United States military pay is money paid to members of the United States Armed Forces. The amount of pay varies according to the member's rank, time in the military, location duty assignment, and by some special skills the member may have. Pay will be largely based on rank, which goes from E-1 to E-9 for enlisted members, O-1 to O-10 for commissioned officers and W-1 to W-5 for warrant officers. Commissioned and warrant officers will be paid more than their enlisted counterparts. Early pay grade promotions are quite frequent, but promotions past E-4 will be less frequent. Pay versus allowances There are two broad categories of military pay: "pay" and "allowances". Typically, pay is money which is based upon remuneration for employment, while allowances are money necessary for the efficient performance of duty. Generally speaking, pay is income, while allowances are reimbursement. In the landmark case Jones v. The United States, the United States Court of Claims decided that military allowances are not "of a compensatory character" and "not income as well". Since it was determined that allowances are not income, they cannot be taxed, divided, or garnished, while pay can be. (42 USC 659, et seq.) Method of pay Typically members are paid on the 1st and 15th day of each month. If the 1st or 15th of the month falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday the member is paid the first business day before. The monthly pay statement is known as a "Leave and Earnings Statement" (LES), which is usually available near the end of each month. The money is directly deposited into a member's personal banking account. The payment on the 15th is known as "mid month pay", and the pay on the 1st is "end of month pay". (End of month pay used to fall on the last day of the month, but in 1990 was moved one day to the first to save money in a fiscal year.) Major components There are a few components which most military members receive. Basic pay Also known as "base pay", this is given to members of the active duty military on a monthly basis and is determined by their rank (or more appropriately their pay grade) and their length of time in military service. Basic pay is the same for all the services. 37 USC 1009 provides a permanent formula for an automatic annual military pay