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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 308. Special pay: reenlistment bonus
(a)(1) A member of a uniformed service who -
(A) has completed at least 17 months of continuous active duty
(other than for training) but not more than fourteen years of
active duty;
(B) is qualified in a military skill designated as critical by
the Secretary of Defense, or by the Secretary of Homeland
Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating
as service in the Navy;
(C) is not receiving special pay under section 312a of this
title; and
(D) reenlists or voluntarily extends the member's enlistment
for a period of at least three years -
(i) in a regular component of the service concerned; or
(ii) in a reserve component of the service concerned, if the
member is performing active Guard and Reserve duty (as defined
in section 101(d)(6) of title 10).(!1)
may be paid a bonus as provided in paragraph (2).
(2) The bonus to be paid under paragraph (1) may not exceed the
lesser of the following amounts:
(A) The amount equal to the product of -
(i) 15 times the monthly rate of basic pay to which the
member was entitled at the time of the discharge or release of
the member; and
(ii) the number of years (or the monthly fractions thereof)
of the term of reenlistment or extension of enlistment, not to
exceed six.
(B) $60,000.
(3) Any portion of a term of reenlistment or extension of
enlistment of a member that, when added to the total years of
service of the member at the time of discharge or release, exceeds
16 years may not be used in computing a bonus under paragraph
(2)(A).
(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(B), a member who agrees to
train and reenlist for service in a military skill which, at the
time of that agreement, is designated as critical, may be paid the
bonus approved for that skill, at the rate in effect at the time of
agreement, upon completion of training and qualification in that
skill, if otherwise qualified under this subsection and even if
that skill is no longer designated as critical at the time the
member becomes eligible for payment of the bonus.
(5) The Secretary of Defense may waive the eligibility
requirement in paragraph (1)(B) in the case of a reenlistment or
voluntary extension of enlistment by a member of the armed forces
that is entered into as described in this subsection while the
member is serving on active duty in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Kuwait in
support of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
(b) Bonus payments authorized under this section may be paid in
either a lump sum or in installments. If the bonus is paid in
installments, the initial payment shall be not less than 50 percent
of the total bonus amount.
(c) For the purpose of computing the reenlistment bonus in the
case of an officer with prior enlisted service who may be entitled
to a bonus under subsection (a), the monthly basic pay of the grade
in which he is enlisted, computed in accordance with his years of
service computed under section 205 of this title, shall be used
instead of the monthly basic pay to which he was entitled at the
time of his release from active duty as an officer.
(d)(1) A member who voluntarily, or because of his misconduct,
does not complete the term of enlistment for which a bonus was paid
to him under this section or a member who is not technically
qualified in the skill for which a bonus was paid to him under this
section (other than a member who is not qualified because of
injury, illness, or other impairment not the result of his own
misconduct) shall refund that percentage of the bonus that the
unexpired part of his additional obligated service is of the total
reenlistment or extension period for which the bonus was paid.
(2) If a refund is not required under paragraph (1) in the case
of a member who fails to complete a term of enlistment, the
Secretary of Defense with respect to the armed forces under the
Secretary's jurisdiction, and the Secretary of Homeland Security
with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a
service in the Navy, may decline to make any payment of a bonus
installment under this section that is due to be paid to the member
after the date on which the member fails to complete the term of
enlistment for which the bonus is being paid. The Secretary of
Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security may prescribe the
circumstances under which bonus installments may be terminated
under this paragraph.
(e) For the purposes of determining the eligibility of a member
for a bonus under this section and of computing the amount of that
bonus -
(1) any period of enlistment (including any extension of an
enlistment) (A) that is incurred by the member for the purpose of
continuing to qualify for continuous submarine duty incentive pay
under section 301c of this title, and (B) for which no bonus is
otherwise payable; or
(2) any unserved period of two years or less of an extension of
an enlistment for which no bonus has been paid or for which no
bonus is otherwise payable under this section,
may, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, be
considered as part of an immediately subsequent term of
reenlistment (or as part of an immediately subsequent voluntary
extension of an enlistment).
(f) This section shall be administered under regulations
prescribed by the Secretary of Defense for the armed forces under
his jurisdiction, and by the Secretary of Homeland Security with
respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in
the Navy.
(g) No bonus shall be paid under this section with respect to any
reenlistment, or voluntary extension of an active-duty enlistment,
in the armed forces entered into after December 31, 2004.
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