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Off base residents urged to complete OHA survey

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Marasky
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
Military personnel living off base will soon be given an opportunity to affect how much money they receive for their housing allowances.

The Annual Overseas Housing Allowance Utility and Move-in Expenses Survey for uniformed U.S. Service members is scheduled for Japan from April 15 through May 14.
"The utility survey is conducted annually to collect utility and recurring maintenance data from service members who receive an overseas housing allowance," said Ron Stewart, U.S. Forces Japan country allowance coordinator. "The Per Diem Travel and Transportation Allowance Committee uses this data to compute the OHA for service members worldwide."

It's important for military personnel living off base to take this survey, as it will directly impact how much money they receive, said Capt. Joshua Iachini, 18th Comptroller Squadron deputy financial services officer.

"The information collected by the survey will be tabulated by the committee and differences could be seen in our pay checks within a few months," he said. "The results of this survey will directly affect the monthly allowances for everyone living off post."

This month's survey is one of three that have been conducted here on Okinawa over the past three months, starting with the living pattern survey from February of this year.

"The base did extremely well on the living pattern survey," said Captain Iachini. "We had almost 1,000 more responses than the last time the survey was completed in 2005."

As with the previous survey, it's important to have maximum participation, said Captain Iachini.

"All service members who reside off base should take this survey to ensure that accurate compensation is being received," he said.

The survey will be available to all Service members who reside in privately leased quarters and receive overseas housing allowance. No outside contractors will be involved in the survey.

"With the continuing weakening of the dollar against the yen the chance of an increase in the monthly utility stipend is in our favor," said Captain Iachini. "But it won't happen without participation in this survey."