COLA for Military Overseas Plunges with Dollar

STUTTGART, Germany — Most service members in Germany can expect about a $200 cut in their monthly cost-of-living allowances this year as a result of rising prices for goods in the U.S., where inflation has outpaced that in Germany, according to the Department of Defense’s Per Diem, Travel and Transportation Committee.

Troops in Belgium and the Netherlands will experience similar declines, which have been postponed for two years pending the outcome of a U.S. European Command-requested study on the methods for calculating COLA. That review is now finished, and the results call for curtailing the allowance.

The reductions won’t come all at once, however, but will be phased in between May and August (2009) to soften the impact.

Source: Stripes.com

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61543