quote:

---

Sailors who began re-enlisting this week in hundreds of difficult-to-fill ratings or Navy enlisted classifications will get more money in the form of selective re-enlistment bonuses.

But the newly tweaked list of Navy SRBs has a flip side for other seagoing folks who may have been expecting a bonus for re-enlisting: In addition to increasing some bonuses, the Navy is cutting the stipend for other ratings and Navy enlisted classifications, and even eliminating it outright in several categories.

Unlike the increased bonuses, which went into effect Monday, the decreases and cuts don’t go into effect until July 23. That gives sailors who are looking at a decrease in their SRBs about a month to re-enlist at the higher rate if they are eligible.

The military services use selective re-enlistment bonuses as incentives for enlisted members to take on less-popular jobs, or those that are critically undermanned.

In the Navy, SRBs are targeted both at specific Navy enlisted classifications (NEC) and at ratings.

An NEC is a special skill, while a rating is a job description, Chief Petty Officer Milinda Jensen, a Navy spokeswoman, said in a Tuesday telephone interview.

The actual amount of a sailor’s bonus is calculated using a formula that includes years of service; base pay; a “multiplier,” such as 1.5; and a ceiling amount that the bonus can’t exceeded, which ranges from $45,000 to $60,000.

Navy officials decided to revamp their bonus schedule “to ensure we are retaining the correct quality and skill mix to optimize our warfighting capability,” the Navy’s Chief of Personnel, Vice Adm. Gerry Hoewing, said in an all-hands personnel message that went out June 3.

The updated Navy SRB list increases bonuses in 120 NEC categories and decreases bonuses in 40 NECs. Meanwhile, 31 NECs are deleted outright from the bonus list, including several in the cryptologic technician (interpretive) rating.

In ratings, SRBs have increased in 13 categories, include the Navy’s undermanned masters-at-arms rating. The SRB award level is tripling for masters-at-arms with six to 10 years of service.

Meanwhile, SRBs will be reduced in 15 rating categories, including aviation electronics technicians; and deleted entirely in 17 ratings.

Sailors may reenlist for SRB any time within the same fiscal year as their end of active obligated service.

To see the new list of SRBs, go to

---