ACIP/AVIP

[BMC_07]

Does anyone have any gouge on getting back in and turning aviation career incentive pay back on?

I’m trying to work through the process and as I understand it, I need an upchit so an annual flight physical and something to prove that I met the months of flying gates.

Navy reserve commander, 17 years of service, just got back in three months ago. I will not be flying but as my my understanding is, it’s just about having the requisite months of flying previously for SELRES.

Any information or step-by-step process would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[MIDNJAC]

I can't exactly help, since I have always been on DIFOPS orders rather than DIFDEN, and thus haven't needed a gate letter. But they make them for you. Do you have a 12 year gate letter? I imagine that is gonna be a critical piece. My understanding is that they will not/can't create them retroactively, though there obviously has to be a workaround for folks who stopped flying after the 12 year gate (probably something like having 12+ years of DIFOPS orders in your record). I believe there is an AvIP program manager at Millington, who you'd probably want to reach out to. They can probably answer your questions/explain your process a lot better than any of us can. Also, you'll be up for your 18-year gate pretty soon here. You'll need a minimum of 120 months of flying (MOF) at 18 years to continue to receive AvIP in a DIFDEN status. Not sure if any of that helps, or just repeats stuff you already knew. But good luck!

 

[BMC_07]

Awesome thanks for the reply. Before I got out, I had always been in flying orders so I have 200 some months of flying which I understand takes me out to the 25 year mark. You’re definitely right this seems to be the most misunderstood bonus pay program ever. The PS’s at the NRC are about over it. I’m hoping when I get my billet (probably a NALE) someone is a little more familiar.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Awesome thanks for the reply. Before I got out, I had always been in flying orders so I have 200 some months of flying which I understand takes me out to the 25 year mark. You’re definitely right this seems to be the most misunderstood bonus pay program ever. The PS’s at the NRC are about over it. I’m hoping when I get my billet (probably a NALE) someone is a little more familiar.

Yep, you should be just fine in terms of eligibility (to 25 yrs). Unfortunately, the NRC (any NRC) understands this, and AvIP in general about well enough to just throw their hands up and randomly uncheck the flight pay box and turn it off because they don't understand it at all. Hopefully whoever is sitting in the boss man chair knows enough to fix them. But if not, you might need to advocate for yourself. OPNAVINST 7220.18 is the instruction that covers this. And I had this saved in my phone from trying to sort out an issue our guys were having with random AvIP underpayment a year or so ago, which might be helpful to you:

AvIP FAQs

 

[LAMPS Ninja]

I was in a nearly identical situation when I left my hardware unit for GenPop. When I was wrestling the NRC with this, somebody advised me to reach out to a Ms. Jeanitta Edwards (Navy civilian at CNRFC, I believe) to provide the gate letter and update NSIPS w the correct months of flying. I forget how exactly the NRC “turned on” flight pay, but I believe it was a check box in NSIPS. The hardest part was finding “the smart one” at your NRC who can do it and actually will.

 

[BMC_07]

LAMPS NINJA - Contacts are good - I’ll see if I can find her. Thanks!

MIDNJAC - Thanks as well. This shouldn’t be so hard, the FAQ is great though.

 

[LAMPS Ninja]

If your NRC gives you a hard time about not rating AVIP because you're no longer flying, try showing them this memo from somebody in CNAFR. NRC Fort Worth didn't believe me and wouldn't turn it back on until I showed this to them.

The Millington AVIP desk can't help offer you much as a reservist, but they're the ones who pointed me to Ms. Edwards while I was mobilized. My last contact with her was April 2024, so hopefully she's still there.

 

[SynixMan]

https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Career-Management/Detailing/Officer/Pers-43-Aviation/OCM/Monthly-Flight-Pay/

You'll need your gate letter and upchit basically. Gate letter can be obtained by doing an AskMNCC case that goes to PERS-911, got mine back in a few days. Upchit is obvious. There are steps they can follow in a document on the above website called N1B Flight Pay Guide that tells them what to click in NSIPS and turn it on. I got with a PS1 at my NRC and walked through it step by step on a weekday when they had time (i.e. not on a drill weekend). You may need to engage a Khaki in your NRC's manpower if the sailors balk. Some of this is how to gently apply pressure to the NRC in the right places.

Edit: BTW, still mad I missed out on 3 years of flight pay ($90 a month for just drill weekends) because when I first checked in to the reserves no one knew how to turn it on at the NRC. Thank god they published the above guide.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Edit: BTW, still mad I missed out on 3 years of flight pay ($90 a month for just drill weekends) because when I first checked in to the reserves no one knew how to turn it on at the NRC. Thank god they published the above guide.

Dude, I feel like you should still be able to get back pay. We all lost our "milestone AvIP" somewhere around June 2022. It was only this fall, and it was sort of a CNAFR act of god, but I got a ~$6k+ check for the difference between milestone and baseline AvIP (what was previously paid out) a few months back for those few years I was underpaid. I think all 29 of us got (back) paid out in some way. And everyone else in TSW as well. The pay f**ery in the reserves is astounding sometimes. Also, not sure if anyone knows this or not, but we just went to a new contracted pay system as of 1 Oct (or maybe it was today?). I'm sure it will go super smoothly.