2011 accp

[BusyBee604]

Timing!

It's much more democratic now. If you stay in past your winging commitment, you can apply for the bonus.
I got the 5 year/$125K years ago, then got the 2 year/$10K per for O-5 sea duty.
Not a bad deal at all...

Lumpy, wow, the "New Navy" is not so bad regarding NA bonuses. I did 22-years ACDU & retired @ O-5. Went NAVCAD just prior to shipping over as PO-2. Served first two commissioned years as USNR, remainder as USN. Bonus total = $0.00! I'm not whining at all, nor do I feel deprived. I just feel happy for all those who got bonuses. Just another example of unfortunate timing! :icon_drin
BzB

 

[navyavi469]

February has come and gone, and not a peep from BUPERS. I wonder if they realize they're coming into the 3rd quarter of the fiscal year.

 

[BusyBee604]

Motivation?

February has come and gone, and not a peep from BUPERS. I wonder if they realize they're coming into the 3rd quarter of the fisacal year.

Dude, fill in your profile or you won't be very successful on our site! aperbag_
'BTW, wut is a fisacal year? :icon_conf
BzB

 

[Jim123]

'BTW, wut is a fisacal year? :icon_conf
BzB

Didn't Olivia Newton-John had a hit song about that? I think one of the FM radio stations around here likes to play it on their eighties weekends...

 

[Gatordev]

Someone at work called Pers the other day and asked the REGNAV side when their bonus would be posted, since its release affects the Reserve side. The answer was, "It's very close, but we're still waiting on what's going to happen to with the budget."

I'm sure that clears everything up.

 

[navyavi469]

Someone at work called Pers the other day and asked the REGNAV side when their bonus would be posted, since its release affects the Reserve side. The answer was, "It's very close, but we're still waiting on what's going to happen to with the budget."

I'm sure that clears everything up.

Thanks for the info, if they're waiting on congress to pass a budget, they'll be waiting a very long time. The ACCP is such a small amount compared to the overall budget it seems hardly worth it to hinge the program on something as ridiculous as congress.

 

[Gatordev]

I didn't say the bonus is dependent on the passing of the budget, just that "they" are in a wait and see mode. I'm not even sure how true the statement is, just what someone said when they called.

 

[MAKE VAPES]

Playing devils advocate here.... With airline hiring stagnant, and limited job opportunity elsewhere, why wouldn't the Navy do away with the "retention" bonus all together... most of my old studs are doing DH jobs... we are pretty overmanned in certain areas.

OPNAV was doing "efficiency measures" last year, this seems like one place they could "assume risk", and deal with the "you got yours, I want mine" fest. People will stay, the pay is good, the flying is still fun(ish).

Maybe I misinterpret the motive of the bonus in the first place.
"Retention of experienced aviation-trained officers remains a top priority and is necessary to support the Navy's mission and maintain combat readiness. The Aviation Career Continuation Pay (ACCP) program continues to encourage high quality aviation officers to consider Naval Aviation as their primary career choice."

Other ideas were to cut the Navy study budget by 50% and give the money to CRUDES maint/Flying Hour Program accounts, and to cut Academy production by half, boost more cost effective OCS production... some implimentable, others tough, the purse strings will be tightened, stand by for the dreaded "Hollow Force" discussions from the late 70s.

 

[The Chief]

... the purse strings will be tightened, stand by for the dreaded "Hollow Force" discussions from the late 70s.

Indeed. And a lot more smoke and mirrors. The real scary times were the early 1970's. In 1969 Nixon's first year in office the budget was balanced after a decade of deficits. Miracle you might think, but actually it is the first year that the Social Security surplus was thrown into the Federal Budget, and lo and behold the income exceeded the outgo, a balanced budget. Troop strength in Vietnam when Nixon took office was a tad over 500,000, by early 1971 that number was cut in half. Project 701 was initiated, not the Mikoyan 701 Project but the project to reduce the number of Navy ships for approximately 1,800 to 701. That helped for a couple of years but then in about 1975 all hell broke loose, budget wise. Then Mr. Carter and his Zero Based Budget (conept made a lot of sense but did not mix well with politics). Couple of years later mortgage interest rates of 18 percent with inflation running at about 20%. Stagflation. The Mr. Reagan, entered the arena, cut funding for Public TV/NPR, cut the size of my Agency (GSA) from 56,000 warm bodies to about 32,000 resulting in a lean and mean organization (Ha), cut taxes big time, implemented a whole bunch of private retirement plans, most Tax Deferred, e.g., IRA's, provided sustained buildup of Military. And some more things I cannot remember!!

Guess my point is to standby for some lean years with more smoke and mirrors as we enter another election cycle. Who knows what evil lurks behind that green door!!!!

 

[MAKE VAPES]

OMG, I just realized I sound like a damned dirty soul-less scrambled egg wearer with a glimpse of the big(ger) picture. The self loathing is painful.

 

[helolumpy]

OMG, I just realized I sound like a damned dirty soul-less scrambled egg wearer with a glimpse of the big(ger) picture. The self loathing is painful.

Welcome to the Dark Side.... It's OK though, we have cookies!

 

[navyavi469]

I frequently enjoy cookies from the dark side as well.

I wouldn't have made this post if the purse strings were not obviously going to be tightened, the question is how much, and when. Albeit there are areas that are over-manned, there are also many that are under-manned, and regardless of how bad the economy is, I've watched A SLEW of my year group punch-out becuase they simply didnt' want to do 20+... or else they got DUI's, NPQ, whatever. No one is trying to get rich off a bonus that would have a tough time covering the down payment on a mortgage given the installment plan you must use; but it certainly represents a substantial leg-up to a lot of guys struggling with under-water homes, or in my case, two under-water homes as a result of several PCS's and the crash of the real-estate market all together.

 

[helolumpy]

I frequently enjoy cookies from the dark side as well.

I wouldn't have made this post if the purse strings were not obviously going to be tightened, the question is how much, and when. Albeit there are areas that are over-manned, there are also many that are under-manned, and regardless of how bad the economy is, I've watched A SLEW of my year group punch-out becuase they simply didnt' want to do 20+... or else they got DUI's, NPQ, whatever. No one is trying to get rich off a bonus that would have a tough time covering the down payment on a mortgage given the installment plan you must use; but it certainly represents a substantial leg-up to a lot of guys struggling with under-water homes, or in my case, two under-water homes as a result of several PCS's and the crash of the real-estate market all together.

I agree with your thoughts but the Navy just had a SERB for 100 O-6's and 100 O-5's, so obviously retention is solid right now.

Granted the ACCP is targeting a different year group demographic, but the consideration is the same. The military has to cut spending and retention is strong due to a weak economy.
If the Navy decided to forgo the bonus this year, it would make financial sense. There would be a negative hit on morale and I'm sure there would be some folks who elect to punch out if the bonus is cut, but IMO that number would be small.

I would much rather see the Navy dedicate more budget towards ensuring the PCS funding mess doesn't happen again. I know a few folks who had to scramble to find housing for 1-3 months when their leases expired but they get held at their commands because there was no funds to move them to their next assignment. That would be a much bigger QOL improvement for the entire Navy.

The other services tend to PCS most of their folks over the summer, but the Navy seems to be broke every summer....

I hope the Navy does do the bonus this year for all the bubbas out there who may be counting on it. I got mine, so I hope you can get yours, but at the same time, with everything coming out of Secretary Gates mouth right now, I wouldn't be surprised if they Navy decided to with hold bonuses this year.

 

[Recovering LSO]

The ACCP is such a small amount compared to the overall budget it seems hardly worth it to hinge the program on something as ridiculous as congress.

you probably need to do a little reading on how the military gets its money... maybe i missed the sarcasm.?.

I frequently enjoy cookies from the dark side as well.

I wouldn't have made this post if the purse strings were not obviously going to be tightened, the question is how much, and when. Albeit there are areas that are over-manned, there are also many that are under-manned, and regardless of how bad the economy is, I've watched A SLEW of my year group punch-out becuase they simply didnt' want to do 20+... or else they got DUI's, NPQ, whatever. No one is trying to get rich off a bonus that would have a tough time covering the down payment on a mortgage given the installment plan you must use; but it certainly represents a substantial leg-up to a lot of guys struggling with under-water homes, or in my case, two under-water homes as a result of several PCS's and the crash of the real-estate market all together.

Maybe I've missed something from your previous posts, but you're coming across as someone who feels like they're owed something. The bonus is an incentive - a bonus.... folks should not be counting on this money - the officer who pays attention knows that the bonus has to be re-approved EVERY year. The writing has been on the wall for a few years now - it makes very little fiscal sense to provide blanket retention bonuses in the current fiscal/employment environment. This is one of those things that takes a little bit of a bigger world view to get, but what's good for you isn't always what's good for we. Do you think any of us are excited about the possibility of pay freezes, reduced retirement benefits, and increased medical costs? Of course not - but most of us also realize that those costs account for a disproportionate share of DoD budget pie charts. The current set up is unsustainable. Just an example of something that sucks, but I think most of us "get".

Last thing that is a bit concerning is that you have two upside down houses. If you're in LAR to apply for the bonus that implies that you've got anywhere between 6-8 years of service (give or take). That leads me to think that you're a LT who's not yet been looked at for LCDR. That's a lot of debt. You probably want to consider some of the other options out there for service members with PCS related mortgage problems. The bonus probably isn't going to solve those problems.

Full disclosure - I'm set to receive my third bonus payment next month. That being said - if I woke up tomorrow and the Navy said "that's it - we're out. You got what you got - the bonus is over", I'd be alright - the money was never counted on or spoken for before it arrived. I'd be kinda bummed, but not too terribly surprised either.

 

[squorch2]

ACCP may not be necessary for all YGs or communities, but keeping things predictable is in BUPERS' best interest, lest people say "I can't count on the bonus? Screw it, I'm punching," resulting in another t-notch group.