Senators Murkowski, Sullivan, and colleagues urge Service Secretaries to implement Cold Weather Pay for service members

It gets cold in Alaska. Often bitterly cold, as seen by the recent prolonged cold snap that wrapped around Southcentral Alaska in January, with double-digit subzero temperatures lasting for weeks. The temperatures often necessitate special gear for military members standing watch, performing drills, and day-to-day activities at posts all across the state, and that gear can be expensive, which is why military members often receive Cold Weather Pay. But service members who are entitled to that pay, which was designated in the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), say they have yet to receive funds.

In response, Senator Lisa Murkowski led a group of her Senate colleagues in two letters urging U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth to begin implementing the cold weather special duty pay for service members based in certain locations, a provision Senator Murkowski led in the Fiscal Year 2023 NDAA aimed at addressing mental health in the military. The letter was also signed by Dan Sullivan, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with North Dakota Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer.

“[Servicemembers] 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. And while units often issue appropriate cold weather gear to the military member in order to continue operations through the winter, [servicemembers] 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 [servicemembers] 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,” writes the senators.

Both letters also highlight the burden of financial stress on mental health, and notes the problem of high rates of suicide affecting the military. “As you know, cold weather locations have long endured increased risks related to suicide, a trend that has unfortunately manifested across both the civilian and military populations. Many factors drive this trend and are well-known to contribute to military suicides as a whole.”

“This financial burden is unique to the north and has second and third-order effects beyond a service member’s bank account. Should a soldier 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. Providing additional funds for our soldiers 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.”

The letters come after continuous outreach from Airmen and Guardians not just from Alaska, but also Montana, and North Dakota, that have yet to receive the authorized special duty pay—a violation of Congressional intent.

“The Fiscal Year 2023 NDAA introduced cold weather pay that was designed to be a critical tool to attack multiple facets of the mental health crisis among service members in our most northern locations. However, more than a year later, we continue to hear from [service members] across Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota that they have yet to receive special duty pay specifically for performing cold weather operations, special duty pay that was clearly intended to be a separate consideration from the “hardship duty pay” that roughly 100 Alaska-based Airmen and Guardians receive. It is not difficult to see that this failure to act is in clear violation of Congressional intent, both in scale and scope,” the letters state.

A “cold-weather location” is defined in the NDAA as any location where the temperature reaches -20 degrees Fahrenheit or below. For the Department of the Air Force, this would include Eielson AFB, Clear AFS, Malmstrom AFB, Minot AFB, Grand Forks AFB, and other applicable/smaller units and detachments serving in a qualifying location.

“We should make it easier, not harder, for service members and their families to live and thrive in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota. It’s completely in your control to act.”