Guard and Reserve drill pay: what one drill is worth in 2026

The rule: 1/30 of monthly basic pay

Under 37 U.S.C. 206(a), a member of the National Guard or a Reserve component who is not entitled to basic pay under 37 U.S.C. 204, is paid, under the Secretary concerned’s regulations and as appropriations allow, 1/30 of the basic pay of a member of a corresponding grade entitled to basic pay for each regular period of instruction, or period of appropriate duty, in which the member is engaged for at least two hours. The statute counts a Sunday or holiday period the same as any other.

Three details in that sentence do most of the work:

• “Corresponding grade” and years of service. The monthly figure is the same basic pay table active-duty members use, picked by grade and years of service (the “Over 4” type columns), not a separate Reserve scale.
• A drill is a period, not a day. Pay accrues per period. DFAS’s table has a four-drill column, which matches a weekend of two periods a day, the daily maximum in the FMR. The statute itself does not set a number of periods for a weekend; it leaves minimum standards to the service secretaries (37 U.S.C. 206(b)).
• Services set limits. The statute directs each service to prescribe the maximum number of paid assemblies in a year and the minimum needed before pay accrues. Your unit’s orders and your service’s regulation, not this page, decide your count.

The FMR adds two limits in chapter 58 (March 2025): each paid period must be at least 2 hours, and pay for no more than two IDT periods can accrue in one calendar day. Periods beyond the number your service authorizes do not accrue pay.

DFAS’s 2026 enlisted cells

DFAS publishes the result of that division for enlisted grades, effective January 1, 2026. The page lists the monthly basic pay, then the pay for one drill and for four drills. These are cells from the E-4, E-5 and E-7 rows; the page has every enlisted grade and column.

Each cell equals the monthly figure divided by 30, rounded to the cent, and the four-drill column is four times the one-drill figure. For E-5 over 4: $3,946.80 ÷ 30 = $131.56, and four periods are $526.24. The site’s own pay engine returns the same cells, so the tables here and the numbers it uses agree.

DFAS publishes separate pages for warrant officers and commissioned officers. The same 1/30 rule applies to them; look up the cell for your own grade and years on DFAS’s page instead of scaling another grade’s number.

A year of drills in basic pay

Ready Reserve members are generally required to take part in at least 48 scheduled drills or training periods a year plus at least 14 days of active duty for training, or alternatively up to 30 days of active duty for training (10 U.S.C. 10147(a)), subject to the Secretary of Defense’s regulations. Units schedule and credit these, and the number you actually get paid for can differ.

Take an E-5 over 4 with 48 paid drills and a 14-day annual training, using the DFAS cell. This is basic pay only, with no housing allowance, subsistence or special pay.

The 14 days use the same 1/30 daily rate, which the next section explains. The numbers come from the site’s pay engine, with the total added in whole cents. They are an example of the rule, not a prediction of anyone’s pay, and taxes or deductions come out of the real payment.

Annual training is paid differently

Annual training is not drill pay. A member on active duty for training is on active duty, so the basic pay entitlement of 37 U.S.C. 204(a) applies: the monthly basic pay for the grade and years of service, not a drill-period slice.

For service of less than a month, the FMR (volume 7A, chapter 1, August 2026) pays for each day at 1/30 of the monthly amount and counts the 31st day of a calendar month. That is why a short tour at an E-5 over 4 rate comes to $131.56 a day, the same figure as one drill. Service of 30 days or more is figured as 30-day months (FMR 7A, chapter 1, paragraph 3.2.1.1).

Other entitlements depend on the orders. Whether an allowance such as BAH is payable for annual training depends on the length and kind of orders; the BAH types guide lays out the 31-day line for Reserve members. Special pays have their own rules and are not part of drill pay.

What the site does and does not cover

The site has no drill-pay calculator. The military pay calculator shows a monthly basic pay line for a grade and years of service (choose government housing to skip the ZIP). It has no drill-pay view, so you divide that line by 30 for one drill, the way this guide does, or read the cell on the DFAS page.

Retirement points are counted separately from pay. The retirement points guide covers how drills and other service earn points and how points turn into retired pay.

Tables change. DFAS’s drill tables follow the basic pay table, and the ones above are effective January 1, 2026. The 2027 raise is not settled: the latest pay-adjustment executive order in the Federal Register is the one published December 23, 2025, and the FY2027 defense bill (H.R. 8800) had only been received in the Senate, not enacted, as of October 21, 2026. The pay chart guide tracks where it stands.

Next step

Find your own cell: open the military pay calculator, enter your grade and years of service for the monthly basic pay, and divide by 30. Then check it against the DFAS drill pay page for your grade. Your unit’s administrative or pay office, or DFAS, can confirm which drills were credited and paid.