Officials discontinue Command Responsibility Pay

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Command Responsibility Pay, which has been authorized for payment to selected Air Force commanders since 2002, will be phased out by Sept. 30, 2007.

"Several factors have contributed to the need to eliminate CRP," said Maj. Gen. Tony Przybyslawski, Air Force Personnel Center commander. "These include constant changes in eligibility based on legal requirements as well as the Air Force's need to free up dollars to reinvest in future capabilities."

CRP will terminate for all eligible on Sept. 30 with the following exceptions.

-- Commanders rotating between command positions or whose initial date of command is on or after Jan. 1 will not receive CRP.

-- Officers filling colonels' billets that were previously identified for removal from the list due to statutory limitations will lose their CRP on Dec. 31, 2006, and will be notified individually of the discontinuation.

While the authority to pay CRP to selected commanders has been on the books for more than 50 years, the Air Force had opted out of exercising the authority until 2002, for many reasons. In 2002, the secretary of the Air Force determined CRP should be paid to Air Force commanders. Since then, the Air Force's budget priorities have changed dramatically.

The law caps the number of members who can draw this pay to 10 percent of those serving in each rank, major through colonel. End strength and grade reductions have forced the AF into a position where it cannot conform to statutory requirements without annual adjustments to the program, which translates into ever-shifting eligibility for those officers whose positions were identified for payment.

Additionally, the combination of statutory caps and funding limitations has left some officers, serving in valid command billets, off the list. This same limitation has also forced the removal of others, previously authorized, from the list of authorized positions.

The Air Force is taking the phased approach to eliminating CRP to effect as smooth a transition as possible.

(Courtesy of Air Force Personnel Center News Service)