and don't come with the "I pay taxes" line, we all do that
Not when you're in a 'combat zone', you don't.
In fact, one of the common military scams involves commanding officers who will move their units into a designated combat zone for brief periods just to qualify for the IRS exemption for that month (not to mention the fact that hazard pay is awarded whether you spend 1 day or 30 days out of a month in the zone).