Posted : Sunday Jan 3, 2010 9:21:25 EST

Expect big changes in pay, uniforms, hardware and personnel policy in the coming year. A rundown of the top issues for sailors to watch:

For 11 straight years, service members have received a Jan. 1 increase in basic pay that is slightly larger than average private-sector raises. But that could end when Congress takes up the 2011 budget.

Bigger raises have been part of a congressional effort, largely opposed by the Pentagon, to close a perceived gap in pay that grew in the 1980s when military raises were capped. After the 3.4 percent Jan. 1, 2010, increase, the pay gap, which peaked at 13.5 percent in 1999, will be reduced to 2.4 percent.

Whether there will be a 12th consecutive year of gap-reducing raises will depend on the state of the economy and whether election-year politics make lawmakers more interested in cutting federal spending than in continuing to close the pay gap.

Military advocates are urging Congress to keep chipping away at the pay gap by providing raises through 2013 that are half a percentage point greater than private-sector raises.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/01/navy_year_ahead_010310w/