Guard & Reserve pay worksheet

Drill Pay vs. VA Compensation Calculator

For the paid training periods and days you enter, this worksheet shows the gross military pay and allowances beside the VA compensation or pension that would be waived for the same days. Every rate, count, and assumption it uses is shown. It never recommends which benefit to waive; that election is yours, on VA Form 21-8951-2.

DFAS basic pay tableLoading rate period…
Have these ready: your paid drill periods and active-duty training days for the year (your LES, unit payroll record, or the count printed on VA Form 21-8951-2), and the actual monthly VA payment from your award letter or VA.gov. One paid drill period waives one day of VA benefits, so a typical two-day drill weekend with four paid periods waives four days, not two.
1

Record basis and comparison period

How do you want to compare?
The election on VA Form 21-8951-2 covers compensation and pension alike.
DFAS tables are calendar-year tables; VA/DoD reporting is usually by Federal fiscal year, which can span two tables. Earlier or mixed years need exact record amounts.
Includes O-1E/O-2E/O-3E, O-7 and above, and the E-1 under-4-months rate. Senior enlisted advisors of a service have a single special rate; use the per-period override or exact records for it.
Cumulative years for pay, from your service record. Brackets run through Over 40 where DFAS publishes one.
Gross, before taxes and deductions, from your LES or pay record. A bank deposit is a net amount (taxes, TSP, SGLI, allotments, and collections are already out) and is not usable unless reconciled back to the pay record. When entered, this amount controls the military side.
2

Paid military periods and days

Each paid drill period and each paid active-duty day counts as one day of VA benefits waived (M21-1 VI.ii.3.A). Every field starts blank; nothing is assumed.

Periods, not calendar days. A standard year is 48 periods; your LES or points statement has the real count.
Annual training is commonly 14 or 15 days; enter your actual paid days.
The count printed on VA Form 21-8951-2 or the notice, if you have it. Leave blank for a planning-only comparison.
Optional total for BAS, BAH, special or incentive pay your records show for these periods. Not every member receives these; enter only amounts your records support.
Optional override from your LES; otherwise the official table is used (one period = 1/30 of monthly basic pay).
Optional override; never reused from the drill-period override. One active-duty day is also 1/30 of monthly basic pay.
3

Your VA payment

From your award letter or VA.gov, not a rate-table guess: your actual payment already includes your dependents, SMC, and every award-specific amount. VA uses a 30-day month for this adjustment; the daily rate shown is rounded for display and the total is computed from the unrounded value.
4

Review and reconciliation

Rates, rules, and sources used

Sources re-verified August 27, 2026. The military table holds official DFAS figures only; every published value was cross-checked against DFAS's own drill-pay charts.

Guard & Reserve VA Claims
Duty types, veteran status, and the full plain-English drill-pay offset rule behind this worksheet.
VA Math Calculator
Not sure of your monthly VA amount? Combine your ratings and see 2026 pay with dependents.
Back Pay Calculator
How VA withholds and restores amounts across effective dates, including drill-pay withholdings.
All VA Calculators
Combined rating, back pay, SMC pay, DIC, pension, and the rest in one place.