Reserve Affiliation Bonuses For Prior Service Personnel
The Reserve Affiliation Bonus pays eligible servicemembers a cash bonus of up to $15,000. The following is a summary of the Reserve Affiliation Bonus and the Prior Service Enlistment Bonus:
Example: if you sign up with the selective reserves for 24 months you would earn a bonus of $1,200. See below for further information on how this bonus is paid.
Reserve Affiliation Bonuses
This bonus is available to Soldiers who have completed a service term within an active component of the military or in the Active Guard Reserve (AGR) and assigned to a Troop Program Unit (TPU) with the Army Reserve. The Enlisted Affiliation Bonus is no longer calculated based on number of months Remaining MSO.
How's the Money?
- $20,000 for 6 years
- $10,000 for 3-years
Bonus Eligibility
You may be eligible to be paid a bonus for reserve affiliation if you:
- Are serving on active duty, have 180 days or less remaining of active duty obligation, and upon discharge or release from active duty upon the completion of such active duty obligation will have a reserve service obligation; or
- Have served on active duty for any period of time, were discharged or released from such active duty under honorable conditions, and are serving a period of reserve service obligation.
To be eligible to receive a bonus for reserve affiliation, a person must:
- Be eligible for reenlistment or for an extension of his active duty service;
- Have completed satisfactorily any term of enlistment or period of obligated active duty service;
- Hold and be qualified in a military specialty designated for such purposes;
- Have a grade for which there is a vacancy in the reserve component in which the person is to become a member;
- Not be affiliating in a reserve component to become a Reserve, Army National Guard, or Air National Guard technician;
- Enter into a written agreement to serve as a member of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve of an armed force for the period of obligated reserve service such person has remaining or, if such person is on active duty, will have remaining at the time of his discharge or release from active duty; and
- Meet all the other requirements for becoming a member of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve of an armed force.
Prior Service Enlistment Bonus
These financial incentives are available to you just for reenlisting with the Army Reserve.
If you have prior military service you could qualify for either a 6-year or 3-year enlistment bonus. This bonus is only available with enlistment into the Army Reserve with designated bonus-eligible MOSs.
How's the Money?
- Up to $15,000 with a 6-year enlistment
- Up to $7,500 with a 3-year enlistment
Further Explanation
The amount of the bonus paid is determined by multiplying $50 times the number of months of reserve obligation remaining or, if such person is on active duty, will have remaining at the time of his discharge or release from active duty.
In the case of a person who has, or at the time of discharge or release from active duty will have, eighteen months or less reserve service obligation remaining, the total amount of the bonus may be paid at the time such person signs a reserve affiliation agreement.
In the case of a person who has, or at the time of discharge or release from active duty will have, more than eighteen months of such service remaining, one-half of the bonus may be paid at the time such person signs a reserve affiliation agreement under this section and the remaining one-half on the date of the sixth anniversary of such person's original enlistment or call to active duty.
In lieu of the procedures above, the bonus may be paid in monthly installments. Monthly payments shall begin after the first month of satisfactory service of the person and are payable only for those months in which the person serves satisfactorily.
