The Air Force is cutting selective re-enlistment bonuses for 17 career fields and reducing SRBs for 19 more in fiscal 2018.
But in a change this year, airmen in Air Force specialty codes that are getting reduced or eliminated will have 30 days to re-enlist and still get their higher bonuses, which can be worth as much as $90,000.
The list of SRB changes posted Tuesday by the Air Force Personnel Center also shows 26 AFSCs are being added to the list of eligible career fields this year. And another 20 AFSCs, which were already on the SRB list last year, will see their bonuses increase.
There are now 89 AFSCs on the list ― including the six-digit shred that records a job’s specialty ― up from the 80 jobs on last year’s list.
The Personnel Services Delivery Memorandum on the SRBs said that the additions to the list are effective immediately, but the decreases and deletions will be effective on March 7. This gives affected airmen a month to sign up and still get the higher bonus.
Since 2013, all changes to SRBs went into effect immediately, catching some airmen by surprise and causing them to miss out on some or all of the bonus they could have received.
In an email, Air Force spokeswoman Brooke Brzozowske said that the Air Force resumed the delay “to allow airmen more time and flexibility when making decisions that impact their career.”
The Air Force this year is cutting from the SRB list jobs such as 1U0X1 remotely piloted aircraft sensor operator and 2A3X8B RPA maintainers for RQ-4 Global Hawks, as well as crypto language analysts who specialize in Korean and Hebrew, among other jobs.
But it is also adding 1A0X1 in-flight refuelers, 1N1X1B geospatial intelligence targeteers, and crypto language analysts who specialize in Chinese. Maintainers for the KC-10 and KC-46 ― in the 2A5X4B and C career fields ― are also some of the others being added.
Bonuses for 1C2X1 combat controllers in zones A and B ― with between 17 months and six years of service, and between six and 10 years of service ― are among those that are declining.
On the other hand, bonuses for 1T0X1 survival, evasion, resistance and escape airmen in zones B and C ― zone C is for airmen with between 10 and 14 years of service ― are increasing.
The list of 2018 SRBs can be found here.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
