Hostile Fire Pay / Imminent Danger Pay

Validated May 2026

Hostile Fire Pay (HFP) and Imminent Danger Pay (IDP) are special pays for service members exposed to combat-zone threats. The two pays share the same monthly ceiling but operate under completely different rules: HFP is a flat monthly entitlement triggered by a hostile fire event; IDP is a daily meter that runs while a member is on official duty in a designated area. A member cannot receive both in the same month.

2026 Rates

HFP pays the full $225 for any month in which a qualifying hostile fire event occurs, regardless of how many days the event lasted. IDP accumulates at $7.50 per day and caps at $225 once 30 days in an area are reached.

Source: DFAS IDP Areas table and militarypay.defense.gov HFP/IDP overview

Rate in effect since January 1, 2012. Any future rate change requires an act of Congress or DoD FMR amendment.

Eligibility

HFP is paid when the appropriate commander certifies that a member was subjected to a hostile fire event during the month. The four qualifying triggers are:

1. Performs duty in a hostile fire area
2. Is exposed to hostile fire, explosion of hostile mines, or other hostile action
3. Is on duty in a month when a hostile event in the area placed the member in grave danger of physical injury
4. Is killed, injured, or wounded by a hostile fire event

Certification is made at the lowest command level that covers all units involved in the incident. A death certificate or injury report may substitute for commander certification if it establishes hostile fire as the cause. Commander certifications are conclusive and are not subject to government review absent fraud or gross negligence (§3.3).

IDP is paid when a member is on official duty in a Secretary of Defense-designated imminent danger area. Qualifying situations include:

• Surface and internal waters: Land-area designations encompass all internal waters unless otherwise noted
• Vessel duty: A member on a vessel performing operational duty in an IDP area qualifies
• Airspace: Flying over a designated area qualifies only if the area designation explicitly includes airspace — most land designations do not

IDP disqualifiers — a member in the area solely for the following does not qualify:

• On leave from a duty station outside the IDP area (even if that outside location is also an IDP area)
• Merely transiting through the area between two points both outside the area
• Solely for personal convenience

The list of designated IDP areas is maintained by the Secretary of Defense and updated by OSD memo. The DFAS IDP Areas table (updated May 18, 2026) is the authoritative current list — always verify there or with your finance office.

Major expansion effective February 28, 2026 (Operation EPIC FURY): A large set of areas was added or expanded under a single OSD designation tied to Operation EPIC FURY. These include: Arabian Gulf (air+water), Arabian Sea south of 10°N-68°E (air+water), Bahrain (air+land), Black Sea (air+water), Cyprus (air+land), Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago including the Maldives (air+land+water), Gulf of Oman (air+water), Indian Ocean north of 10°S/west of 90°E/east of 68°E (air+water), Island of Crete, Greece (air+land), Kuwait (air+land), Eastern Mediterranean Sea east of 20°E including the Aegean and Levantine Seas (air+water), Oman (air+land), Qatar (air+land), United Arab Emirates (air+land), and expanded airspace designations for Azerbaijan, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey (all of Turkey's air and land domains, removing the prior Izmir/Turkish Straits exclusion).

Auto-expiry clause (Note 5): All areas added on February 28, 2026 are temporary. They expire at the end of the third month beginning after the conclusion of Operation EPIC FURY or any follow-on operation directed by the President. These designations are not permanent and will not appear on the DFAS table once that condition is met.

Pay Limits

Special situations:

MIA/Captured: A member entitled to HFP/IDP immediately before entering missing, MIA, interned, or captured status continues to accrue HFP/IDP for each month in that status (§4.1).

Hospitalization: If a member is wounded, injured, or ill in the line of duty in a combat operation, combat zone, hostile fire area, or from a hostile fire event (regardless of location) and is hospitalized, they may continue to receive HFP/IDP for up to 12 months from the date of hospitalization under the Pay and Allowance Continuation (PAC) Program (§4.2).

Leave in assigned area: A member on leave within their assigned IDP area continues to receive IDP. Leaving the assigned IDP area — even for another designated IDP area — stops the entitlement for that period (§4.3).

What This Means for Your Pay

HFP is all-or-nothing for the month. If your unit takes hostile fire on day 28 of a 31-day month, you receive the full $225 — not 28/31 of it. There is no partial-month proration for HFP. One qualifying event in a month = full month's pay.

IDP is a daily meter. Eight days in an IDP area = $60. Twenty days = $150. The meter hits its ceiling at 30 days ($225). Once you've been in the area for a full 30-day stretch, additional days in that month generate no additional IDP.

The 31st-day rule. For members on active duty for 30 or more days whose IDP service spans a month boundary, the 31st is not counted as a separate prorated day — preventing a double-count when two consecutive months of IDP both begin. For members on active duty for fewer than 30 days, every day including the 31st counts.

Leave rules are stricter than most members expect. You must be on official duty in your assigned IDP area. Taking leave within that area keeps your IDP running. Going on leave outside it — even to another designated country — stops your entitlement for the leave period.

Tax treatment depends on your CZTE status. Most HFP/IDP-designated areas overlap with Combat Zone Tax Exclusion (CZTE) zones. When they do, HFP/IDP is fully tax-free. When they don't overlap, the pay is taxable ordinary income. Use the CZTE toggle in the calculator to see the after-tax difference.

Hospitalization keeps the pay running. If you're medevac'd out of a combat zone after a qualifying wound, you don't lose HFP/IDP the moment you leave the area. The PAC Program continues the entitlement for up to 12 months of hospitalization.

Operation EPIC FURY areas are temporary. The ~19 areas added February 28, 2026 — including the Arabian Gulf, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Black Sea, Diego Garcia, and expanded airspace over Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — will expire at the end of the third month after Operation EPIC FURY concludes. If you are serving in one of these areas, check the DFAS IDP Areas table to confirm the designation is still active.

Common Mistakes

Prorating HFP like IDP. HFP is never prorated. A single hostile fire event in a month triggers the full $225 — the number of days doesn't matter (§2.1.1).

Treating IDP as flat $225. IDP is $7.50/day. Members in an IDP area for fewer than 30 days receive less than $225. A one-week TDY to an IDP area generates 7 × $7.50 = $52.50 (§2.1.2).

Claiming HFP and IDP in the same month. The regulation explicitly prohibits concurrent payment. The applicable pay depends on which statutory authority covers the member's situation that month (§2.1).

Citing § 310 as the governing statute. 37 U.S.C. § 310 was repealed in the 2016 recodification of Title 37. The current governing statute is 37 U.S.C. § 351 (§1.2).

Assuming any IDP area counts for leave. Only leave taken in the IDP area to which the member is assigned for duty qualifies. Leave in a different IDP-designated country does not generate IDP (§4.3.2).

Assuming transit generates IDP. Passing through a designated area on the way between two points both outside the area is not "official duty in the area." No IDP is earned for transit days (§3.2.3.2).

Assuming airspace is always designated. Flying over an IDP country does not automatically qualify. Airspace must be explicitly included in the area designation — it is not implied by land or water designations. The Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, Iraq, and Gaza's Mediterranean Territorial Seas explicitly include airspace; most land designations do not (§3.2.1, Table 10-1 Note 3).

Citation

Authority: 37 U.S.C. § 351
Regulation: DoD Financial Management Regulation (FMR) Volume 7A, Chapter 10 — Special Pay: Duty Subject to Hostile Fire or Imminent Danger (October 2024)
Implementation: DoDI 1340.09 (January 26, 2018, incorporating Change 1, February 2, 2024)
Official rate overview: militarypay.defense.gov — HFP/IDP
Current area designations: DFAS IDP Areas table (updated May 18, 2026)

Validated May 2026