When will I start getting ENS pay?

[Phantom Hawk]

I tried doing a search but couldn't find anything so I apologize if this has been covered before. I commission in May and the admin people at my unit told us not to expect a paycheck right away due to seniority and admin issues. For those of you that have recently commissioned, when did you get your first O-1 paycheck? Was there a significant wait? Thanks for your help everybody!

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Same here. Would be great to know when i'll be getting some cash money.

 

[MIDNJAC]

It took a good 2 months I believe before my pay actually started showing up. It was "pro-rated" back to my commissioning date plus move pay and a bunch of other stuff, but yeah, a bit of a wait.

 

[AUtiger]

I commissioned this past May and recieved a paycheck on June 1. After you commission you should go to your PSD who should already have your pay paperwork. With a little bit of luck you should get paid right away. Disclaimer: some people I commissioned with didn't get it right away so plan accordingly.

 

[gotta_fly]

I got my first check two days after commissioning pro-rated for two days of O-1.

 

[brownshoe]

Could be this fellow needs some “loot.” Is there some way he’d be able to get an advance on his pay? We had a way to do this back in my day.

Steve

 

[MIDNJAC]

Ahhh yes, someone's post reminded me of why my initial paycheck took so long. PSD up in WA (where my original papers had been passed to from my NROTC unit) had me on file as Reserve on Active status which for the last bunch of years has been completely incorrect. Anyway that contributed to some sort of an administrative FUBAR that stopped up my pay. Pcola PSD helped get it fix, though it took a couple visits to figure out what was going on.

 

[red_ryder]

well, you are supposed to bring a few hundred bones of spending money with you. Also, all your uniform gear you buy on credit with the uniform shop, and pay at the end. If you're smart, you also sign up for the military star card and get 10% off on that bill, pay it off thereafter, and keep the receipt to claim on your next tax returns.

 

[MrsPickle]

Search USAA's Cadet Loan. $25K at 2%. Paid off Pickle's uniform debt without blinking an eye (actually, I about sh!t my pants). It was about $2600. We put a deposit and first month's rent down on our house in Pcola. It was nice to not have to worry about where the money was going to come from.
(Just a thought)

 

[MIDNJAC]

^ what she said. I had a bunch of $$$ left over after I bought my car (plus a good amount I had saved from college) so at least I didn't have any money problems while I wasn't getting paid. Definitely plan to not get a paycheck for at least 3 pay periods I would say. The first one is a given, and you would probably be lucky to get it by the second.......my old unit didn't get the ball rolling fast enough to clear the admin date. IIRC they (DFAS) set up payments on the 24th and the 7th or something like that, so if your papers go in after that date, you will miss the following pay period. So 3 pay periods, maybe even 4 is a pretty good conservative bet

 

[NozeMan]

Something else to keep in mind: you're only going to get paid based on your date of rank. My class all commissioned on the 12th of May, but our DOR is 26 May. We didn't get paid for that two weeks, didn't have TRICARE for that period either. Don't expect to see any money until June, or even later.

 

[Phantom Hawk]

So the consensus is not until June if not later unless we're lucky. While we are on the money subject, chances are I'm gonna get stashed at my home unit and have to babysit for cortramid east for a little while. Do we get paid BAH based on where we are stashed or will we get P-cola BAH since that's where we will end up at?

 

[NUFO06]

Nozeman......I got paid for everday after comm, my date of rank was also two weeks later but I got credit and pay for the 13th even thou i didnt get promo until the 26th. So i got O-1 with 2 year pay for a paycheck and then 0-2 with 2. It was also that way for my SWO classmates.

 

[armada1651]

Something else to keep in mind: you're only going to get paid based on your date of rank. My class all commissioned on the 12th of May, but our DOR is 26 May. We didn't get paid for that two weeks, didn't have TRICARE for that period either. Don't expect to see any money until June, or even later.

I don't believe that's correct sir, or at least not anymore. I was commissioned 03 May, date of rank 23 May, and I did get paid for that period. It's always been explained to me that the only purpose of the date of rank adjustment is so that NROTC and Academy officers promote at the same time. So you should be paid between your commissioning date and date of rank, and you should also be paid as an O-1 with >2 years for the few weeks preceding your first promotion...which, of course, means us NROTC types will have an extra few hundred dollars of beer money to celebrate not having gone to the Boat School.

As for when the money actually starts flowing, it will depend on your PSD. Mine took about a month and a half. You will receive BAH for where you are stashed.

 

[torpedo0126]

I commissioned on the 19th of June and didn't receive first paycheck retroactive to 19 June until 15 July.