Coast Guard sea pay is undergoing a total revision January 1, 2017.
The Coast Guard recently revised the three-table sea pay system in an effort to increase compensation for career afloat personnel. The service has replaced the three table system with a new five table system that the Coast Guard leadership says "takes into consideration desirability of different cutter platforms, personnel tempo, deployment lengths and programmed operational hours". Some members will see their sea pay decrease, but most will see an increase in the monthly special pay for those assigned to afloat units.
With the new tables, members who return to sea for multiple assignments will receive an overall increase in sea pay, whereas members serving first-tour assignments will see a decrease. In addition, anyone who is assigned temporary duty aboard a cutter, regardless of their permanent duty station, will receive pay commensurate with the level of cutter on which they are temporarily assigned.
"We made a conscious decision to shift most of the sea pay increases to mid-level enlisted paygrades in an effort to incentivize them to return to sea duty assignments," said Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Steven Cantrell. "A three-level system just wasn't enough, and it didn't allow flexibility to change with the times. These changes don't take place in a vacuum - a lot of decision and a lot of discussion went into these just to get it right."
See our Career Sea page for the new enlisted member rates, or our Officer Sea Pay page for the officer rates.
