Fritzi, a corgi, beings in a dog cage at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, May 29, 2020. (Taylor Slater/U.S. Air Force)
Families transferring to their next task stations this year are not likely to be compensated for the cost of moving their family pets, according to a Marine Corps press release.
Money to pay that expense is wending its method through Washington’s governmental pipeline.
Buried in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2023 is an arrangement to allow the military to compensate service members’ family pet moving costs approximately $550 within the U.S. and an optimum of $4,000 outside the continental United States.
The Marine Corps launched a declaration June 9 “to manage expectations” prior to the start of this year’s peak moving season. The program won’t work up until January, according to the declaration.
“I think it’s great that the Marine Corps released something on an official platform,” Liz Hensel, creator of Leave No Paws Behind U.S.A., informed Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “Because it just shows that we are moving forward in the right direction.”
The group helps military households with resources and pet transport expenses to and from overseas.
“I’ve been promoting for this modification for the last 4 years,” Hensel said. “Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said, ‘Yes, let’s do something about this,’ and after that we had the ability to make this legal modification.”
The Marine Corps release set out the procedure for getting the family pet privilege into the Department of Defense Joint Travel Regulations.
“It must first be approved by the Services’ Military Advisory Panel members, Service Principals, and then finally by the Chairman of the Per Diem, Travel, and Transportation Allowance Committee,” the release said.
The compensation is at the last approval level, a Department of Defense spokesperson said Wednesday. She might not state when the approval procedure would be finished.
“The item is pending Per Diem Travel and Transportation Allowance Committee Chair approval,” Jade Fulce informed Stars and Stripes by email.
The Joint Travel Regulations were last upgraded June 1 however consisted of no details about family pet compensation.
“We’re still waiting on the Joint Travel Regulations to kind of tie up the verbiage and then release it in that publication because none of the rest of the services can do anything with the reimbursement until it’s in the Joint Travel Regulations,” Hensel said.
