Issue Date: October 11, 2004
Re-up cash hits $15,000 for certain jobs, brigades
By Jim Tice
Times staff writer
Cash bonuses of up to $15,000 are available to first-term and midcareer soldiers in selected specialties who re-enlist for three or more years with one of several brigade combat teams that are organizing or refitting at stateside installations.
The units and locations are:
•3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
•4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.
•4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
•3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
•3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
•3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson.
•4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Qualifying military occupational specialties include an array of combat arms, combat support and combat service specialties.
These location Selective Re-enlistment Bonuses supplement other incentives and assignment opportunities designed to stabilize units of action and Stryker brigade combat teams for three-year life cycles. Other retention incentives now in effect include specialty-specific bonuses of $10,000 to $40,000 under the regular SRB program, and “in theater” tax-free bonuses of $10,000 for soldiers in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.
The combat zone bonuses, available through Dec. 31, are for deployed specialists, sergeants and staff sergeants with 17 months to 14 years of service, regardless of specialty.
In addition to retention bonuses, Human Resources Command has an online assignment reservation system, called PLUS2, that allows enlisted soldiers and officers to volunteer for specific jobs with units of action.
The new round of location bonuses is targeted at seven stateside brigades and regiments that either are refitting after deployment or are being organized as the fourth ground maneuver brigade of a division.
The incentives expire in two to seven months, depending on location. To receive a bonus, soldiers must re-enlist for three to six years and remain with the unit at least through its life cycle. Reporting dates range from Nov. 30 to April 30.
Bonuses for Zone A soldiers with 17 months to six years of service are capped at $10,000, while a cash payment of up to $15,000 is available to qualified Zone B soldiers with six to 10 years of service.
All bonuses are paid in full at the time of re-enlistment.
Bonuses are calculated by multiplying monthly basic pay times years of enlistment times the zone multiplier, which for the new location bonuses is “3.” Under this formula, most soldiers in the zones of eligibility will draw the maximum payment of $10,000 or $15,000, depending on years of service.