Army Now Offering Recruits up to $40,000 to Join the Infantry

[rangerrebew]

Army Now Offering Recruits up to $40,000 to Join the Infantry

3 Jul 2019
Military.com | By Matthew Cox

FORT KNOX, Kentucky -- U.S. Army recruiters are offering bonuses worth up to $40,000 to new recruits who sign up for the infantry by Sept. 30 as part of an effort to reverse a shortage of grunts for fiscal 2019.

The drastic increase in bonus amounts for recruits in 11X, the infantry military occupational specialty, went into effect in mid-May, according to U.S. Army Recruiting Command officials, who said that the service still needs to fill about 3,300 infantry training seats by Sept. 30.
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"We saw this coming in May; we immediately went to the senior leadership and said, 'look, we need to max out the bonuses for 11Xs,'" Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, commander of Army Recruiting Command, told Military.com Tuesday.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/03/army-now-offering-recruits-40000-join-infantry.html

[Elderberry]

I always knew there were reenlistment bonuses for needed skills, but I never realized there were new recruit bonuses, and ones so large.

[sneakypete]

I always knew there were reenlistment bonuses for needed skills, but I never realized there were new recruit bonuses, and ones so large.

@Elderberry

I THINK there has always been bonuses paid to get people in certain technical fields to enlist,and there were re-enlistment bonuses paid is steps from 1 to 4 to encourage people in critical Military Occupational  Specialties  to re-enlist even in the 60's. Maybe even before.

The only infantry-types I knew of back then that got bonuses for re-enlisting back then were people in Special Forces. The ones already serving were getting used up pretty quickly,and it is a hell of a lot cheaper and quicker to pay them a bonus to re-enlist  than it was to spend more than a year training them to the basic level where they could operate on a team and really begin to learn the trade.

Back then we had the draft,so it wasn't necessary to pay people to enlist in the regular infantry.

[sneakypete]

I always knew there were reenlistment bonuses for needed skills, but I never realized there were new recruit bonuses, and ones so large.

@Elderberry

They have always paid MD's and other people with specialized professional skills a bonus to sign on. It's cheaper and MUCH quicker to do this than to recruit people and train them.

I have a cousin that was allowed to enlist as a E-6 during the VN War. He was a gymnast that was accepted for an Oympic team one year,and he enlisted to teach gymnastics to soldiers,their wives,and their children on base. I forget now what his MOS was,but it was a "Special Services" MOS.

He never once saw a rifle,a tent,a sleeping bag,or a chow line after graduating from basic training. I doubt he was even issued a rifle.

Can't remember now where he was stationed or how long he remained in the army. Or even if he was ever stationed outside of the US. I THINK I was told he made a career of the army,and why not? He had a pretty sweet deal. Worked a 9 to 5 job,was a senior NCO,never had to pull any sort of night or weekend duty like guard duty,never had to go on field operations,and had a private room.

[rangerrebew]

When I got out the only thing I got was a message from the C.O. telling me not to let the water tight door hit me in the *ss.

[sneakypete]

When I got out the only thing I got was a message from the C.O. telling me not to let the water tight door hit me in the *ss.

@rangerrebew

Yeah,but you were in the Navy. Seems like the army if finding it hard to find young men willing to run around all day in 100 + F heat while wearing 100+ lbs of gear and dodging bullets and booby traps for what amounts to little more than minimum wage if you add up all the hours.

Go figure! You would think they would be lined up outside the recruiters doors every day for that kind of deal,wouldn't you?

I am afraid they are going to discover too late that the kind of young man that will sign up for a tours in the Muddle East as an infantryman for a few bucks isn't the kind of young man they were hoping to get.

[truth_seeker]

I was drafted while married with a baby daughter. After Basic I was assigned to Infantry.

Part way through Infantry AIT, I was reassigned to Personnel specialist school due to damage to my hearing.

My bunk mate from Infantry AIT, another draftee, was killed in VN.

I doubt we have enough patriotism left in this country, and I doubt that many young people would stand and fight.

If one day,I learned that dozens of our off-duty military guys, trained in MMA,  showed up at an Antida event, dressed in civvies, and really taught some lessons, I would rejoice.


BTW--Compared to Basic, Infantry is a whole higher magnitude. For example forced march of 40 miles in 24 hours with two hours sleep.

 

[sneakypete]

I was drafted while married with a baby daughter. After Basic I was assigned to Infantry.

That's what usually happened to draftees. They are only going to be in the army for 2 years,so the army isn't going to waste a lot of time and money teaching them a technical MOS.

Part way through Infantry AIT, I was reassigned to Personnel specialist school due to damage to my hearing.

I'm surprised they didn't just give you a hearing aid and tell you to fall back into the ranks. I knew  several senior NCO's on active duty with SF that had hearing aides in both ears. If you are in the infantry,you tend to get exposed to a lot of loud noises.

BTW--Compared to Basic, Infantry is a whole higher magnitude. For example forced march of 40 miles in 24 hours with two hours sleep.

They have to build up your endurance because there might come a time when you need to do that,and people who get left behind tend to die,and also tend to make the unit less likely to win battles. You get used to the loads and get to where you don't even notice them,though. Especially when people start shooting at you. It is amazing how fast you can run loaded down like a pack mule if you have the proper inspiration.