MOS confusion

[Joshua91]

Hello everyone. I am a poolee in the dep program waiting to ship on june 6. My recruiter and I picked a MOS for me and he said it had a bonus with it. The mos was electronics maintence (includes 5900, 2800, and 2100). Originally I was looking at 5900 and 2800 but this contract (electronic maintence) was 5 years instead of 4 and came with a 10g bonus. When I went back in to sign the papers for the MOS he said the bonus wasnt offered anymore, instead I was given a kicker for the gi bill. Does this happen often or is there a reason the bonus disappeared?

[Tennessee Top]

Bonuses are normally tied to MOS's which are classified as "critical" usually meaning they are undermanned. The bonus is offered as an incentive to go into that field and there may also be a reenlistment bonus offered to keep experienced Marines from leaving. For whatever reason when that MOS is not "critical" anymore then the bonus is not needed and will not be offered. Bonuses come-and-go and it's all a timing issue. Some MOS's never offer bonuses because they are never short and then there is a handful that seem to always be giving bonuses.

[Old Marine]

When I was active duty I received a bonus each and every time I re-enlisted. But that was from 1953-1973.

[Covey_Rider]

From my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong, an allotment of bonuses is put out and as soon as all of those positions are filled the bonus is pulled. Think of it like this, you offer your kid and his friends a cookie if they clean their room, however your kid decides to call the whole damn neighborhood and you run out of cookies. The incentive then changes.