Troops' time at home to increase

WASHINGTON — Beginning next year, soldiers at Fort Drum should be able to spend twice as long at home as deployed to war zones, under the budget proposed Monday by the Pentagon.

The long-elusive goal of keeping soldiers home two years for every one year deployed — and five years for every year deployed for the Army reserves — should become reality in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in unveiling the budget to Pentagon reporters.

Mr. Gates highlighted that goal among several personnel-related measures the Defense Department plans to undertake or emphasize in the next budget year. Overall defense spending will climb 1.8 percent, with a base budget of $548.9 billion and a war contingency fund of $159.3 billion. Personnel spending climbs only slightly overall, to $138.5 billion from $135 billion this year.

In addition, soldiers will see a pay raise of 1.4 percent, which is smaller than in recent years. Mr. Gates said defense officials will "revisit" bonuses during the year.

"We'll raise basic pay, revisit bonus policies and pursue more innovative and flexible ways to retain quality personnel," Mr. Gates said.

Military families can also expect their premiums for the Tricare health insurance program to remain steady, but Mr. Gates signaled the Pentagon remains interested in hiking premiums modestly for the first time since 1995.

While other government workers pay as much as $3,300 for health insurance for a family of three, Mr. Gates said the Tricare premium for a family of three is around $1,200.

Past Pentagon proposals to raise out-of-pocket health costs have stumbled in Congress. But Mr. Gates said Tricare costs will only increase — they now total around $55 billion annually — and that officials want to work with Congress to "bring some modest control to this program."

Programs for wounded warriors will receive a boost. The Pentagon proposed more than $2 billion for those.

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., praised personnel-related provisions in comments on the budget.

"This budget proposal invests in our people by providing a military pay raise, a housing allowance increase, a funding boost for family support programs, and by preventing any increases in health care fees or copayments. The budget proposal also builds on the ongoing effort to provide the best possible care and support for our wounded warriors," Mr. Skelton said.

The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., cautioned that Pentagon efforts to cut waste in the defense health program must not "jeopardize the access our troops, retirees and their families have to first-rate health care at an affordable cost to them and the taxpayer."

Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, was still studying the budget Monday, said his spokesman, Sean Magers, but in a statement vowed to push for a "renewed commitment" to military installations, including fighting cuts in this year's operating budget at Fort Drum.

Next year's proposed budget calls for an increase in operations and maintenance accounts.