If you don’t jump to snatch Selective Reenlistment Bonus bucks, you might lose out.
“Due to the high number of SRB takers in Fiscal Year 2019 to date, many skills are approaching or have already met their SRB quotas,” wrote Vice Adm. John B. Nowell, Jr., the Navy’s top uniformed personnel officer in Tuesday’s NavAdmin 129/19.
The new chief of naval personnel announced cuts to awards across the three reenlistment zones, moves that will slash incentive payments for 88 skills in 20 ratings.
Another 14 skills in 10 ratings are eliminated for the remainder of the fiscal year and no additional incentive payments were announced in the update.
For bonus purposes, a “skill” is either a navy rating or a rating combined with a Navy Enlisted Classification code denoting more specific skills.
Following longstanding Navy policy, the sea service won’t reduce the payments for 30 days, giving sailors who have yet to sign up a last chance to receive a bonus.
But that 30-day grace period won’t affect 102 skills in 34 ratings that previously shut down their SRB payments when each met their fiscal year retention goals.
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Tuesday’s alert was the first update to the Navy’s bonus program by NavAdmin message since December, although periodic updates have appeared on the Navy Personnel Command’s website.
Reenlistment bonuses remain for only 48 skills in Zone A for those with up to six years of service; 60 skills for Zone B for those who have served between six and 10 years; and 27 skills in Zone C for those who have spent between 10 to 15 years in uniform.
First-term sailors in seven surface engineering ratings also remain eligible for bonuses in the “Pay for Performance” pilot program. It’s designed to reward the top performers in the following ratings: Electrician’s Mate - EM, Engineman - EN, Gas Turbine Systems Technician - GSM , Machinist’s Mate (Surface) - MM(SW), Damage Controlman - DC, Hull Maintenance Technician - HT and Machinery Repairman - MR.
To be eligible for the incentive payments, sailors must have received early promote recommendations on two of their last three performance evaluations; have passed three years of fitness tests; and have encountered no legal woes for three consecutive years.
The Navy calculates the bonus by using a “multiple.” It’s a number assigned to a skill that’s then multiplied by the amount of the sailor’s monthly basic pay.
That product is multiplied again by the number of years chosen for reenlistment, up to a maximum of six years.
Another 0.5 will be added to the multiple for sailors in the performance pilot, which hikes their total payout.
More eligibility details are available here.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
