Keeping track of all the changes in your benefits is not easy. The 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, along with additional legislation, has updated many existing benefits programs. This checklist — with special thanks to Chief Terry Howell, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired) for its compilation — is a handy reference to some of the most important changes.

Annual Pay and Allowance Increases

• Basic Pay 3.1 percent, COLA, Retirement COLA, BAS.
• An average 5.9 percent increase in housing allowances, with authority to increase set levels temporarily by as much as 20 percent in areas affected by natural disasters or troop surges resulting from force realignments.

2006 New or Increased Bonuses and Incentives

• An increase in the maximum reenlistment bonus offered, from $60,000 to $90,000.
• A higher maximum enlistment bonus, up from $20,000 to $40,000.
• A new ceiling on hardship-duty pay, from $300 to $750 a month.
• A doubling of the maximum assignment incentive pay for hard-to-fill billets or assignments, from $1,500 to $3,000 a month, now payable either in a lump sum or installments.
• A new allowance to cover the first $150,000 in Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) premiums for troops serving in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.
• A new bonus of up to $2,500 for servicemembers who agree to transfer from one service to another and serve for at least three years.
• An incentive pay of up to $1,000 for servicemembers who refer someone who enlists in the Army and successfully completes basic training.
• Expanded eligibility or increased ceilings for special pays for designated medical and dental officers, and officers with nuclear qualifications.
• Increases in the maximum payment for accession and affiliation bonuses, from $10,000 and $15,000, respectively, to a consolidated $20,000 for enlistment in the Selected Reserve.
• Boosts in the maximum affiliation bonus for officers in the Selected Reserve, from $6,000 to $10,000.
• A bonus that could total up to $100,000 over a career for members with a designated critical skill or who volunteer to serve in a designated high-priority unit.
• Extension of eligibility for a prior-service enlistment bonus to include Selected Reserve members who previously received one.

Additional Increases

• An increase of 2,000 pounds in the household goods weight allowance for senior noncommissioned officers E-7 and above.
• Enhanced death benefits, resulting in a total of $238,000 for all deaths not previously qualified for enhanced benefits, and the permanent institution of a policy that continues the basic allowance for housing or government quarters for one year for families of deceased service members.
• Payment of travel and lodging for families of hospitalized service members wounded in combat zones or other designated areas.
• VA Home Loan — 2006 changes in the loan guaranty limits means that veterans are now able to get no-down-payment loans up to $417,000. The previous ceiling was $359,650.

Other Benefits Changes

• Extended eligibility for recent death benefit gains — the $100,000 lump-sum death gratuity and maximum Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance of $400,000 — to survivors of all active-duty deaths, rather than combat-related deaths only. This applies to future deaths and, retroactively, to active-duty deaths since October 7, 2001—  the start of the war in Afghanistan.
• Reserve servicemembers called to active duty for more than 30 days will receive full housing allowance payments. The previous requirement was 140 days.
• Income replacement benefits to help offset the pay loss some reservists and guardsmen experience when called to active duty longer than 18 months. Starting with their 19th month, they will receive up to $3,000 a month in replacement income. Very few, however, will qualify.
• Concurrent Disability and Retirement Pay Phase In (Concurrent Receipt) Military retirees deemed 100 percent Disabled and unemployable, referred to as “IU” retirees, will have their CRDP phased in by 2009 instead of 2014.
• TRICARE Reserve Select — TRS was opened to any drilling reservists, at a higher premium. Ranging from $145 for individuals and $452 for family coverage to approximately $245 a month for individual coverage and $768 for family coverage.

Mr. Michel is founder of Military.com, a company focused on connecting service members, veterans, and their families to the benefits earned while in the service. He is a former naval officer.