With the Air Force retaining the vast majority of its enlisted force, the service has burned through its pot of money that many collect for reenlistment bonuses and set a deadline for Monday, May 19, for any airmen still hoping to cash in.
Announced Thursday, the deadline gives Airmen in some of the most high-demand jobs just five days to decide whether to extend their Air Force careers by several years. Those who decide after May 19 will no longer be eligible for a cash reward for reenlisting, which the service calls a selective retention bonus.
The Air Force has recorded a retention rate of 89.3% since the fiscal year’s start in October, an Air Force official told Task & Purpose on Friday. That rate has created more demand for the money set-aside for reenlistment bonuses than in previous years.
Two factors, officials said, drained the available bonus faster than anticipated, the official said. The service opened the bonus program earlier in the fiscal year than it has in the past, and in 2024 the Air Force began allowing airmen to accept a selective retention bonus contract by reenlisting one year ahead of their scheduled end of service.
As a result, the Air Force expects to spend all of the $172 million provided by Congress for the bonus program early in fiscal year 2025, the official said.
On Thursday, the Air Force announced that its most recent selective retention bonus program will end more than four months before the close of fiscal year 2025, which runs until Sept. 30.
“Those who have accepted an SRB [selective retention bonus] prior to the close date will receive their full SRB bonus, including regular bonus payments for those opted into monthly installments,” an Air Force news release says.
In December, the Air Force expanded the number of AFSCs eligible for retention bonuses in fiscal year 2025 from 73 to 89. The career fields eligible for bonuses included maintenance, aircrew, cyber, medical and special operations, the service announced in January.
The size of bonuses vary by job and by the length of time an airmen agrees to reenlist for, but members in the most in-demand jobs who agree to the longest contracts could earn up to $180,000. The Air Force caps the total amount of money that airmen can receive in retention bonuses during their careers at $360,000.
The Air Force added AFSCs to the bonus program after analyzing which airmen had skill that were in high demand by the private sector, a service spokeswoman told Task & Purpose in December.
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