(a) Any unit of government with firefighters who successfully complete in each year an in-service training course, appropriate to the firefighter's rank and responsibility and the size and location of the firefighter's department, of at least forty (40) hours duration at a school certified or established by the commission shall be entitled to receive a pay supplement of eight hundred dollars ($800) from the commission to be paid to the firefighter in addition to the firefighter's regular salary.

(b) Any or all firefighters shall be eligible for such educational incentive upon satisfactory completion, as determined by the commission, of forty (40) hours of such training in each year.

(c)

(1) Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, any firefighter who served on active duty in the armed forces of the United States during either the Desert Storm or Desert Shield Operations shall receive the cash salary supplement provided pursuant to this section, if such service prevented such firefighter from attending the in-service training program pursuant to this section. The provisions are retroactive in application.

(2) In addition, any firefighter who served or serves on active duty in the armed forces of the United States during Operation Enduring Freedom or any other period of armed conflict prescribed by presidential proclamation or federal law that occurs following the period involving Operation Enduring Freedom shall receive the cash salary supplement provided pursuant to this section, if such service prevented or prevents such firefighter from attending the in-service training program pursuant to this section.