Photo: Mathieu RABECHAULT / AFP / Getty Images
For: Real America News
Sunday, November 24
US Army Offers $50,000 Bonus to Recruit Qualified Soldiers
The United States Army offers for the first time a maximum enlistment bonus of $50,000 dollars to highly-skilled recruits who sign up to serve for six years, The Associated Press reported, as the service struggles to attract soldiers to certain critical jobs affected by the coronavirus pandemic. .
Major General Kevin Vereen, head of the Army Recruiting Command, told AP that the closure of schools and the competitive job market during the last year have posed significant challenges for recruiters.
So, facing the toughest months of the year for recruiting, the Army hopes that some extra money and some other changes will entice qualified youth to enroll.
“We are still living the implications of 2020 and the start of Covid, when school systems basically shut down,” Vereen said. “We lost an entire class of young men and women with whom we had no contact, face to face.”
The two years of the coronavirus pandemic have made it harder for the Army to recruit young people at schools and public events, and the competition for quality workers has intensified as young people weigh their options.
Some, Vereen said, are taking what he calls a gap year and “are making the decision that they don’t need to work right now.”
They hope to recruit some 57,500 soldiers
The Army’s annual recruiting goal fluctuates as currently serving Soldiers decide whether to re-enlist. enlist or finish.
In the last two years, as the pandemic progressed, many decided to stay, which reduced the pressure on recruitment. Last year’s recruitment goal was 57,500, and Vereen said it will be about the same this year.
To attract recruits , those who sign up for a six-year enlistment in one of several high-demand career fields,
The final number depends on when they agree to receive training, if they already have critical skills and if they choose airborne or ranger positions .
Certain careers, such as missile defense crew, special forces, signals intelligence and fire control specialists who coordinate operations of weapons on the battlefield, often can have the maximum bonuses.
But other key jobs include infantry, intelligence analyst, combat medicine specialist, military police, combat engineer, and several others. And that can change every month, depending on the places available in the training process and other service needs.
Until now, the Army had offered a maximum bonus of $40,000 Dollars. “We are in a competitive market,” Vereen said. “The way we incentivize is absolutely essential, and that is absolutely something that we know is important in trying to get someone to come and join the military.”
“We want to promote the value of serving your country first,” explained Vereen. “But we also know that, for this generation and I guess for human nature, it’s also about compensation.”
To compound the problem, there is the increase in cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant, which is causing the closure of some school systems, when recruiters want to visit schools or sporting events to attract candidates.
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