The Army has authorized a critical skills-retention bonus (CSRB) of $35,000 for more than 16,000 regular Army captains who agree to stay on active duty beyond their initial active duty service obligation. To receive the bonus, or any of the other items on the new "menu of incentives," eligibile captains must agree to remain on active duty for an additional three years. The other incentives include branch or functional area transfer (changing jobs), assignment to their post of choice, attendence at graduate school, or professional military training opportunities.
The bonus is available to captains with dates of rank of April 1, 2002 or later, based on the original accession branches listed below.
- The basic $25,000 bonus is available to officers who were originally commissioned in air defense, engineer, finance, signal, quartermaster, nurse corps and select medical service medical functional areas.
- Officers commissioned in adjutant general, armor, chemical, military police and ordnance are eligible for a $30,000 CSRB.
- Officers commissioned in aviation, transportation, infantry, field artillery, and military intelligence are eligible for a $35,000 CSRB.
An initial version of this plan was announced last May, but Army officials quickly pulled the story from the Army News Service, because the plan had not been finalized by senior leaders. The final plan increases the number of officers eligible for the bonus (up from 7,000), and includes a higher basic bonus (up from $20,000) and targeted higher amounts for officers in critical branches.
According to Army officials, while Army officer retention remains high, because of increased troop-size requirements authorized by Congress, the Army needs about 6,000 more captains and majors than it did in 2004.
Complete details about this program can be found in Military Personnel message 07-237 (Note: You must have an Army Knowledge Online account to access this message).
