ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION FOR SOME

Army officials have settled on a compensation plan that would give soldiers whose tours in Iraq have been involuntarily extended a tax-free bonus of up to $1,000 each month...

The first part is an additional $200 each month in hardship duty pay, which every soldier will receive on top of the $100 in hardship pay he or she has already been earning while in Iraq. There is a $300 ceiling, by law.

The second part involves a choice: Take another $800 in Assignment Incentive Pay each month, or take a “stabilized tour” when they return home, “the length of which will be [equal to] the total amount [a soldier] was deployed,” Barrett said during a Wednesday telephone interview.

The guarantee is the Army’s promise that the soldier will not be deployed for the time he or she is stabilized, Barrett said.