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Hefty re-up bonuses offered

The Army is making a year-end push to re-enlist soldiers in priority specialties and those scheduled to leave active duty within the next few weeks.

Bonuses for these soldiers range from $6,500 to $33,500.

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Bonus chart

The biggest bonuses are aimed at soldiers whose terms of service expire before Oct. 1.

As part of the same package of updated retention incentives, the Army is targeting lump-sum re-enlistment bonuses of $1,500 to $25,000 at other categories of soldiers, including those deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Changes to the Enhanced Selective Re-enlistment Bonus program took effect Wednesday.

They complement options under other SRB programs, including the MOS-specific inventory and location programs, and the MOS-immaterial deployed program that is capped at $15,000 for in-theater re-enlistments.

Soldiers generally are not allowed to participate in separate SRB programs at the same time. Also, they are restricted to one bonus during their first term; one during the mid-career phase, and one in the career phase.

However, soldiers who re-enlist to meet the service-remaining requirement (24 months) for an Army directed assignment such as drill sergeant, recruiter or school instructor, can receive a bonus for their primary MOS, special skill or language code if otherwise eligible.

The enhanced program was launched in June, and has been updated twice as the Army attempts to fine-tune manning levels for several combat, support and service support MOSs

The revised “critical skills” list contains 77 MOSs and one skill qualification identifier.

While the bonuses generally are restricted to soldiers in the ranks of private first class through staff sergeant, there are exceptions for sergeants first class in selected specialties.

Soldiers whose terms of service expire before Oct. 1 are a priority for an Army struggling to expand and reach an end-strength of 512,000 by Sept. 30 – about 5,000 more than the current inventory of 507,000 soldiers.

They will reduce end-strength one-for-one if they do not re-enlist by that date.

The re-enlistment mission for 2007 is 62,200 soldiers. Through July, the most recent reporting period, 56,951 soldiers have re-enlisted, most of them for some kind of bonus or assignment option.

To qualify for a bonus, as with the other retention incentive programs, soldiers must have 17 months to 14 years of service, and agree to extend their careers by three, four, five or six years.

The enhanced program also is managed by three zone categories – Zone A for soldiers with 17 months to six years of service; Zone B for soldiers with six to 10 years of service, and Zone C for those with 10 to 14 years’ service.

Sergeants first class normally do not qualify for a retention bonus, but under the enhanced program E-7s in the following specialties can re-enlist and be paid at the staff sergeant rate:

• Career management field 18 (Special Forces)

The following MOSs:

• 11B (infantry)

• 37F (psychological operations)

• 38B (civil affairs)

• 79R (recruiting)

• 89D (explosive ordnance disposal)

• 96B (intelligence analyst)

• 96D (imagery analyst)

• 96H (common ground station operator)

• 97E (interrogator)

• 98G (signals intelligence-Arabic)

• SQI T (Delta Force)

Separate bonus rates apply to soldiers whose terms of service expire in fiscal 2008, and to soldiers who are assigned to a Military Transition Team, or who are deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

The largest incentives are targeted at mid-career soldiers in the Zone B category.