thedrifter
04-23-07, 08:37 AM
The changing face of special pay
Defense officials’ plan would change bonuses, benefits
By Rick Maze - rmaze@militarytimes.com
Posted : April 30, 2007
The Pentagon is asking Congress to consider a bundle of special pay and bonus increases, including two precedent-setting changes in recruiting and retention incentives.
First, the plan asks for bonuses for people who have up to 25 years of service, not normally a high-priority retention target.
Military retention programs once depended heavily on the draw of a potential retirement check after 20 years of service, and retention bonuses were rarely paid for those with more than about 18 years of service.
But the military’s new plan looks for some careers to extend well beyond the 20-year point — part of a broader initiative that has also seen several new time-in-service raises inserted into the pay table beyond 26 years of service for the top two paygrades in the enlisted, warrant officer and commissioned officer ranks.
While only a few specialties — Navy surface warfare officers, Army special operations forces and Air Force combat controllers and pararescuemen — would be offered career-retention bonuses under the Pentagon initiative, the move would set the stage for even greater change in military pay in the future, defense and congressional sources said.
A second precedent-setting change, also initially aimed at a small group of people, would break the two-decades-old policy requiring troops to make an irrevocable decision on enrolling in the Montgomery GI Bill program during basic training.
The Defense Department proposes giving people who enlist in the military under a program that helps repay student loans — which makes them ineligible to earn GI Bill benefits during their initial enlistment — a chance to sign up for GI Bill benefits if they later re-enlist. That could open the door to allowing others to sign up for GI Bill benefits later in their career.
Those and many other compensation proposals are being sent to Congress for consideration as part of the 2008 defense authorization bill, along with higher-profile initiatives such as the proposed 3 percent across-the-board pay raise next January.
What follows are the details of the Pentagon plan:
Late-career retention bonuses
Defense officials propose to make enlisted members and officers with up to 25 years of service eligible for up to $150,000 a year if they stay in, although most payments would not be nearly that high.
Under the proposal, service members with up to 25 years of active or reserve service, or a combination of both, could be eligible for the critical skills retention bonus now targeted at younger troops.
Defense officials said they need this authority “to help stem losses of highly trained and experienced personnel possessing the critical skills needed to sustain the war on terrorism.” Officials made the point that they need experienced people now and cannot afford to wait for replacements to be recruited and trained.
The current inability to pay retention bonuses to people with longer periods of service is hurting because some officers with critically needed skills have years of prior enlisted service.
The new expanded authority would help in three areas, defense officials said. The Navy, with a shortage of 620 surface warfare officers in the ranks of lieutenant commander through captain, believes it could fill about 42 of the positions each year by offering bonuses to officers with prior enlisted service, officials said.
The Army estimates it would keep about 30 special operations soldiers with up to 25 years of experience each year, and the Air Force estimates it could qualify 22 combat controllers and pararescuemen each year. Marine Corps officials say they have no immediate plans to use the benefit.
Defense officials said they expect to spend about $4 million more per year on bonuses if Congress approves the plan.
Double educational benefits
In another precedent-setting proposal, defense officials want to find a way to allow people who enlisted with a promise of getting help in repaying student loans to also be eligible for GI Bill education benefits, something not possible under current law, which limits people to just one of the two benefits.
The Pentagon’s plan would allow those who enlisted for the loan repayment benefit an opportunity to enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill if they later re-enlist.
That would set two precedents — it would allow two education benefits to be earned, albeit through separate obligations, and it would allow enrollment in the GI Bill at a time other than during basic training.
Defense officials said their proposal would let troops “make a sound decision at a much more appropriate time,” and would also “correct inequities in application and the perception of unfair treatment.”
This would also make the GI Bill a kind of re-enlistment bonus. Traditionally, military personnel officials have viewed GI Bill benefits as a recruiting incentive that can discourage a long military career because most people get out of the military to attend college.
Medical bonus increases
Multiyear special pay and incentive special pay for physicians, each now capped at $50,000 per year, would increase to a maximum of $75,000 a year under the plan.
Defense officials said they must be able to “react quickly” to shortages of doctors with critical specialties needed in wartime. Only one specialty, neurosurgery, receives the current maximum; the average is about $33,000 in multiyear special pay and $28,000 in incentive special pay.
Dental officers who make three-year obligations could receive up to $12,000 in special pay targeted at junior dental officers, a move aimed at filling critical shortages of dentists with four to 10 years of service, defense officials said.
Under the plan, those with fewer than three years of service could receive $10,000 in special pay, a $6,000 increase over current rates, while those with three to 10 years could receive $12,000, twice the current rate.
A new $20,000 bonus would be created as an added enticement for people to sign up for health professional scholarships, a major source for new medical officers. The Army and Navy have not met scholarship goals, and the promise of cash in addition to the scholarship might help with recruiting, defense officials said.
Tuition assistance for reservists
National Guard and reserve officers could be eligible under some circumstances for tuition assistance, something currently available for Army Guard and Reserve officers but not necessarily for the other reserve components, although some states have their own programs.
The services can already provide tuition assistance to Guard and reserve enlisted members, but that’s not an entitlement.
Under the Pentagon proposal, selected reserve component officers and enlisted members in designated specialties — each service would determine the qualifying skills — could receive tuition assistance if they agree to serve four more years in the drilling reserve after completing their education or training program. Officers could be eligible only if they are drilling reservists, while enlisted members could also be in the nondrilling Ready Reserve.
Defense officials said the expansion of tuition assistance could help recruit Arabic speakers into the military who would benefit from some classes in English as a second language to make it through military training.
“The education benefit would be useful in this instance since it would improve graduation rates for service members with critical skills,” defense officials said.
Repayment of benefits would be required for those who do not serve the promised four years of service.
Base-closing help for reservists
Defense officials propose three provisions aimed at helping drilling reservists who are forced to separate if their units are disbanded because of base closure and realignments.
In all three instances, defense officials said they are trying to keep people from losing benefits through no fault of their own.
One provision would allow Reserve GI Bill education benefits to be used after separation. Under current law, active-duty members can use their GI Bill after getting out, but reservists cannot.
Second, Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage would be extended to 180 days after separation, 60 days more than allowed under current law, to give members more time to find other insurance. Those accepting the coverage would have to agree to pay premiums.
Third, those whose units are disbanded would get commissary privileges for up to two years after involuntary separation.
The $2,000 bonus for referring someone to enlist in the military, now used only by the Army, would be extended to include referrals for officer candidates to become health care professionals.
Additionally, the entire bonus would be extended through 2010.
The Army would continue to be the only service using the bonus, available to active, reserve and civilian workers as long as they are not referring members of their immediate families and the person they refer completes initial training. But the success of the bonus means it should be considered an option for any of the services if they face severe problems getting quality recruits.
IRR screening pay
The Marine Corps would be allowed to test the novel idea of trying to keep track of nondrilling reservists’ personal information by paying them $50 a year to fill out an electronic survey. If it works, the other services could adopt the same program.
The idea is that the services need current information so they can muster the Individual Ready Reserve when needed. But the services don’t want to spend a lot of money collecting those data.
Current law requires the services to continually screen IRR members to ensure they are available, but defense officials said the law “is practically unenforceable” without having them physically show up for a formal muster.
Ellie
Defense officials’ plan would change bonuses, benefits
By Rick Maze - rmaze@militarytimes.com
Posted : April 30, 2007
The Pentagon is asking Congress to consider a bundle of special pay and bonus increases, including two precedent-setting changes in recruiting and retention incentives.
First, the plan asks for bonuses for people who have up to 25 years of service, not normally a high-priority retention target.
Military retention programs once depended heavily on the draw of a potential retirement check after 20 years of service, and retention bonuses were rarely paid for those with more than about 18 years of service.
But the military’s new plan looks for some careers to extend well beyond the 20-year point — part of a broader initiative that has also seen several new time-in-service raises inserted into the pay table beyond 26 years of service for the top two paygrades in the enlisted, warrant officer and commissioned officer ranks.
While only a few specialties — Navy surface warfare officers, Army special operations forces and Air Force combat controllers and pararescuemen — would be offered career-retention bonuses under the Pentagon initiative, the move would set the stage for even greater change in military pay in the future, defense and congressional sources said.
A second precedent-setting change, also initially aimed at a small group of people, would break the two-decades-old policy requiring troops to make an irrevocable decision on enrolling in the Montgomery GI Bill program during basic training.
The Defense Department proposes giving people who enlist in the military under a program that helps repay student loans — which makes them ineligible to earn GI Bill benefits during their initial enlistment — a chance to sign up for GI Bill benefits if they later re-enlist. That could open the door to allowing others to sign up for GI Bill benefits later in their career.
Those and many other compensation proposals are being sent to Congress for consideration as part of the 2008 defense authorization bill, along with higher-profile initiatives such as the proposed 3 percent across-the-board pay raise next January.
What follows are the details of the Pentagon plan:
Late-career retention bonuses
Defense officials propose to make enlisted members and officers with up to 25 years of service eligible for up to $150,000 a year if they stay in, although most payments would not be nearly that high.
Under the proposal, service members with up to 25 years of active or reserve service, or a combination of both, could be eligible for the critical skills retention bonus now targeted at younger troops.
Defense officials said they need this authority “to help stem losses of highly trained and experienced personnel possessing the critical skills needed to sustain the war on terrorism.” Officials made the point that they need experienced people now and cannot afford to wait for replacements to be recruited and trained.
The current inability to pay retention bonuses to people with longer periods of service is hurting because some officers with critically needed skills have years of prior enlisted service.
The new expanded authority would help in three areas, defense officials said. The Navy, with a shortage of 620 surface warfare officers in the ranks of lieutenant commander through captain, believes it could fill about 42 of the positions each year by offering bonuses to officers with prior enlisted service, officials said.
The Army estimates it would keep about 30 special operations soldiers with up to 25 years of experience each year, and the Air Force estimates it could qualify 22 combat controllers and pararescuemen each year. Marine Corps officials say they have no immediate plans to use the benefit.
Defense officials said they expect to spend about $4 million more per year on bonuses if Congress approves the plan.
Double educational benefits
In another precedent-setting proposal, defense officials want to find a way to allow people who enlisted with a promise of getting help in repaying student loans to also be eligible for GI Bill education benefits, something not possible under current law, which limits people to just one of the two benefits.
The Pentagon’s plan would allow those who enlisted for the loan repayment benefit an opportunity to enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill if they later re-enlist.
That would set two precedents — it would allow two education benefits to be earned, albeit through separate obligations, and it would allow enrollment in the GI Bill at a time other than during basic training.
Defense officials said their proposal would let troops “make a sound decision at a much more appropriate time,” and would also “correct inequities in application and the perception of unfair treatment.”
This would also make the GI Bill a kind of re-enlistment bonus. Traditionally, military personnel officials have viewed GI Bill benefits as a recruiting incentive that can discourage a long military career because most people get out of the military to attend college.
Medical bonus increases
Multiyear special pay and incentive special pay for physicians, each now capped at $50,000 per year, would increase to a maximum of $75,000 a year under the plan.
Defense officials said they must be able to “react quickly” to shortages of doctors with critical specialties needed in wartime. Only one specialty, neurosurgery, receives the current maximum; the average is about $33,000 in multiyear special pay and $28,000 in incentive special pay.
Dental officers who make three-year obligations could receive up to $12,000 in special pay targeted at junior dental officers, a move aimed at filling critical shortages of dentists with four to 10 years of service, defense officials said.
Under the plan, those with fewer than three years of service could receive $10,000 in special pay, a $6,000 increase over current rates, while those with three to 10 years could receive $12,000, twice the current rate.
A new $20,000 bonus would be created as an added enticement for people to sign up for health professional scholarships, a major source for new medical officers. The Army and Navy have not met scholarship goals, and the promise of cash in addition to the scholarship might help with recruiting, defense officials said.
Tuition assistance for reservists
National Guard and reserve officers could be eligible under some circumstances for tuition assistance, something currently available for Army Guard and Reserve officers but not necessarily for the other reserve components, although some states have their own programs.
The services can already provide tuition assistance to Guard and reserve enlisted members, but that’s not an entitlement.
Under the Pentagon proposal, selected reserve component officers and enlisted members in designated specialties — each service would determine the qualifying skills — could receive tuition assistance if they agree to serve four more years in the drilling reserve after completing their education or training program. Officers could be eligible only if they are drilling reservists, while enlisted members could also be in the nondrilling Ready Reserve.
Defense officials said the expansion of tuition assistance could help recruit Arabic speakers into the military who would benefit from some classes in English as a second language to make it through military training.
“The education benefit would be useful in this instance since it would improve graduation rates for service members with critical skills,” defense officials said.
Repayment of benefits would be required for those who do not serve the promised four years of service.
Base-closing help for reservists
Defense officials propose three provisions aimed at helping drilling reservists who are forced to separate if their units are disbanded because of base closure and realignments.
In all three instances, defense officials said they are trying to keep people from losing benefits through no fault of their own.
One provision would allow Reserve GI Bill education benefits to be used after separation. Under current law, active-duty members can use their GI Bill after getting out, but reservists cannot.
Second, Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage would be extended to 180 days after separation, 60 days more than allowed under current law, to give members more time to find other insurance. Those accepting the coverage would have to agree to pay premiums.
Third, those whose units are disbanded would get commissary privileges for up to two years after involuntary separation.
The $2,000 bonus for referring someone to enlist in the military, now used only by the Army, would be extended to include referrals for officer candidates to become health care professionals.
Additionally, the entire bonus would be extended through 2010.
The Army would continue to be the only service using the bonus, available to active, reserve and civilian workers as long as they are not referring members of their immediate families and the person they refer completes initial training. But the success of the bonus means it should be considered an option for any of the services if they face severe problems getting quality recruits.
IRR screening pay
The Marine Corps would be allowed to test the novel idea of trying to keep track of nondrilling reservists’ personal information by paying them $50 a year to fill out an electronic survey. If it works, the other services could adopt the same program.
The idea is that the services need current information so they can muster the Individual Ready Reserve when needed. But the services don’t want to spend a lot of money collecting those data.
Current law requires the services to continually screen IRR members to ensure they are available, but defense officials said the law “is practically unenforceable” without having them physically show up for a formal muster.
Ellie