Army Offering $20,000 Bonus For 'Quick' Recruits

[Jag]

Bonus Goes To Those Willing To Ship Out Within Month


POSTED: 8:41 am EDT July 27, 2007
UPDATED: 6:45 pm EDT July 27, 2007

CINCINNATI -- As the U.S. Army continues to keep thousands of troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army recruiters have a new perk to offer new recruits.


The Army is now offering a $20,000 "QS" – or “Quick Shipper” -- bonus to new and prior service recruits joining, selecting any job and shipping out for training within 30 days.


"The Q.S. letters means "quick shipper," said Columbus Recruiting Battalion spokesperson Tom Foley in a news release. "And $20,000 means, well, it means a lot of seed money for new soldiers answering the Army's call to duty. The Army is growing in size and we simply need more recruits for training, now."

The $20,000 bonus is in addition to previous offers already in place.


The Army has had trouble meeting recruiting goals, especially in southwest Ohio, in the past few months as the Middle East conflicts continue.


Soldiers have often complained about the traditionally low pay as well.


Foley said some recruits could tally bonuses up to $40,000 during this period with enlistments of four years or more.

Jag

[Ryan Ruck]

The Army has had trouble meeting recruiting goals, especially in southwest Ohio, in the past few months as the Middle East conflicts continue.

Man, could have fooled me. When I was up at the Columbus, Ohio MEPS that place was crawling with Army enlistees.

Here was my impression on numbers of enlistees in order of largest to smallest:

1. Army
2. Marines
3. Navy (saw a handful)
4. Air Force (saw one)
5. Coast Guard (none seen)

Now, this is just what I saw in the 2 hours or so I was up there, so I have no idea if this is an accurate representation.

[Jag]

My Niece is now in her 6th week of BT at Fort Leonard and the bonus when she signed up was $8,000. It will be interesting to see if they offer her an extra $20,000 to go to Iraq. Her training will be MP so she will probably fit right in to the plan.

Jag

[Jag]

That's Fort Leonard Wood, got in a hurry.

Jag

[RavenLyke]

After years of deliberation I made a decision 3 months ago to look at my options for re-joining the Service. The Navy was out of the question, I didn't feel going back to the Navy would work for me, not for what I want to accomplish.

The marines, well I am too old lol, 33 and they don't wan't me, but alas, the Army.

Well talked to them had a lot of good things going on then the whammy, well sir you can't be on prescription Lexapro and join the Army, you have to be off for a year under Dr. orders.

I know quite a few quys still in the Army that have the same prescriptions, but that was after tours in Iraq.

So I guess I sit here on the sidelines and cheer them on.

My decision to join was a very tough one, being a divorced father of a 2 young boys, but I felt that it was my chance to help their future.

Probably off the topic a little, but hey now you know me better lol.

[Jag]

Army to expand recruiting incentives

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Need a down-payment for your home? Seed money to start a business? The Army wants to help — if you're willing to join up. Despite spending nearly $1 billion last year on recruiting bonuses and ads, Army leaders say an even bolder approach is needed to fill wartime ranks.

Under a new proposal, men and women who enlist could pick from a "buffet" of incentives, including up to $45,000 tax-free that they accrue during their career to help buy a home or build a business. Other options would include money for college and to pay off student loans.

An Associated Press review of the increasingly aggressive recruiting offerings found the Army is not only dangling more sign-up rewards — it's loosening rules on age and weight limits, education and drug and criminal records.

It's all part of an Army effort to fill its ranks even as the percentage of young people who say they plan to join the military has hit a historic low — 16 percent by the Pentagon's own surveying — in the fifth year of the Iraq war.

In June, the Army failed to meet its recruitment target for the second month in a row, although it apparently met its goal to recruit 9,750 troops in July and is on target for 80,000 for the year that ends Sept. 30.

As part of a push to make its 2007 goals, the Army is boosting the size of its 8,000-member recruiting force with 1,000 to 2,000 assistants — including some former recruiters.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to increase the size of the active-duty Army by 65,000 to a total of 547,000 within five years. In part, that's to ease the wartime strain on the Army, which is the largest branch of the military.

"Recruiting next year and beyond will remain challenging and will ... require additional innovative approaches," said Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle, the Pentagon's deputy chief of staff for personnel. He asked lawmakers last week on Capitol Hill for money to pay for the new program.

Rochelle described the latest offering as an updated version of the Army's college fund, a popular program started in 1982 to help soldiers pay for college.

The Army would like to start a pilot program targeting 500 people who might not otherwise considering joining. In the pilot, the takers who complete a 4-year enlistment would be eligible for up to $30,000 in incentives — including money for a home loan or business. Eventually, the Army wants to offer up to $45,000.

Beyond the Iraq war, the military says other factors have affected its ability to recruit. More high school graduates are going to college, and the economy is strong, providing lots of civilian jobs. At the same time, only three of 10 people between 17 and 24 fully meet the military's standards.

Less obvious factors have also decreased the recruitment pool. They include higher obesity rates, more people diagnosed with mental health conditions such as attention-deficit disorder, more criminal citations due to the increase of the drinking age from 18 to 21.

"The numbers of people who meet our enlistment standards is astonishingly low," said Michael Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense.
Among the changes that have helped attract more recruits:

• Increasing to $20,000 the bonus for troops who join by Sept. 30 and leave for boot camp within a month.

• Raising the enlistment age to 42.

• Allowing recruits to come in with non-offensive tattoos on their hands and neck.


• Offering a $2,000 bonus to Army soldiers who refer a new recruit.

• Enlisting recruits who don't meet weight standards and must trim down their first year.

• Advertising that targets potential recruits' parents.

• Increasing the number of recruits with general education diplomas rather than regular high school diplomas.

• Creating a more pleasant boot camp environment.

• Sending "gung-ho" soldiers fresh from boot camp or war zones back to their hometowns to visit old friends and schoolmates to promote the Army.

• Increasing to more than 15 percent the number of Army and Army Reserve troops given waivers for medical and moral reasons or for positive drug and alcohol screen tests.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070810/...LjJ0r96Ees0NUE
Jag

[Jag]

and here comes the BIGGIE....

Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

Aug 10 06:25 PM US/Eastern
By RICHARD LARDNER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.


"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.

The repeated deployments affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military, Lute said.

"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all- volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."

The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re- established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.

Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington. Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Jag

[American Patriot]

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.

He's said it several times. He won't bring it back and for people to "point to the Bush administration" is a crock of crap. It was CLINTON who multiple times suggested it, both Billy-boy and now Hillary.

Several CONGRESSidiots, all of whom were Dummycrats tried to push a BILL through a couple of years back to force the draft -- in their words "to make it equatable for all" -- in other words to DRAFT "rich kids too".

Some months later, they started "blaming Bush" for "bringing back the draft". I posted all of this over on Anomalies a long long time ago in one of the anti-Bush debates, and gave references.

So, just because some clown says something, and it's taken completely out of context by PBS of all commie plotters, folks are again "pointing" at the Bush administration in their articles.

Jag, that article is a load of hooey.

[American Patriot]

I don't know why the Marines wouldn't take someone who is 33. I spoke to some recruiters a couple of years ago, at my youngest son's HS graduation, and guess what? At 48, they would have taken me back. Said I'd "have to go through Basic again..." because, that's what Marines do. Every service member, in the Marines, prior or NOT has to do Basic -- and if you've been in another service, regardless of your previous basic training, you go through the Marines again if you want to join.

I chose not to.

Still, that was two years ago, I'm 50 now, and I have no intention of going back in the service, unless it gets the point where they could use me to train people, and I'd have ZERO problem with putting on a uniform again. Of course, I expect a promotion or something before I go back in. I retired as a MSgt and I'd expect to at least put on Senior. lol

[Aplomb]

They wouldn't take my brother back, either, Rick, and I think he was about 33 or so at the time. I don't know what their criteria is, but at that time, my brother was in terrible shape and his desire was not enough to get him past the recruiter. He'd been released on a hardship discharge to take care of my grandfather who was old, ill, and had just lost his wife; and I recall something about them pushing him away by stating that he needed to prove that my grandfather didn't need his assistance any more. He's a little healthier now and my grandfather is deceased so maybe he can get back in now. He also happens to live in Ohio right now. I'll let him know about this.

[American Patriot]

Tell him "Howdy" for me, if you talk to him.

[American Patriot]

US not considering draft: Pentagon

Mon Aug 13, 11:02 AM ET

WASHINGTON(AFP) - The Pentagon sharply rejected Monday a key general's assertion that a return to the military draft has always been "an option on the table" and should be considered.

"I can tell you emphatically that there is absolutely no consideration being given to reinstituting the draft," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "The all-volunteer force has surpassed all expectations of its founders."

Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, a White House deputy national security adviser, discussed the draft in a radio interview Friday in which he said military leaders were right to be concerned about the impact of repeated deployments on military morale and readiness.

Lute, who is in charge of coordinating the US war effort in Iraq, said the all-volunteer military is serving "exceedingly well" and the administration has not decided it needs to be replaced with a draft.

But he said, "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table."

"But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," he said in the interview with National Public Radio.

Reinstating the draft has become a virtual taboo since it was ended in 1973 near the end of the Vietnam War, and replaced with a smaller, better paid all-volunteer force.

The US military found that it preferred voluntary service to universal conscription because it drew better educated, more highly motivated recruits looking to make a career of the military.

[Backstop]

That's interesting they would take you back at 48 yrs, Rick.

I've tried 3 different times - with all services, Res,AD, Guard, etc. - during the last 4 yrs to get back in, but no dice.

The main issue is the fact I get a retirement check every month - seems as if being retired puts me in a special category.

[American Patriot]

Hmmm odd. I could go down right now and say, "Sign me up" and the AF would take me back, the Army would take me and I am pretty sure I could get into the Marines, but I don't think I'd make it through Basic (Well, I COULD do it, but, I think it would be a lot more difficult than I remember things being, lol).

[American Patriot]

Oh... but I'm not GOING to go down and sign up. lol

[Backstop]

I went to the Live On Line Chat - or whatever it's called - for the AF Res - and in May of this year - no dice because I'm already retired and getting a check.

Think I've already mentioned this...

About 3 weeks after 11 Sep, I contacted an AF Res recruiter here in town. She must've been having a bad month, 'cause man that woman was mean.

Anyway, there was a MINOR - obviously minor to her - detail that involved my retired pay being reduced by the amount I earned while pulling Res duty.

I had already gone and gotten the physicals, etc. Passed with flying colors, BTW.

She neglected to tell me this, and I only found out about it while reading online. I called her a day before my appt, and asked her about this. She went off on me, telling me to talk to her when I had the appt.

It got ugly.

I drove to her office, and got a business card. That evening, I wrote a letter - called her OIC the next day.

4 days later, she was fired.

I was too PO'd to pursue this until about 6 months had passed. By then, they had closed the program.

ETA:

Rick, you got me all worked up about this. HAHA! So...

Well, just tried the AF Res Online Chat deal - things have changed, and now you can't have retired more than 5 years ago.
He also said there is no program for prior service to return to AD.
Bummer.

"Backstop":
"Sometime" 1996


Dave:
Unfortunately you cannot have been retired more than 5 years to be eligible for the retiree to reserve program

"Backstop":
Bummer. Do you know if I'm eligible to return to AD? Or who I should ask that of?


Dave:
don't think so, they are not accepting any prior service at this time

"Backstop":
Oh well. Thank you so much for you time, Dave. Stay safe.


Dave:
You too

[American Patriot]

Interesting. I'll make some calls.

There is ONE big difference though. I am ELIGIBLE to go in ANY TIME up until I draw my first retired check at the age of 60. That's likely the difference. I CAN go back to the Reserves at any time.

Active duty will take me for several reasons:]

1) I'm trained
2) I can train
3) I was on Reserve duty last, not active duty.
4) Never took a retiree check yet.
5) Have an ACTIVE ID card
6) have a clearance
7) Work for the DOD already

So... there's some differences in me and most folks.

[Backstop]

Ahhh...now I see.