About 80 future soldiers and 20 reenlisting Army recruiters (left) recite the oath of enlistment at Fort Carson, Colo. Cadets with the Mil- waukee Recruiting Co. (below) begin physical fitness training in an audi- torium at Hamilton High School.


ment,” found the size and scope of enlistment bonuses increased in the Army from 2004 to 2008, from $5,600 to about $18,000 a soldier, with the amount of the increase varying by occupational specialty. Navy enlistment bonuses in-


creased, too, but not to the same extent as the Army. In the case of reenlistment bonuses, the branches with the heaviest combat duties in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom had the largest in- creases in bonus use and generosity. For example, just about 80 percent of servicemembers reenlisting at the end of their first term in the Army or Marine Corps received a bonus in 2007. The study also found enlistment


bonus programs were relatively more cost-effective for the Army than regular military compensa- tion — but recruiters tend to be even more cost-effective. The study esti- mates the additional cost per recruit of enlistment bonuses is $44,000; by comparison, increasing base pay costs $57,600 — and adding an Army recruiter costs $33,200. Though Williams, with 14 years


of recruiting under his Army beret, is off the streets now and at the Bal- timore battalion’s headquarters, his


eyes light up at the mention of a new educational program. “I can use it [to recruit],” he says. Like Gaither, Williams says he


cannot tag a turning point in con- tracting, but in his experience, when money’s tight, parents are nudging their kids. “Military service may not be a bad idea,” he has heard them say when funding for college is on the table. “For a lot of the kids, it’s been about the tangible benefits, money for school, bonuses, and training,” he says. He offers a som- ber example: “Back in West Philly, I went to this girl’s house. We went in, and there was hardly any furni- ture in the house.” That day they sat on milk crates. For this young woman, he says, it was knowing there would be food and she would earn a paycheck that sold her. He’s seen some desperate circumstances, but this one has stayed with him.


PHOTOS: ABOVE, SPC. SHAMEKA EDWARDS, USA, U.S. ARMY 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; TOP, JORGE GOMEZ (MILWAUKEE RECRUITING BATTALION)/U.S. ARMY


Still, Williams says, while pre-


senting opportunities to qualified youth is important, “the real reward for me comes when they return from boot camp. They are all smiles. They stand proudly in their uniforms. I am truly humbled; I have made a dif- ference in someone’s life.”


MO


WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU


How can the services overcome recruiting and retention chal- lenges? Click on Recruit at www .moaa.org/discussion or mail MOAA, Attn: Editor, 201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314, to share your thoughts.


— Contributing Editor Gina DiNicolo is a retired military officer and the author of the Inside the Headquarters blog at www .moaa.org. Her last article for Military Of- ficer was “Flexible Force,” August 2010.


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