Subscribe
By Amanda Tucker
3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – When considering re-enlistment , there are plenty of options and incentives for Soldiers to choose from, depending on their component and if they're serving in a combat zone.
"Each Soldier has their own unique needs, wants and desires," said Master Sgt. Adam J. McKinney, the active duty career counselor for the 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), from Fort Knox, Ky., and an Indianapolis native. "My job is to try and match their needs, wants, and desires up with the needs of the Army."
McKinney has five options to offer the active component, Regular Army re-enlistees. According to McKinney, the best is the Regular Army re-enlistment option. With this, the Soldier would be used according to the needs of the Army.
Next, the Stabilization re-enlistment option gives a Soldier 12 months from the date of re-enlistment to reside at their current installation.
Third, the retraining re-enlistment option allows Soldiers to change from one military occupation specialty to another. AC Soldiers choosing to use this option must meet the requirements for the new MOS they are considering, or they cannot re-enlist for the MOS. This option also gives Soldiers in the active component the opportunity to expand their military skills and knowledge by going to schools.
The fourth option, gives Soldiers the chance to go overseas. The Overseas Assignment re-enlistment includes assignments such as Europe, Korea, Alaska and Hawaii.
Lastly, the continental United States Station-of-Choice re-enlistment, gives a Soldier the option of choosing their next duty station.
Although these five options cannot be combined; they can come with incentives or something extra a command can offer. Some examples are extra rest days or passes. Some units are creative and offer educational opportunities, allowing the Soldier to go through a semester of college, if they re-enlist for the stabilization option.
Bonuses are another incentive offered to Soldiers. All bonuses received in Iraq and in-theater are tax-free; allowing Soldiers to save thousands of dollars.
The bonus amount depends on the Soldiers rank, time in service and the number of years being added to their expiration term of service date. Normally, a Soldier will wait 24 months before their expiration term of service date to re-enlist and receive their bonus. But while deployed, Soldiers can re-enlist out of their window for the Regular Army re-enlistment option or stabilization re-enlistment option.
While there is no limit to how many times a Soldier can re-enlist, there is a limit to how many bonuses a Soldier can receive.
An AC Soldier can only receive one bonus per zone. Zones are broken up into an A, B and C group, with each group representing time in service. The A group consists of Soldiers with 17 months to six years, B group is six to 10 years and C group is 10 to 14 years.
While the active duty re-enlistment options give Soldiers opportunities to choose where they will be stationed next, Army Reserve retention works their incentives in a different way.
According to Sgt. 1st Class James K. Lord, the Army Reserves retention non-commissioned officer in charge for Iraq, and an Oshkosh, Wis., native, the re-enlistment incentives for Reserve Soldiers are centered around education.
Reserve Soldiers re-enlisting in Iraq can receive $10,000 for student loan repayment and $4,500 a year for tuition assistance.
In addition to college financial assistance, reservists are entitled to a bonus. While stateside, Reserve Soldiers would receive a bonus according to their MOS. A deployed reservist can receive $7,500 for a three-year re-enlistment or $15,000 for a six-year reenlistment. A Soldier re-enlisting before they have served eight years in the reserves will receive their bonus in one lump sum while reservists serving more than eight years will receive the bonus in payments.
While the reserves incentives will remain the same until April 1, the National Guard's career counselors are waiting on what the new National Guard incentives will be.
"Our new incentives programs ... are supposed to be out by Jan. 31, 2009," said Sgt. Maj. Stephen M. Donaldson, the Army National Guard forward deployed career counselor team theater sergeant major and Springfield, Ill., native.
According to the National Guard career counselors, the new incentives program can be superseded and could change.
"Don't ride the fence waiting for this new policy," advised Sgt. 1st Class Andrew E. Berger, a forward deployed retention career counselor for the National Guard Bureau and a Charleston, S.C., native.
National Guard incentives currently consist of a $15,000 bonus for an additional six years on their contract and $7,500 for three years. The guard also provides a student loan repayment program in the amount of $20,000 and a Montgomery GI bill kicker, which adds an extra $200 a month to the GI bill. Deployed Soldiers get paid one lump sum instead of the 50 percent up front and 50 percent distributed in payments.
The three components all have counselors at the Warrior Support Center here and work together for the Soldiers interested in re-enlisting.
"This is truly one team, one fight out here," said Berger.
| Date Taken: | 01.20.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 01.20.2009 02:36 |
| Story ID: | 29032 |
| Location: | BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 336 |
| Downloads: | 231 |
This work, Army Career Counselors offer re-enlistment options, bonuses to Soldiers in combat zones, by SSG Amanda Tucker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
