Marine Corps Offering Former Reserve Pilots $30K to Return to Service

The Marine Corps is offering some former Reserve pilots lucrative bonuses to get them back in the cockpit.

Former captains and majors qualified to fly certain aircraft who are willing to rejoin a Marine Corps squadron can pocket up to a $30,000 lump-sum bonus if they agree to a three-year term in the Active Reserve. Those willing to serve two years in the Reserve are eligible for a $20,000 payout.

It’s called the Active Reserve Aviator Return to Service Program, and it targets six types of fixed-wing, rotary and tiltrotor pilots “in order to fill critical aviation shortfalls,” a service-wide message on the bonuses states.

Top priority will be given to former F/A-18 Hornet and MV-22B Osprey pilots, along with KC-130 Hercules aircraft commanders, according to the message. But the program is also open to former AV-8B Harrier, UH-1Y Venom and CH-53E Super Stallion pilots.

Related: Marines Offer Big Bonuses to Leathernecks Who Can Help Deceive the Enemy

“The retention incentive is distributed as a lump sum of 20,000 dollars for the 24 month service obligation or a lump sum of 30,000 dollars for the 36 month service obligation, less any applicable taxes,” the message states. “Lump sum payment will not be paid out until the member is joined to the [Active Reserve] program.”

The incentives will be paid out on a first-come, first-served basis “until funds are exhausted,” it adds.

Only aviators who previously qualified for — or had not yet applied for — career designation are eligible. Those who applied for but were not offered career designation in the Active Reserve are ineligible, the message states.

Pilots who were already career designated on the Active Reserve will automatically be career designated upon re-accession. Those who hadn’t previously applied for career designation will be able to do so once they rejoin.

Top assignments will involve flying operations at the squadron level across several Reserve units in the continental U.S., including California, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Maryland or New Orleans. Assignments aren’t limited to those squadrons though, the message adds.

Captains who served more than 10 years of active-duty service who weren’t previously considered for major on an Active Reserve promotion board are eligible to apply. So are majors who weren’t previously considered for O-5 who served more than 12 years on active duty, and those who were considered for lieutenant colonel who served more than 15 years.

Earlier this year, the Marine Corps announced it would be offering big bonuses to active-duty pilots as well.

Top bonuses targeted Marines in the grades and communities with the biggest pilot shortages. Active-duty pilots were eligible to earn up to $280,000 bonuses if they agreed to keep flying for eight more years.

The bonuses targeted captains and majors who fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8 Harrier, MV-22 Osprey, C-130 Hercules, UH-1 Huey, AH-1 Cobra and CH-53 Stallion.

— Gina Harkins can be reached at . Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Read more: The Marines Are Doling Out Up to $280K in Bonuses to Keep Pilots Flying

Related Topics

Military Headlines Marine Corps Topics Marine Corps Reserve Pilots Military Pay

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Please see the link to the 2019 YAA photoes:

2019 YAA Photos

Medical research has found a direct correlation with Vietnam veterans who served in the Navy on ships within a certain distance of the mainland and the number of Agent Orange cases these sailors had. Winds blowing out to sea, the water they used and other conditions caused this. Recently the House of Representatives unanimously approved the Blue Water Navy bill allowing the VA to treat these sailors as casualties of Agent Orange who were exposed.

The former Secretary of the VA, David Schulkin supported this bill becoming law. The House recently approved the bill in their chamber, unanimously. Now it goes to the Senate. However, the new VA Secretary, Robert Wilkie, has asked the Senate not to enact this into law until further research is done which will take until the end of 2019, at earliest. (for more details go to: https://www.stripes.com/news/wilkie-opposes-bill-that-would-extend-agent-orange-benefits-to-blue-water-veterans-1.547062)

We feel this is wrong! Why should our Naval Vietnam veterans who are suffering the effects of Agent Orange be denied medical care at the VA at this time.

HERE IS WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP: Please write, call or email Senator Blumenthal and Senator Murphy to tell them you strongly want them to support this bill when it gets to the Senate. Emailing the senators is very easy and quick to do. Just Google their name and it will indicate, “Contact Senator xxxx”.

Or, if you’d rather call the two senators, they are:
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Every type of communication that goes to the senator’s offices is counted and recorded. Your “vote” on this matter counts. And the contact will be greatly appreciated by the Naval Vietnam vets who are suffering from the affects of Agent Orange and need the medical treatment at the VA now.
“THANKS” in advance for doing this.

After A False Start, The VA’s Vet ID System Finally WorksLate last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it would officially launch the veteran ID card program Nov. 29. Gone would be the days of stuffing a laminated DD-214 into your back pocket before scoring hardware discounts at Home Depot discounts or free grub from Applebees on Veterans Day. Finally, there’d be proof of one’s service in the form of a glossy white ID card.

t least, that was the hope. Instead, the Nov. 29 rollout of the program was fraught with problems. Many applicants — including seven vets at Task & Purpose who tested the application system — reported broken links or error messages. Though the Veteran ID card application page has remained online since it launched, vets who were unable to complete the process were asked to leave their email address with the department, which would get back to the applicants at a later time. More than 136,000 Veterans provided their emails and 1,145 submitted help-desk tickets due to errors, Curt Cashour, the press secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs told Task & Purpose.

As of Jan. 29, Veterans can once again again submit online applications online, and this time — the applications actually go through.

“We are excited finally to begin providing this resource to Veterans, fulfilling a promise that was made to them more than two years ago under the previous Administration, which never followed through on it,” Cashour told Task & Purpose on Jan. 30. (That last line about following through is an apparent reference to the 2015 Veterans Identification Card Act, a bipartisan effort between Congress and then-President Barack Obama to get vets a hard-copy photo ID.)

All veterans with an honorable or general discharge can request the new ID cards. Keep in mind, they don’t replace VA medical cards or defense retiree cards, nor are they official government-issued forms of identification — so you can’t use it to board a plane, or by booze. But, they are handy for when you’re in a checkout line and spot a “10% off for veterans” discount sign.

But as of Jan. 30, the VA has received and begun processing 16,179 applications, and vets can expect to receive the printed IDs come March, Cashour told Task & Purpose. In the meantime, those with an approved application can download the image of their ID card from the website, and either print it out, or show it on on a mobile phone, to get those sweet patriot prices.

The Veterans History Project is a collaborative enterprise to collect oral histories along with war documents from American veterans who participated in WWI or II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan and/or Iraq Wars. The videos of veterans and materials add a face to the challenges, tragedies and triumphs of war and serves as a teaching and research tool for the general public, scholars and students worldwide.

The Project is managed by Central Connecticut State University.

If you are interested in sharing your reflections and experiences CCSU will video tape you and add your comments in this informative collection that ends up in the Library of Congress.
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