Leave and Earnings Statement for Air Force

Leave and Earnings Statement for Air Force

This is a MUST DO when you get to tech school. Your leave and earnings statement (LES) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a document that shows your acquired and spent leave days and it shows your earnings breakdown and deductions from your paycheck. This is very important because it allows you to make sure you’re military pay is correct and nothing is missing or being added.

If you are missing pay or pay amounts are incorrect, you can let finance know and they will have to address the issue to resolve it and you’ll eventually get back paid for the amounts you didn’t receive that you should have.

If you’re getting paid more than you’re supposed to, you’ll owe that money back. For instance, say you’re single but your LES shows that you are getting BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) which you shouldn’t be unless you’re married or you live off base. So if you’re single and in Tech School or living on base in the dorms, you shouldn’t be getting BAH. That means you’re being paid extra. It’s important that you catch this ASAP. That way you don’t spend the extra money and can set it aside in your savings account while you let the Air Force know. You’ll owe the extra money that they paid you.

If you don’t address it and this goes on for several months, you’ll owe all that money back once the Air Force realizes they were overpaying you. It’s not super common, but it does happen.

I knew an Airman that was getting paid 2 different housing allowances for over a year and he never paid attention. When the Air Force found out, he owed the Air Force over $20,000. If he would have realized that his paychecks were bigger than they should have been, he could have set that extra money aside and let finance know. Instead he spent all that money and had to get on a reduced payment plan to pay back the amount over time.

Here is a video of me breaking down the Air Force LES.

Unfortunately, I didn't know what this was until after I was at my first base for a few months. This is where you will look to see how much money you make each month, where that money is coming from, how much leave you have, and your taxes deducted. You can access your LES through Air Force portal. You will click on MyPay and it will take to all of the referenced information.