A soldier counts cash at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, in this undated photo. The Pentagon has expanded its list of countries and waterways in the Middle East where U.S. troops are engaged in combat operations against Iran, broadening eligibility for extra pay based on exposure to hostile activity. (Sinthia Rosario/U.S. Army)
The Pentagon has designated over a dozen new areas where troops now qualify to receive special pay for serving in dangerous or hostile fire conditions, including on or around the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
The changes came as Iranian strikes targeted U.S. bases throughout the Middle East. As of Friday, 13 U.S. service members have died in the American-Israeli campaign against Iran known as Operation Epic Fury.
The Defense Department designates the waters, land or airspace of certain areas as hazardous enough that deployed troops can receive up to $225 a month in either imminent danger pay or hostile fire pay, depending on their exposure to hostile fire.
Troops serving in the designated areas can qualify to receive imminent danger pay on a prorated daily basis, up to the monthly limit.
Hostile fire pay is not prorated, and those who serve even a single day in a location under qualifying conditions, such as troops killed or wounded by hostile fire, receive the full $225 for the month.
The designation for Diego Garcia covers the airspace, waters and land of the island and the Chagos Archipelago, of which it’s a part, as well as the island nation of the Maldives, according to a note on the Defense Finance and Accounting Service website.
Last month, Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the island, which is home to a joint U.S.-U.K. military base that serves as a hub for long-range U.S. bombers, warships and submarines.
There are about 2,400 people on the small island in the Indian Ocean, including about 400 service members and over 2,000 DOD civilians and contractors, according to the Pentagon website Military OneSource.
The military list now includes the air and land of countries that Iran has struck with missile or drone attacks since the war began.
It includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus, as well as Crete. The Greek island is home to the Navy base at Souda Bay, where the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford docked in March after a fire broke out on board.
DOD updated the list of designated areas in a table published March 10 on the DFAS website, Task & Purpose first reported Wednesday.
At least 365 American personnel have been wounded in the war with Iran, according to Defense Manpower Data Center figures published online. That number consists of 247 soldiers, 63 sailors, 36 airmen and 19 Marines.
For some locations, the changes expand an imminent danger pay designation that dates back years or even decades.
For example, the update adds a designation for the airspace of Iran, where an existing land designation has been in effect since Nov. 4, 1979, the date militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of Americans hostage.
New designations also include the airspace over Azerbaijan, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, where the land area had already been designated, and the waters and airspace of the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
The 19 new designations took effect Feb. 28, when President Donald Trump announced the beginning of hostilities.
They extend until a date to be determined, either three months after the end of Operation Epic Fury, or after any follow-on operation that Trump may order.
