Big bonuses come with CSRB update - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Big bonuses come with CSRB update

Soldiers can earn up to $150,000 in a big-bucks menu of re-enlistment incentives for Regular Army senior noncommissioned officers.

An update to the Critical Skills Retention Bonus program gives soldiers in 13 shortage specialties a range of bonuses based on specialty and length of time they extend their service.

The CSRB program features lump-sum payments of $18,000 to $150,000 for some senior NCOs who are at or near retirement eligibility. The program falls under the category of selective re-enlistment bonuses.

To qualify, soldiers must be in a designated military occupational specialties, have the applicable total years of active federal service and extend their careers for 24 months to 72 months.

Soldiers may be paid a bonus within 90 days of reaching the total active federal service start date for their MOSs.

Bonuses generally are tax-free if paid in a combat zone.

There is a cap on how much in bonuses a soldier may accrue. Army policy restricts soldiers to no more than $200,000 in total bonus payments under CSRB and SRB programs during a career.

Soldiers who qualify for the top bonus of $150,000 for extending six years include:

• Senior NCOs who hold special skill identifier “T” (Special Forces Operational Detachment-D).

• Special Forces weapons, engineer, medical, communications, operations and intelligence and senior sergeants.

Cryptologic linguists specializing in Arabic or Persian can draw a bonus of $100,000 to $130,000, depending on rank and years of service.

Other specialties on the list include 21P (prime power production specialist), 25S (satcom system operation and maintenance specialist), 37F (psychological operations specialist), 38B (civil affairs specialist) and 89D (explosive ordnance disposal specialist).

Soldiers can extend under the program without regard to the retention control point for their grade if they otherwise are qualified for re-enlistment.

However, CSRB requests that would result in the soldier exceeding 25 years of active service will not be considered by Human Resources Command.

Other rules that apply:

• Soldiers who are serving an indefinite re-enlistment must be within 24 months of their expiration term of service and re-enlist for at least three years.

• Soldiers can combine a re-enlistment and service extension to meet the additional obligated service requirement for their grade and MOS in the bonus chart.

• Soldiers serving an indefinite re-enlistment must sign a statement agreeing to stay on active duty for the number of years designated on the bonus chart.

• Soldiers who want to draw a bonus for a language-dependent MOS must have been certified within the past 12 months for a proficiency level of at least 2 for listening, and 2 for speaking and reading.

Applicants with a score of 3/3 or higher on the language test will receive an additional $15,000 above the bonus level listed in the chart.