New step in the process to end stop-loss - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

New step in the process to end stop-loss

Some Regular Army enlisted soldiers soon will be told to either deploy or leave service as the Army phases out the controversial and unpopular stop-loss program.

Soldiers who do not re-enlist or extend will be subject to the rules of a new program approved by Army leaders in mid-November. Under the Enlisted Involuntary Early Separation Program, in some cases soldiers may be involuntarily separated before their expiration term of service, or ETS.

As announced last spring, stop-loss restrictions will not apply to active-component units that deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan and other contingency areas after Jan. 1.

The elimination of stop-loss across the Army’s three components began Aug. 1 for deploying Army Reserve units, and Sept. 1 for the Army National Guard.

A recent accounting of the stop-loss program shows that 372 Army Reserve, 3,930 National Guard and 4,818 Regular Army members, for a total of 9,120 soldiers, are serving with deployed units beyond their contracted service end dates.

That condition is expected to remain for several months, as the Army weans itself from a hard-edged policy that has been applied in various forms over the past eight years.

Soldiers who deployed, or will deploy before their component’s specified launch date, will remain under stop-loss until they return to home station or are demobilized.

Because units will continue to deploy under stop-loss until Dec. 31, the restrictive policies will not be totally eliminated until March 2011, according to Maj. Jennifer Walkawicz, a policy integrator in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Human Resources at the Pentagon.

By that time, all soldiers who were deployed under stop-loss before Jan. 1 will have returned to home station and completed their 60-day transition processing.

Compensation

Under a special compensation program in effect since March 2009, stop-loss soldiers are entitled to $500 for every month they are held past their contractual term of service or voluntary retirement date.

During the one-year transition to eliminate stop-loss, Regular Army enlisted soldiers with separation dates that fall during their unit’s deployment, and who do not re-enlist, will be offered extension incentives of $350 or $500 per month to complete the deployment.

Walkawicz said soldiers who sign an extension agreement six months or more before their unit’s arrival in theater will receive $500 for each month they serve beyond their enlistment contract.

Soldiers who extend less than six months before their unit’s deployment will receive $350 per month.

Exceptions will be made for soldiers who are assigned to a unit six months or less before it deploys, and to soldiers who are in units that are given late deployment alerts.

These soldiers will qualify for the $500-per-month payments.

Major provisions of the Enlisted Involuntary Early Separation Program are:

• Soldiers who will have at least six months in service when their unit arrives in theater will deploy with the unit.

However, unless they re-enlist or extend, they will be returned to home station at least two months before their contracted separation date, or ETS, for transition processing. They will leave service on the contracted separation date.

• Soldiers with ETS dates that fall less than six months after their unit’s arrival in theater will stay at home station and be involuntarily separated no earlier than 30 days, and no later than 90 days, before their contracted ETS.

• Soldiers with ETS dates that will occur before their unit’s arrival in theater, and who do not re-enlist, will be separated as scheduled.

The involuntary separation program applies to Regular Army enlisted soldiers who have at least 36 months of active service, but no more than 71 months of total service, at the time their unit arrives in theater.

The 36-month requirement ensures that soldiers do not lose their eligibility for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, while the 71-month rule ensures they do not qualify for separation pay.

Soldiers with fewer than 36 months, and more than 71 months of service, will not be involuntarily separated, nor will soldiers who have not been medically cleared for separation and those who are pending investigation or court-martial.

Veteran entitlements

Soldiers who are involuntarily separated under this program will receive an honorable discharge and will be eligible for all the veteran entitlements associated with a normal separation.

The DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, issued to these soldiers will indicate that they left service as the result of a reduction in force.

Walkawicz said soldiers who are separated under this program do not lose their eligibility to return to Army service in the future.

These soldiers will not be required to repay any unearned portion of an enlistment or re-enlistment bonus; neither will they be forced to sell back unused leave.

Commanders have been instructed to adjust ETS dates so that soldiers can take transition leave if that is their choice.