Entitlement of Military Members to Basic Allowance for Quarters and Temporary Lodging Allowances

Questions were raised concerning the entitlement to basic allowance for quarters (BAQ) and temporary lodging allowances (TLA) of Marine Corps personnel assigned to temporary additional duty away from their permanent stations in Hawaii. Specifically, the questions asked were: (1) whether prohibition contained in Federal regulations against the payment of BAQ to members without dependents while on field or sea duty applies to temporary as well as to permanent assignments; (2) whether service members, who are required to vacate Government quarters because of the commencement of a temporary additional duty assignment of field or sea duty of 3 months or more, are entitled to TLA incident to the members' return from the assignment; and (3) whether TLA would be different if the member concerned were entitled to BAQ during part of his temporary additional duty assignment, or if, after relinquishing his quarters on the basis of his orders contemplating sea or field duty of 3 months or more, his entitlement to BAQ continued throughout his absence because the field duty or sea duty did not eventuate as contemplated. In response, GAO stated that: (1) the prohibition contained in Federal regulations against payment of BAQ to members without dependents while on field or sea duty of 3 months or more applies to temporary as well as to permanent duty assignments; (2) TLA may be paid under current regulations to a service member without dependents who must give up his permanent housing while on temporary duty away from his permanent station for extended periods; and (3) TLA may be authorized, regardless of whether the member actually loses, or only partially loses, BAQ entitlement if it can be established that the member vacated his permanent quarters because he reasonably expected that he would lose his BAQ entitlement in view of his temporary duty deployment.