Do you lose out on your original bonus if you reenlist prior to the Q course? Would I be better to extend or reenlist?

2020-10-01T19:33:19-04:00

Just passed selection and need to reup in some way or another to meet a 3 year SRR post Qcourse. With the new fiscal came new a SRB MILPER and the bonuses look nice.

1) I am on my first contract and still owed a bit of my original enlistment bonus

2) I only need to extend my initial content for a year to meet the 3 year SRR

Does anyone know if you lose out on original bonus and if it is common practice to reenlist prior to the Q (if you fail are you needs of the army?) Would I be better extending or reenlisting? Thanks!

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 1 at 2020 9:11 PM

2020-10-01T21:11:36-04:00

You will keep your original bonus. Bonus is never recouped when you reclass into a more critical MOS.

It’s always better to reenlist unless your extension is under a year. I won’t go into the math, but basically you’re throwing money away if you reenlist once you start serving on an extension (past your old ETS date).

You will get a bonus for your new MOS, but it will be paid upon your graduation. The bonus in effect the day you reenlist will be the one you receive.

The SRR is three years upon graduation. If you just passed selection you won’t have a Q Course date yet, which means you won’t know your SRR end date. The average reenlistment for a Q Course date is 5 years. 3-9 months before you PCS, 1 year school, 3 years SRR comes to a 5 year reenlistment. Chances are if you are an initial term Soldier you will need more than a year added to your contract. Unless you are 3-4 years away from ETS, meaning you joined on a 5 or 6 year contract, you will need more than a year.

You are required to reenlist prior to attending the Q Course, you will not receive your orders from Reassignments until you have re-enlisted. Your selection brief should have explained that and given you a memo explaining it to you as well.