Posted on Apr 3, 2019
Should I contact my Readiness NCO to inquire about my reenlistment bonus status in GIMS?
Suspended Profile
14.3K
12
15
I am aware GIMS was down for 4 1/2 mo. and is now back online since mid February. I’m waiting patiently but I just wanted to know what are the next steps to process my bonus through.
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
Morning Sgt. I asked a similar question yesterday. I was told to submit a pay inquiry with my UA and continue to follow up. Good luck, hopefully this gets all cleared up for both of us.
MAJ Ken Landgren
Yes finance can help paint the picture for you.
Suspended Profile
MAJ Ken Landgren - Thank you, Sir.
LTC Jason Mackay
SGT Mindy Dandorf - the SGM has a post on here about GIMS and a published memorandum on the restoration. He's tracking this close. He'll have a good read on this.
SGM (Join to see)
The average number of bonus actions (new packets or payments) every year in ARNG is well over 45K. That's the number that has to process through both Camp Robinson, ARNG G1 and DFAS. And before the crash, best case scenario for a packet or scheduled payment to process no errors from unit to state to Camp Robinson to ARNG G1 to DFAS and pay out was 3-6 months. And the crash put the whole pile behind schedule by 4 months.
Your Readiness NCO should have access to GIMS, because the process does not start until they start it and that is part of their job. They can also open the history and see where it is and has been and how long it waited at each step. Looking at this takes about 2 minutes from login to opening your screen to looking at the history. A decent Readiness NCO already does this check once a month with the 2 to 10 bonus cases he has in his unit, because the only way you see returns for corrections is by going in and looking.
So ask your Readiness NCO to show you, either in person or at least a screen shot of it.
Warning: there are a lot of Readiness NCOs who do not have access to GIMS, and more that do have access but do not know what they're doing.
That sucks, but that's the way it is, every state has AGRs like that.
They might tell you that GIMS is down, or they are waiting for their access to get re-approved, or they'll say that is the responsibility of the MDAY Unit Retention NCO, or some other excuse.
Any of those excuses mean that they have not initiated your payment.
If that is the case at your unit, you need to let your CO and BN AO know immediately.
Your Readiness NCO should have access to GIMS, because the process does not start until they start it and that is part of their job. They can also open the history and see where it is and has been and how long it waited at each step. Looking at this takes about 2 minutes from login to opening your screen to looking at the history. A decent Readiness NCO already does this check once a month with the 2 to 10 bonus cases he has in his unit, because the only way you see returns for corrections is by going in and looking.
So ask your Readiness NCO to show you, either in person or at least a screen shot of it.
Warning: there are a lot of Readiness NCOs who do not have access to GIMS, and more that do have access but do not know what they're doing.
That sucks, but that's the way it is, every state has AGRs like that.
They might tell you that GIMS is down, or they are waiting for their access to get re-approved, or they'll say that is the responsibility of the MDAY Unit Retention NCO, or some other excuse.
Any of those excuses mean that they have not initiated your payment.
If that is the case at your unit, you need to let your CO and BN AO know immediately.
Readiness and Admin would be your first step. Incentive manager for your state should have been pushing out updates of manual payments vs through the system. Depending on when your bonus was set to be received (before or after the system came back up), it could very well be in the backlog. If your company full time doesn't have the answer yet, they should at minimum know who in your state is working the issue and be able to contact them and check.
Suspended Profile
SSG (Join to see) I am most likely in the backlog, my ETS date was 2/26/19. I reenlisted June '18 and my Recruiting NCO informed me to start making inquiries after 30 days to check in on my bonus status. I'll be coordinating with my Readiness/Admin NCO to check on my status.
SSG (Join to see)
You might have to remind them as well. Sometimes us full time peoples get sidetracked from last minute stuff from higher.
PV2 (Join to see)
I had a question, I signed a my enlistment bonus a day before my friend signed hers and she got paid her bonus for me? I keep asking the people in my unit and they are not giving me any solid response or even verifying that I am in the system. It is frustrating to say the least and it just looks like the chances of getting my bonus anytime soon are slim.
SSG (Join to see)
Bonus dates and payment dates are based off what your old ETS would have been. If you signed as soon as you were eligible, but still had time left you aren't going to see it as soon as someone who was down to the wire for making a choice. If your date is somewhere in the ballpark of August 2019, there's still a bit of time before you pop up for eligibility verification in the system.
Without looking at your specific DA 4836 (box 7a), I can't give you to much of a narrowed down scope. In the event that it has passed, you need to start with your full time staff (Admin or Readiness) to find out when (assuming it hit during the system being down) the 1379s were forwarded concerning you to the incentives office. I haven't seen 200s being used since I came over to the guard, but there should be an electronic email trail. Manual payments were working in the 4-6 week payout from process date time frame so there could be that issue as well. If items have been submitted on your behalf, the full timers should be hounding on your behalf. If they aren't, jumping them can work, or elevating the issue through open door policies. They are there to work for the company and its troopers, and it's best to try and resolve issues at the lowest level, but occasionally a platoon sergeant lights a bigger fire than a private.
Without looking at your specific DA 4836 (box 7a), I can't give you to much of a narrowed down scope. In the event that it has passed, you need to start with your full time staff (Admin or Readiness) to find out when (assuming it hit during the system being down) the 1379s were forwarded concerning you to the incentives office. I haven't seen 200s being used since I came over to the guard, but there should be an electronic email trail. Manual payments were working in the 4-6 week payout from process date time frame so there could be that issue as well. If items have been submitted on your behalf, the full timers should be hounding on your behalf. If they aren't, jumping them can work, or elevating the issue through open door policies. They are there to work for the company and its troopers, and it's best to try and resolve issues at the lowest level, but occasionally a platoon sergeant lights a bigger fire than a private.
Read This Next