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Want to re-up for bigger bonuses? Do it now

Army funding for re-enlistment bonuses will decline sharply in 2009 as service retention programs enjoy unprecedented success at a time of economic uncertainty in the civilian sector.

Selective Re-enlistment and Bonus Extension and Retraining programs will continue to feature a diverse menu of options for soldiers with 17 months to 14 years of service.

However, revised programs that take effect Jan. 1 target fewer specialties for bonuses, while payment rates will be reduced across all qualifying categories.

That means soldiers who want to extend their Army careers in the near future should do so by Dec. 31.

That is when the higher payment levels that have been in effect since October expire.

“I know that the holiday season is coming, and many soldiers will be away from their units, but if they want to re-enlist they really should make an effort to contact their career counselor before Dec. 31,” said Master Sgt. Patrick Johnson, retention operations NCO in the Office of the G-1 at the Pentagon.

Bonus rates slated to expire New Year’s Eve include cash payments of $1,500 to $29,000, depending on a soldier’s rank, time in service, military occupational specialty and eligibility category.

Payments under the revised programs that take effect Jan. 1 will range from $1,000 to $27,000, and the number of specialties that qualify for critical skill bonuses will be reduced from 88 to 62.

Johnson said it is common practice for the Army to open a fiscal year with robust bonus opportunities in the hopes that soldiers whose enlistments expire later in the year will decide to stay in service.

That strategy appears to have worked this year, with the service on track to achieve one of its best first-quarter retention campaigns ever.

Here is a summary of major changes that will begin Jan. 1 for the Enhanced SRB program and the Bonus Extension and Retraining program:

• Bonuses of $2,000 to $17,000 for privates first class through staff sergeant who hold one of 62 critical skills and whose current enlistments expire before Oct. 1, 2009.

Soldiers in any of 88 critical skills who re-enlist by Dec. 31 will receive lump-sum bonuses of $3,000 to $22,000.

• Tax-free incentives of $1,000 to $9,000 are available to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, regardless of military occupational specialty, for service extensions of six months to six years. These deployed bonuses are also available to certain field artillery and air defense soldiers deployed to Djibouti, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Soldiers in this category who re-enlist by Dec. 31 will receive cash bonuses of $1,500 to $11,000.

• Bonuses of $3,000 to $27,000 for soldiers serving in one of 36 special critical skills, and privates through sergeants first class in critical skills who are within 24 months of their current enlistments and who have deployment orders but who have not yet deployed.

Soldiers in this category who re-enlist by Dec. 31 will receive bonuses of $5,000 to $29,000.

• Bonuses of $2,000 to $12,000 for soldiers who hold a critical skill or special critical skill, are more than 18 months from the end of their current enlistment and are within 120 days after returning to home station from the combat theater.

Soldiers in this “reset” category who re-enlist by Dec. 31 will receive bonuses of $3,000 to $14,500.

• Bonuses of $2,000 to $17,000 for soldiers in selected military occupational specialties who re-enlist for assignment to specific units.

Soldiers in this “location SRB” category who re-enlist by Dec. 31 will receive bonuses of $3,000 to $22,000.

• Bonuses of $2,000 to $27,000 for soldiers who retrain and reclassify to a priority MOS under the BEAR program.

Soldiers who re-enlist for the BEAR program by Dec. 31 will receive bonuses of $3,000 to $29,000.

The impending cuts in the enlisted retention programs follow two years of record spending on bonuses.

A recap of recent retention campaigns shows that of the 74,000 soldiers who re-enlisted in 2008, 52,300 received lump-sum cash bonuses totaling $715 million — an all-time record.

Pentagon officials expect payments in 2009 will be cut by at least $90 million as the Army approaches the end of the 65,000-soldier force increase that began in 2003.

Soldiers staying

While military personnel officials have yet to determine the lasting implications of the ongoing economic recession, Army enlistment and retention programs have been thriving for several months.

For example, the re-up total of 74,000 for fiscal 2008 is nearly 9,000 more than the mission of 65,000.

While re-enlistment figures for December have yet to be tabulated, it appears unit commanders and retention NCOs will come in with nearly 30,000 re-enlistments for the first quarter of 2009.

That total is nearly half of the annual mission of 65,500.

Along with a successful recruiting campaign that saw 80,500 young people join the Army in 2008, the active component — with an end strength of more than 544,000 — appears well-positioned to reach the force expansion goal of 547,400 soldiers in 2009, one year ahead of schedule.

See:

• Enhanced SRB Program

• Bear Program Updates