| Veterans
News Flash 
As
War Goes On, US Army
Pays A Lot to Retain Soldiers
by Daphne Benoit
Sun Oct 14
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
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