The Army has issued a new menu of Selective Retention Bonuses, and many of them are targeted at airborne soldiers.
The new re-enlistment incentives range from $1,600 to $72,000, depending on specialty, rank and length of service extension.
The cash bonuses, which are paid lump sum, are limited to members of the Regular Army.They take effect March 16, which means the rates in effect since Oct. 31 are valid through March 15.
The current re-enlistment window of opportunity includes soldiers whose expiration term of service, or ETS, occurs in fiscal 2015, which ends Sept. 30.
A soldier's individual re-enlistment window opens 15 months before their ETS, and continues through 90 days before their ETS.
Soldiers who are in the re-enlistment window only are allowed to change their MOS through re-enlistment. They are not eligible to request a voluntary reclassification.
While the Army has eliminated the Bonus Extension and Retraining, or BEAR, program, it is authorized to pay a Selective Retention Bonus to soldiers who reclassify, and who are otherwise eligible for a bonus.
The SRB changes that take effect March 16 do not reinstate the MOS-immaterial SRB for soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.
That option, which was suspended in October, previously featured bonuses of $500-$1,300 to deployed soldiers, regardless of MOS, who extended their service by 12 to 60 months.
The March 16 bonus program retains the 10-tier SRB structure of the past, with a top-end payment of $72,000 for senior NCOs who extend for 60 months or more.
As in the past, Tier 10 options are limited to language-proficient NCOs in Special Forces, psychological operations and civil affairs.
The location-specific options in the revised SRB program include bonus opportunities for airborne-qualified soldiers in more than 80 combat arms, combat support and combat service support specialties.
Unit-specific assignments include the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Special Operations Command, the Civil Affairs Brigade, general support aviation units, the 82nd Sustainment Brigade and a diverse menu of MOS-specific positions coded for parachute-qualified soldiers holding skill qualification identifier "P."
Soldiers who re-enlist for a location or unit-specific assignment will be stabilized for at least two years, unless the location is in a short-tour area. Stabilization in a short-tour area will be for 12 months.
