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A year-to-date review of the Army's major retention campaigns for 2008 shows that 72,000 enlisted soldiers have extended their active-duty service and 14,300 captains are under contracts that will keep them in service until at least 2011.
Nearly 7,100 more soldiers re-enlisted than the goal of 65,000 for the year. The number was tabulated in early September, and a final figure will not be available until late October.
Soldiers in combat arms, combat support and combat service support specialties have a range of incentives available in the Army's Selective Re-enlistment Bonus programs.
Flat-rate, lump-sum bonuses under the Enhanced SRB program range from $3,000 to $29,000, depending on a soldier's rank, time in service and military occupational specialty.
The Army introduced a new category this year called Reset SRB for soldiers in designated specialties who are more than 24 months from their current ETC. To be eligible, they must have redeployed from the combat theater within the past 120 days.
Soldiers normally have to be within 24 months of their enlistment expiration, but this new category helps assignment managers reset units after deployments.
Another program sharply increased rates for some first- and second-term soldiers this year. Changes to the Bonus Extension and Retraining program were announced in late July, including lump-sum payments ranging from $3,000 to $29,000, depending on the specialty and length of extension.
The payments have nearly doubled since March for soldiers in the regular bonus category who hold one of the 20 critical skills.
BEAR bonuses also were targeted at soldiers whose terms of service expired before Oct. 1, and who have agreed to retrain and re-enlist in those shortage skills.
The BEAR program complements the regular Selective Re-enlistment Bonus program by shifting soldiers to priority specialties during the ongoing reorganization and expansion of the Army.
Soldiers who participate in the BEAR program are assigned to their new specialty after training, and then can re-enlist for a lump-sum cash bonus.
Captain incentives
The Army targeted retention incentives at most captains in year groups 1999-2005 over the past year.
Since September 2007, 21,500 captains have been eligible to participate, according to data provided by the Office of the G1.
Of the officers in that group, 20,810 remain on active duty as of late September.
During Phase I, which targets year groups 1999-2004, 12,556 captains have extended their service in return for bonuses of up to $35,000, Army-funded graduate school attendance or specific assignments - installation of choice, branch of choice or attendance at certain military schools. Phase I remains open through November.
Another eligibility category, year group 2005, was added to the program in April.
So far, 1,115 of these captains have signed up for an incentive - 1,091 for bonuses, 14 for graduate school and 10 for language school attendance.
Another 600 captains in the target year groups are being retained on active duty through other service obligations resulting from certain and education programs.
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