The U.S. Army is expanding a pilot program that gives some high-performing officers the option to spend more years with a unit, the service announced this month, offering junior leaders stability and predictability not typically associated with military career progression.
The Army in 2025 launched the Company Grade Retention and Incentive Program, or CGRIP, with a cohort of 35 first lieutenants in combat arms branches who could opt to stabilize at units including the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 10th Mountain Division, 7th Infantry Division and 82nd Airborne Division.
The Army plans to expand the program to include 16 units and commands for 2026.
Officers selected for the program are guaranteed a follow-on assignment with their unit after completing the Captains Career Course. In exchange, the officers incur an additional two-year active duty service obligation.
“Many junior officers are at a point in their Army career where they are contemplating whether the Army lifestyle works for them and their families. If you are getting married, starting a family, etc., it’s often a time where stabilizing at one assignment for a few more years can help with those dynamics,” then-Col. Donald Fagnan, director of HRC’s Military Personnel and Readiness Directorate, said in a separate release. He has since been promoted to brigadier general.
Capt. Kyle Bennet, an officer who participated in the CGRIP pilot said knowing that he would return to Fort Drum, New York, allowed him and his wife to remain in the home they purchased in the area. It also kept them close to family.
“A big part of why I chose to do the program is because Fort Drum is the closest base to my parents and my in-laws. I also knew I wanted to stay with a light infantry unit, and CGRIP guaranteed me a return to the same type of unit,” he said in the release.
The Army called CGRIP a “commander-driven” effort that lets units create their own metrics for selecting officers to return to their formations after professional military education.
Applications for eligible officers in year-group 2023 opened on May 29.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.