WASHINGTON – The Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provided language authorizing special duty pay to servicemembers assigned to cold weather locations to address the mental health crisis among members serving in northern locations. According to the FY 2024 NDAA, cold weather locations are defined as any location where the temperature reaches -20 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Qualifying military stations in North Dakota include Minot Air Force Base, Cavalier Space Force Station, and Grand Forks Air Force Base.

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee which authors the NDAA each year, joined U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and John Hoeven (R-ND) in a letter regarding recent reports servicemembers across North Dakota, Alaska, and Montana, have yet to receive this special duty pay for performing cold weather operations, more than a year after the pay was authorized in law.

The senators explain cold weather locations have long endured increased risks related to suicide, a trend which has manifested across the civilian and military population. The letter calls on the Air Force to implement this pay as Congress intended to make it easier, not harder, for servicemembers and their families to live and thrive in North Dakota, Alaska, and Montana.

“Airmen and Guardians in cold weather locations are asked to perform their duties in harsh environments, with temperatures that regularly dip below -20 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter,” the senators wrote. “And while units often issue appropriate cold weather gear to the military member in order to continue operations through the winter, Airmen and Guardians are left to shoulder the financial burden of ensuring their families are appropriately equipped for the long winter season, a financial burden that a majority of our servicemen and women across the Department do not encounter. When you add up the cost of necessities such as coats, boots, and related gear, studded snow tires, snow blowers, engine block heaters, etc., the financial burden is not small. In cold weather locations these items are not just nice-to-have, they are necessities.”

“This financial burden is unique to the north and has second and third-order effects beyond a servicemember’s bank account. Should an Airman or Guardian feel financially unable to appropriately equip themselves or their families for a healthy lifestyle outside of work and during the winter season, they are likely to favor more sedentary activities indoors, which can lead to increased depression and suicidal ideations,” the senators continued. “Providing additional funds for our Airmen and Guardians in cold weather locations—installations that the Department directed they be assigned—is not likely to solve the Department’s suicide problem, but it will assuredly help.”

To read the full letter please visit: https://senatorkevincramer.app.box.com/s/slylhw4zieg4h4sw4vb8p81a0p6kcyn3