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Due to a stronger U.S. Dollar, military personnel stationed in the Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC) will experience a decrease in their cost-of-living allowance (COLA). Effective 1 Sep 08, the OSD level Per Diem, Travel and Transportation Allowance Committee changed the rate COLA is paid at from 0.62 Euros per dollar (overpayment of COLA given the current exchange rate of 0.66) to 0.6751 Euros per dollar (underpayment of COLA). The Per Diem Committee intentionally under/over pays service members COLA throughout the year in order to provide pay stability, with the over/under payments averaging out throughout the course of the year.

How will the change affect you? Effective 1 Sept, COLA rates dropped by 15% for all military members. To find your new daily COLA rate you can go to the Per Diem Committees webpage at http://perdiem.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/ocform.html and enter you specific information, like time in service and number of dependents. For example, the daily COLA payment for an E-5 living in the KMC, with 10 years of service and three dependents decreased from $32.22 a day to $27.39 a day.

Your Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA) dollars will also be affected, although in a more indirect way. OHA rates, which are delineated in Euro’s, are not changing; however, the rate used by the Per Diem Committee to compute COLA is also used to convert your OHA Euro’s to Dollars. The new COLA rate means that the number of OHA dollars you will receive will be about 8.2% less in Sept than what it was in August. For example, and E-5 with dependents receives a max OHA of 1,794 Euros for housing and utilities in both August and September. In August, those 1,794 Euros converted to $2,893.54, and in September they will convert to $2,657.38 - a reduction of $236.16.

The 435th Comptroller Squadron is providing this information via the KA and through command channels in order to prepare service members for the reduction. It’s important to make changes to your spending patterns now so you are not caught short when your mid-month pay hits your account on 15 Sept.

AWESOME! Not..

that SUCKS...but on the flip side San Diego gets nothing for COLA even with the cost of living being so high.

:vent this is SUCH bullshit. The dollar has NOT gone up that much.

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AWESOME! Not..

Not cool.

:vent this is SUCH bullshit. The dollar has NOT gone up that much.

I know! I haven't been paying much attention recently but when we first got here it went up and down a significant amount what seemed like every week. Now it's been up more than not, but that still isn't a huge increase. We live off base so we're definitely going to feel it. The dollar better be getting a lot stronger.

the dollar going up is good for the economy. Sorry ya'll are losing money though!

I know! I haven't been paying much attention recently but when we first got here it went up and down from .61 to .66 what seemed like every week. Now it's been up more than not, but that still isn't a huge increase. We live off base so we're definitely going to feel it.

Us too

oh frickety frack. this freaking SUCKS. We NEED that COLA. Costs continue to rise here with the dollar continuing to be sucktastic.

oh frickety frack. this freaking SUCKS. We NEED that COLA. Costs continue to rise here with the dollar continuing to be sucktastic.

No kidding! Geez :no

and the dollar is NOT getting that much better. I had to get euros again this weekend and the exchange rate was only like.....1 euro more than before. not to mention getting crappy gas prices

and the dollar is NOT getting that much better. I had to get euros again this weekend and the exchange rate was only like.....1 euro more than before. not to mention getting crappy gas prices

That is what I don't get. I would be more understanding if it was a huge jump but it's not. My husband said he was told before we came over that they're really late on increasing and really early on decreasing. This is the first time we've seen it change since we've been here.

That sucks! It is so depressing seeing it going down when they say it is "up". To me it doesn't seem like it is up at all since when we got here it was like .85 or .87. If it was a bigger jump then maybe I would feel a little better about it.

That is what I don't get. I would be more understanding if it was a huge jump but it's not. My husband said he was told before we came over that they're really late on increasing and really early on decreasing. This is the first time we've seen it change since we've been here.

We've seen it change, but we have been here two years. The Dollar used to be really strong against the euro when we got here, now it sucks. I could see it if the dollar was strong again adn prices were dropping, but when we are still paying something like $5 a gallon for gas, amongst other exorbitantly priced items(like our freaking adsl that only works half the time and costs $75 a month, and is our only option on base), we NEED that COLA.

the dollar going up is good for the economy. Sorry ya'll are losing money though!

The dollar has not gained hardley at all though. In the last month the euro rate went from .61 euro= 1 USD to now when its .66= 1 USD

When I got here last year the Euro was at almost .80 =1 USD so for them to be dropping cola is not good.

Emmy, I feel ya, we live off post too and our electric bill was almost 500 Euro. Thats almost as much as our rent. I cant wait for it to get cold again.

15% is way too much to drop our COLA. The dollar hasn't gained 15% so what sense does that make? I feel like it never went up that much anyways, when the cost of living was getting so expensive. They do always take forever to give us more, and are in such a hurry to lower the amount. UGH!
And Jennifer you are so right, the gas is over $5, we spend $100 for internet that is crap and phone just to call around base.
Ugh.

I'm so sorry. Stronger dollar? Stronger than what? the pesos? Wait, the Pasos is catching up to us.

We've seen it change, but we have been here two years. The Dollar used to be really strong against the euro when we got here, now it sucks. I could see it if the dollar was strong again adn prices were dropping, but when we are still paying something like $5 a gallon for gas, amongst other exorbitantly priced items(like our freaking adsl that only works half the time and costs $75 a month, and is our only option on base), we NEED that COLA.

:yes It is insane. I was so excited gas dropped 10 dollars. Now its only 121 dollars to get a full tank of gas :no

15% is way too much to drop our COLA. The dollar hasn't gained 15% so what sense does that make? I feel like it never went up that much anyways, when the cost of living was getting so expensive. They do always take forever to give us more, and are in such a hurry to lower the amount. UGH!
And Jennifer you are so right, the gas is over $5, we spend $100 for internet that is crap and phone just to call around base.
Ugh.

yeah, I cant believe how much they are dropping COLA.

this totally sucks :(

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AWESOME! Not..

I was commenting on the article saying the dollar is getting stronger. Which it is.

That really sucks! It's only for K-Town service members though, right? I think I read that right.

I was commenting on the article saying the dollar is getting stronger. Which it is.

It has not gotten much stronger. Definitely not enough for them to drop it 15% and our OHA by 8%.

That really sucks! It's only for K-Town service members though, right? I think I read that right.

I posted this article because this is what will be published in our newspaper next week. I have heard this is for all of Europe though.:dunno