A new menu of Selective Retention Bonuses and reclassification opportunities will be available to Regular Army soldiers Jan. 27.
Until then, SRB rates and Reclassification In-Out Calls that were announced in early October remain in effect.
Retention bonuses that were announced by the Army Jan. 12 (see charts below) will include lump-sum cash incentives in more than 200 specialty, skill and career management field combinations.
The location-specific SRB category, a sub-set of the tiered SRB program, has several opportunities for airborne- and Ranger-qualified soldiers.
Retention bonuses for most soldiers who meet specialty and re-enlistment criteria range from $500 to $72,000 for service extensions of three to six years. Under Army policy, enhanced bonus payments of up to $90,000 are available to certain soldiers with proficiency in priority languages.
Top-tier payments under the new bonus rates are limited to special operations – Special Forces, Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs - sergeants, staff sergeants and sergeants first class with foreign language proficiency.
Federal law and Army policy do allow soldiers to receive more than one SRB during a career. However, combined payments over the length of a career cannot exceed $200,000.
SRBs are paid lump-sum, and generally are tax-free if paid in a combat zone.
A soldier's individual re-enlistment window for 2016 opens 15 months in advance of a soldier's expiration term of service (ETS), and closes 90 days before the end of the ETS.
The 2016 Regular Army retention mission is limited to soldiers whose re-enlistment opportunity window occurs during the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
The SRB rates will be complemented by a Jan. 27 update to the Reclassification In/Out calls, which are a career planning tool soldiers can use to determine which MOSs are open or closed to reclassification.
Soldiers who are in the re-enlistment window only are allowed to change their primary MOS through re-enlistment. They are not eligible to request a voluntary reclassification.
A change in law two years ago allows the Army to pay a Selective Retention Bonus to soldiers who reclassify in conjunction with re-enlistment.
To qualify for an SRB, soldiers must meet the rank and specialty requirements identified in the payment chart. Additionally they must have at least 17 months of continuous active duty, but no more than 14 years of active federal service.
The in/out calls are issued periodically by Human Resources Command. When combined with the monthly promotion point trend analysis, cutoff scores and SRB announcements, they indicate what specialties offer good career prospects in an Army undergoing major personnel cuts and force structure changes.
Soldiers with questions about the re-enlistment and reclassification process should contact their local career counselor.
