(a) When the Virgin Islands National Guard, or any part thereof, is ordered to active duty for Territorial service by the Governor, as Commander-in-Chief, and pay is authorized for the duty under the order prescribing the Territorial service to be performed, the commissioned officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel so ordered are entitled to the same pay and allowances and transportation in kind that officers and enlisted persons of the same rank and length of service in the armed forces of the United States receive for a similar period of service.
(b) Special duty pay at the additional amount of $16.00 per day shall be paid to those officers and members of the Virgin Islands National Guard ordered to Territorial Active Military Service who are in the Medical Department and the Judge Advocate General's Corps, and to those officers and members qualified and performing duties as aviators, aviation crew, parachutists, vessel crewmen or explosive ordnance disposal personnel.
(c) Within the amount appropriated therefore, pay for the Territorial Inactive Military Service periods for each hour of such duty shall be one-eighth of the daily pay and special duty pay (as appropriate) prescribed for the officers and members in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, provided that such pay shall not exceed eight hours per day and such pay may not be earned by an officer or member on the same day said officer or member has earned Territorial pay for Territorial Active Military Service.
(d) Members of the Virgin Islands National Guard shall not receive from the Territory the pay or the pay and allowances provided for by this section when their pay and allowances are paid from federal funds. Members and officers whether paid by territorial or federal funds shall not be charged the cost of any field subsistence or field quarters. Members and officers on Territorial Active Military Service traveling to and serving on an island other than their usual island of unit assignment are entitled to travel allowances as provided in the Joint Federal Travel Regulations, Volume 1 unless all transportation, lodging and subsistence is furnished free in kind.
(e) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this chapter, members of the Virgin Islands National Guard may, with their consent, perform without pay or allowances any of the types of military duty described in this chapter pursuant to orders issued by competent military authority, provided that necessary traveling expenses, subsistence and per diem allowances may be furnished such members within the discretion of the Adjutant General and within the amount appropriated therefor.
(f) Officers and members on Territorial Active Military Service shall accrue one day leave off with pay for every six days of Territorial Active Military Service duty performed and paid for. If days of leave off are not able to be taken as earned, the accrued amounts may be paid at the termination of Territorial Active Military Service. Territorial Active Military Service pay shall otherwise only be paid for days of at least eight hours duty actually performed. Duty of less than eight hours shall be paid for at hourly rates at the rate of one-eighth of the daily pay and special pay provided in subsections (a) and (b) of this section.
(g) The Adjutant General shall receive an annual salary equal in amount to pay of the highest paid commissioner of an Executive Department of the Territory. When and if ordered into Territorial Active Military Service, the Adjutant General shall forfeit his salary during such period and receive pay as set forth for his Territorial military pay in subsection (a) of this section.
(h) There shall be allowed annually such sum, not exceeding the amount appropriated therefore, as may be necessary for the pay and allowances of the officers and members of the Virgin Islands National Guard on Territorial Military Service Duty.
(i) The pay and benefits received by service members of the National Guard of the Virgin Islands under this chapter are not a gratuity but are compensation for services provided as a condition of membership in the National Guard of the Virgin Islands.
(j) Service members who are Territorial Government employees, when called by proper authority into a Territorial active duty status, are entitled to the regular benefits provided by the employing agency and a paid leave of absence as provided by section 1524.
(k) A service member compensated under this section is eligible for workers’ compensation coverage under 24 V.I.C. § 282.
(l) A service member who is on active guard reserve status, including a member serving on orders issued under titles 10 or 32 of the United States Code, may not receive Territorial active duty pay or Territorial training and other duty pay.
(m) A service member who is a federal technician in a paid status may not receive Territorial active duty pay or pay for Territorial training and other duty unless the member is on a military leave or leave without pay status from the federal employment.