The Navy Reserve expects to begin paying bonuses within the next few months to encourage reservists to transition to deployment-intensive ratings as part of an effort to shift the reserve component to a more expeditionary footing — and that should mean significantly longer mobilizations for most reservists in coming years.
The Navy Reserve announced in March that it will pay bonuses of up to $20,000 to people who sign up for six-year hitches and $10,000 for those who sign up for three-year commitments in 15 deployment-intensive ratings.
Bonuses for civilians who go directly into the Navy Reserve are being paid for several Seabee ratings, hospital corpsmen, intelligence specialists and masters at arms.
Bonuses for sailors leaving active duty are being paid for those ratings, plus for divers, linguists and SEALs. But bonuses are not available to current reservists who want to switch to these ratings. That should change soon.
Lt. Adam Bashaw, spokesman for the Navy Reserve Forces Command, confirmed that a decision is pending on paying bonuses to entice reservists to switch to deployment-intensive ratings, but he declined to speculate on the amount of bonuses that will be paid, the ratings they will be paid for, or the date the bonuses will be approved.
The bonuses are needed, advocates said, because lengthy mobilizations have put pressure on reservists’ professional and family lives.
Of the 10 most mobilized ratings in the Navy Reserve in 2006, all but three — storekeeper, information systems technician and boatswain’s mate — net bonuses for people off the street and those coming from active duty.
Vice Adm. John G. Cotton, chief of the Navy Reserve, said that within six years, he expects there to be 50,000 sailors assigned to Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, the group to which a large percentage of deployment-intensive ratings belongs. About half of those — 25,000 — will be reservists, Cotton said.
Email This Page!