Vet News: As War Goes On, US Army Pays A Lot to Retain Soldiers

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US army is spending big money on bonuses designed to attract new recruits and retain its best soldiers in a bid to overcome a reluctance to re-enlist fueled by the Iraq war and the temptations of the private sector.

"The Army will spend probably about 200 million dollars in fiscal 2008 on bonuses as we currently foresee it. Average bonus is on the order of 8,000 dollars to 10,000 dollars, something like that," David Chu, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said Wednesday.

"Some people do get significant bonuses, I grant," he said. "But the typical person doesn't actually receive that large amount."

The Pentagon expects the prospect of financial bonuses will help it secure new applicants at a time when the military's needs are growing in light of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has just authorized the army to increase its ranks by 65,000 soldiers over three years instead of five, a measure that is expected to give a little breathing space to heavily engaged troops.

After more than four years of the unpopular war in Iraq, army leaders also are concerned that recruitment may become more and more difficult now that the conflict has left more than 3,800 US troops dead and over 27,000 wounded.

But recruitment bonuses have recently showed their power of enticement.

Almost all those who enlisted this past summer received a bonus of 20,000 dollars, which exceeds a yearly salary of a soldier at the beginning of his career, in exchange for a commitment to deployment to the battlefield.

This incentive has boosted recruitment that had been sluggish, and allowed the army to reach its recruitment objectives for 2007.

"It's more than just bonuses," said General Thomas Bostick, who is in charge of the army's recruitment program. "There are soldiers that come in for very patriotic reasons."

The army is even more generous with its more experienced officers and special forces troops as it tries to persuade them to re-enlist and thus reduce the risk of them leaving for companies like private security firm Blackwater that pays employees in Iraq several hundred dollars a day.

The navy, meanwhile, plans to spend this year 190 million dollars on bonuses this year, up 25 percent from 2006, to keep its more valued personnel: members of SEALs, a commando unit in charge of explosives and nuclear devices. Their proposed bonuses rise up to 90,000 dollars.

SOURCE: Yahoo News