From pararescuemen to paralegals, the Air Force is expanding bonus opportunities for Active-Duty Airmen in certain career fields who reenlist in 2025.
The service expanded its Selective Retention Bonus to 89 Air Force Specialty Codes on Dec. 16, a few months after the start of the fiscal year. That’s up from 73 a year ago and 51 the year before that.
The full list of career fields leaked on social media, and a service spokesperson confirmed its authenticity to Air & Space Forces Magazine. In recent years, the Air Force has declined to release public lists of career fields eligible for retention bonuses and special duty assignment pay, instead making them available on myFSS, accessible only to those on Active-Duty.
A records request by Air & Space Forces Magazine for some of those lists remains unfulfilled.
The reenlistment bonus program regularly expands and contracts based on broader retention trends in the Air Force—if retention dips, Airmen in more career fields may be included to entice them to stay. When retention soared during the depths of the COVID pandemic, the program cut back to just 37 career fields, but as recently as 2019 it included more than 100.
The new career fields for 2025 include:
- Aviators for some of the Air Force’s newest platforms, such as boom operator for the KC-46, loadmaster for the C-130J, and airborne maintenance technician for the EA-37B.
- Cyber operations specialists and technicians
- Human intelligence analysts
- Special investigations
The inclusion of more cyber career fields is particularly noteworthy given that the Air Force is reintroducing warrant officers in the cyber and IT fields. While the program is small to start, the extra bonuses could be a sign that the Air Force is wary of losing too much experience from the enlisted force.
Most of last year’s career fields carried over, including jobs that service officials consistently say they have trouble staffing, such as special operations commandos, explosive ordnance disposal, and military working dog handlers.
A few did drop off the list, however, including nuclear weapons maintenance. Airmen whose career fields were removed or reduced have until Feb. 15 to take advantage of last year’s standards.
The exact amount of bonus funds awarded varies based on several factors, including Airmen’s monthly basic pay, the length of the reenlistment, and experience level. The leaked list includes four “zones” ranging from just 17 months of service up to 20 years.
Just last year, the Air Force upped the maximum allowable reenlistment bonus to $180,000, with a career cap set at $360,000. Those figures remain in 2025.
Air Force Specialty Code Special Experience Identifier Career Field Zone A Zone B Zone C Zone E 1A1X2G Mobility Force Aviatior (KC-46 Boom Operator) 0 2 2 2 1A1X2D Mobility Force Aviatior (C-130J Loadmaster) 2 2 1 2 1A1X3E Special Mission Aviator (MC-130) 2 2 0 2 1A1X4D Multi-Domain Operations Aviator (E-11 Mission Coordinator/Payload Operator) 2 2 3 0 1A1X4E Multi-Domain Operations Aviator (EC-130H/EA-37B Airborne Maintenance Technician) 2 2 0 0 1A1X8A Executive Mission Assistant (C-32/C-40 Flight Attendant) 2 2 2 2 1A8X1G Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst – Chinese 4.5 3.5 3 2 1A8X1H Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst – Korean 1 1 1 0 1A8X1I Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst – Russian 4.5 3.5 2.5 1 1A8X1K Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst – Persian 4 3 0 0 1B4X1 Cyber Warfare Operations 7 7 5 3 1C1X1 Air Traffic Control 3 3 2 0 1C3X1 All-Domain Command and Control Operations 2 3 2 1 1C5X1D Battle Management Ops (Weapons Director) 4 4 4 3.5 1C7X1 Airfield Management 3 0 0 0 1D7X1A Cyber Systems Operations (Network Operations Specialist) 2 2 1 0 1D7X1B Cyber Systems Operations (System Administration Specialist) 2 2 1 0 1D7X1D Cyber Systems Operations (Cyber Security Technician) 0 1 1 0 1D7X1E Cyber Systems Operations (Technical Support Specialist) 1 1 0 0 1D7X1M 1AM Cyber Systems Operations (Cybersecurity) 0 1 1 0 1D7X1P 1AN Cyber Systems Operations (Data Operations) 7 7 5 3 1D7X1Q 1AO Cyber Systems Operations (Enterprise Operations) 1 1 0 0 1D7X1Q 1AL, 1AP Cyber Systems Operations (Enterprise Operations) 2 2 1 0 1D7X1W 1AL, 1AP Cyber Systems Operations (Expeditionary Communications) 2 2 2 0 1D7X1W 1AO Cyber Systems Operations (Expeditionary Communications) 1 1 0 0 1D7X1Z Cyberspace Operations (Software Development Specialist) 7 7 5 3 1D7X3C Cable and Antenna Defense Operations – Cable and Antenna Operations 3 0 0 0 1H0X1 Aerospace Physiology 0 0 2 2 1N2X1A Signals Intelligence (Electronic Non-Communications Analyst) 2 0 0 0 1N3X1G Cryptologic Language Analyst (Chinese) 3.5 3 2 0 1N3X1I Cryptologic Language Analyst (Russian) 3.5 3 2 0 1N3X1K Cryptologic Language Analyst (Persian) 3 2 0 0 1N4X1A Cyber Intelligence (Analysis) 2 2 2 0 1N7X1 Human Intelligence Specialist 0 1 1 0 1N8X1 Targeting Analyst 3 4 2 0 1P0X1A Aircrew Flight Equipment (Ejection Seat Aircraft) 2 0 0 0 1P0X1B Aircrew Flight Equipment (Non-Ejection Seat Aircraft) 2 0 0 0 1T0X1 Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape 7 7 5 3 1Z1X1 Pararescue 7 7 5 3 1Z2X1 Combat control 7 7 5 3 1Z3X1 TACP 7 7 5 3 1Z4X1 Special Reconaissance 7 7 5 3 2A373 Tactical Aircraft Maintenance Craftsman 0 3 0 3 2A375 Advanced Fighter Aircraft Integrated Avionics Craftsman 0 2 2 2 2A377 Tactical Aircraft Maintenance (5th Generation) Craftsman 0 1 2 0 2A3X5B Advanced Fighter Aircraft Integrated Avionics (F-35) 2 5 0 0 2A5X1A Airlift/Special Mission Aircraft Maintenance (C-20/C-21/C-22/C-37/C-40/E-4/VC-25) 4 0 0 0 2A531M Airlift/Special Mission Aircraft Maintenance (MQ-1/9) 1 2 0 0 2A531R Airlift/Special Mission Aircraft Maintenance (RQ-4) 1 2 0 0 2A551 Airlift/Special Mission Aircraft Maintenance 1 2 0 0 2A571 Airlift/Special Mission Aircraft Maintenance Craftsman 0 3 3 0 2A574 Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance Craftsman 0 1 1 2 2A5X4C Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance – KC-46 3 3 0 0 2A5X4D Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance – B-52 0.5 0 0 0 2A5X4E Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance – B-1 0 5 0 0 2A5X4F Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance – B-2 2 1 0 0 2A934B Heavy Aircraft Integrated Avionics – Remotely Piloted Aircraft 2 3.5 0 0 2A954 Heavy Aircraft Integrated Avionics 2 3.5 0 0 2G0X1 Logistics Plans 0 2.5 2 1 2M0X0 Missile and Space System Maintenance 0 0 0 4 2M0X1 Missile and Space System Electronic Maintenance 2 1 2 4 2M0X2 Missile and Space System Maintenance 3 2 1 4 2M0X3 Missile and Space Facilities 3 2 1 4.5 3E5X1 Engineering 1 1 0 0 3E8X1 Explosive Ordnance Disposal 5 4.5 4 3 3F371 Manpower 0 0 3 0 3P0X1A Security Forces (Military Working Dog Handler) 2 1 1 0 3P0X1B Security Forces (Combat Arms) 1 1 1 0 4C0X1 Mental Health Service 2 1 1 0 4H0X1 Respiratory Care Practitioner 2 1 1 0 4J0X2 Physical Medicine 0 2 0 0 4J0X2A Physical Medicine (Orthotic) 0 2 5 0 4N0X1C Aerospace Medical Service (Independent Duty Medical Technician) 2.5 2.5 2 0 4N0X1D Aerospace Medical Service (Allergy/Immunization Technician) 1 1 1 0 4N0X1F Aerospace Medical Service (Flight and Operational Medicine) 2 2 1 0 4N0X1G Aerospace Medical Service (Aeromedical Evacuation) 1.5 2 1 0 4N0X1H Aerospace Medical Service (National Registry Paramedic) 3 2 1 0 4N1X1B Surgical Technologist (Urology) 1 2 0 0 4N1X1C Surgical Technologist (Orthopedics) 1 1.5 0 0 4N1X1D Surgical Technologist (Otorhinolaryngology) 1 0 0 0 4P0X1 Pharmacy 3 0 0 0 4R0X1A Diagnostic Imaging (Nuclear medicine) 0 2 0 0 4R0X1B Diagnostic Imaging (Diagnostic Medical Sonography) 1 2.5 2.5 0 4R0X1C Diagnostic Imaging – MRI 0 2 0 0 4V0X1S Ophthalmology 0 3 3 0 4Y0X0 Dental superintendent 0 0 0 3 4Y0X1H Dental hygienist 0 1 1 1 5J0X1 Paralegal 0 0 0 3 5R0X1 Religious Affairs 0 0 2 2 7S0X1 Special Investigations 0 2 0 2.5