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New policy lets sailors exit up to a year early

Sailors who want to leave the Navy up to a year before their enlistment ends now have a shot, under a new policy released Jan. 21.

The “early out” program, which had previously allowed sailors to leave up to six months early, is being expanded as the Navy seeks to drop its end strength to 328,600 by the end of September — 1,245 fewer sailors than there are today.

Although there are 83,775 sailors who have an end-of-service date between now and Sept. 30, 2011, there is no set number of sailors the fleet wants to shed through the early out policy, said Capt. Hank Roux, head community manager at Navy Personnel Command.

“This is a strictly volunteer program; therefore, we have not set a target number,” he said.

The program will be active through this fiscal year, so anyone whose end-of-service date is before Sept. 30, 2011, is eligible to apply. There are exclusions, however.

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