118 STAT. 1951 PUBLIC LAW 108–375—OCT. 28, 2004 the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve of an armed force under the Secretary’s jurisdiction— ‘‘(A) in a critical officer skill designated under paragraph (3); or ‘‘(B) to meet a manpower shortage in— ‘‘(i) a unit of that Selected Reserve; or ‘‘(ii) a particular pay grade in that armed force. ‘‘(2) An officer is eligible for an affiliation bonus under this section if the officer— ‘‘(A) either— ‘‘(i) is serving on active duty for a period of more than 30 days; or ‘‘(ii) is a member of a reserve component not on active duty and, if the member formerly served on active duty, was released from active duty under honorable conditions; ‘‘(B) has not previously served in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve; and ‘‘(C) is not entitled to receive retired or retainer pay. ‘‘(3)(A) The Secretary concerned shall designate for an armed force under the Secretary’s jurisdiction the critical officer skills to which the bonus authority under this subsection is to be applied. ‘‘(B) A skill may be designated as a critical officer skill for an armed force under subparagraph (A) if, to meet requirements of that armed force, it is critical for that armed force to have a sufficient number of officers who are qualified in that skill. ‘‘(4) An affiliation bonus payable pursuant to an agreement under this section to an eligible officer accrues on the date on which the person is assigned to a unit or position in the Selected Reserve pursuant to such agreement. ‘‘(b) ACCESSION BONUS.—(1) The Secretary concerned may pay an accession bonus under this section to an eligible person who enters into an agreement with the Secretary— ‘‘(A) to accept an appointment as an officer in the armed forces; and ‘‘(B) to serve in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve in a skill designated under paragraph (2) for a period specified in the agreement. ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary concerned shall designate for an armed force under the Secretary’s jurisdiction the officer skills to which the authority under this subsection is to be applied. ‘‘(B) A skill may be designated for an armed force under subparagraph (A) if, to mitigate a current or projected significant shortage of personnel in that armed force who are qualified in that skill, it is critical to increase the number of persons accessed into that armed force who are qualified in that skill or are to be trained in that skill. ‘‘(3) An accession bonus payable to a person pursuant to an agreement under this section accrues on the date on which that agreement is accepted by the Secretary concerned. ‘‘(c) PERIOD OF OBLIGATED SERVICE.—An agreement entered into with the Secretary concerned under this section shall require the person entering into that agreement to serve in the Selected Reserve for a specified period. The period specified in the agreement shall be any period not less than three years that the Secretary concerned determines appropriate to meet the needs of the reserve component in which the service is to be performed.
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