Navy offers $40,000 re-enlistment bonuses for intel officers to overcome shortage

Left: An Intelligence Specialist reviewing aerial reconnaissance imagery on the USS John C. Stennis. Navy intelligence officers collect and analyze information and provide guidance for battlefield decisions.

Navy officials are now offering $40,000 to entice intelligence limited-duty officers to obligate for five more years of service, according to a March 15 announcement.

The offer was spurred on by a shortage of officers holding the 163X designator — specifically at the lieutenant commander level, where manning is down to 74 percent, meaning only 298 of the 401 Navy-wide billets are currently filled.

The bonus is targeting lieutenants who have completed at least six years of commissioned service.

To collect the bonus, they must obligate for another five years to help the service get the required number of lieutenant commanders into the fleet.

“This is the first critical skills retention bonus for a restricted line officer community,” said Lt. Cmdr Steve Horrell, officer community manager for intelligence officers at the Navy Annex in Arlington, Va.

Horrell says in offering the bonus, the Navy is committed to relieving a manpower shortage in what is a critical, in-demand wartime skill.

Read the rest at Navy Times

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