thedrifter
10-21-07, 08:41 PM
Six-year stint comes with a bonus
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 29, 2007
The six-year enlistment contract was only for reservists, until the Marine Corps in early October began a program that offers a $15,000 bonus to applicants who commit to a six-year stint in the active-duty infantry.
The Corps’ only six-year contract for active-duty applicants was authorized and implemented quietly to address a shortage of sergeants serving in squad-leader billets throughout the operating forces, said a Marine Corps headquarters official.
The idea is to keep infantry Marines in the operating forces long enough to lead a squad after picking up sergeant at the standard four-year mark, when traditional enlistment contracts expire, according to a briefing of the plan obtained by Marine Corps Times.
Before the six-year contract was authorized, recruiters could enlist infantry applicants for a maximum of five years on active duty, if they agreed to serve outside the operating forces on security and presidential guard details during their first enlistment.
That option is still available but offers no cash incentive. So Corps planners are hoping applicants willing to do five years in the infantry, but not six, might elect the $7,500 now offered to do them all in the operating forces, under another program launched to address the sergeant shortage, the official said.
Though most job specialties require a standard four-year enlistment, five-year contracts are the norm for 10 of the Corps’ most technical job fields.
The infantry field, on the other hand, produces fleet-ready Marines fastest and still offers standard four-year contracts in addition to the new enlistment options.
Recruiters throughout the country said that the Corps should have no problem finding takers for its new five- and six-year contracts because infantry is, after all, the job nearly every applicant wants.
Staff Sgt. Mark Hastings, staff noncommissioned officer in charge of the recruiting substation in Dover, Del., currently has 37 applicants contracted and awaiting their rendezvous with the yellow footprints at the Corps’ recruit depot in Parris Island, S.C. Of those, 15 are headed to the infantry, including one who will pocket $15,000 for signing the new six-year contract, he said.
“When it comes to jobs, infantry always has the most spots allotted and it’s always the first one to go,” he said. “From what I find out from applicants, it’s because everything their whole life, including school, has been easy for them and they want a challenge.”
Though only male Marines can serve in the infantry, interest isn’t limited to them. Staff Sgt. Arturo Bell, who runs the substation in Kennewick, Wash., said “a couple female applicants have come in asking about the infantry.”
There are never enough infantry slots to go around, so finding willing applicants is the easy part, he said. Finding parents who want their son to go grunt is a different story.
“The parents don’t mind what the children do as long as it’s not infantry,” he said. “That’s the difficult part.”
Ellie
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 29, 2007
The six-year enlistment contract was only for reservists, until the Marine Corps in early October began a program that offers a $15,000 bonus to applicants who commit to a six-year stint in the active-duty infantry.
The Corps’ only six-year contract for active-duty applicants was authorized and implemented quietly to address a shortage of sergeants serving in squad-leader billets throughout the operating forces, said a Marine Corps headquarters official.
The idea is to keep infantry Marines in the operating forces long enough to lead a squad after picking up sergeant at the standard four-year mark, when traditional enlistment contracts expire, according to a briefing of the plan obtained by Marine Corps Times.
Before the six-year contract was authorized, recruiters could enlist infantry applicants for a maximum of five years on active duty, if they agreed to serve outside the operating forces on security and presidential guard details during their first enlistment.
That option is still available but offers no cash incentive. So Corps planners are hoping applicants willing to do five years in the infantry, but not six, might elect the $7,500 now offered to do them all in the operating forces, under another program launched to address the sergeant shortage, the official said.
Though most job specialties require a standard four-year enlistment, five-year contracts are the norm for 10 of the Corps’ most technical job fields.
The infantry field, on the other hand, produces fleet-ready Marines fastest and still offers standard four-year contracts in addition to the new enlistment options.
Recruiters throughout the country said that the Corps should have no problem finding takers for its new five- and six-year contracts because infantry is, after all, the job nearly every applicant wants.
Staff Sgt. Mark Hastings, staff noncommissioned officer in charge of the recruiting substation in Dover, Del., currently has 37 applicants contracted and awaiting their rendezvous with the yellow footprints at the Corps’ recruit depot in Parris Island, S.C. Of those, 15 are headed to the infantry, including one who will pocket $15,000 for signing the new six-year contract, he said.
“When it comes to jobs, infantry always has the most spots allotted and it’s always the first one to go,” he said. “From what I find out from applicants, it’s because everything their whole life, including school, has been easy for them and they want a challenge.”
Though only male Marines can serve in the infantry, interest isn’t limited to them. Staff Sgt. Arturo Bell, who runs the substation in Kennewick, Wash., said “a couple female applicants have come in asking about the infantry.”
There are never enough infantry slots to go around, so finding willing applicants is the easy part, he said. Finding parents who want their son to go grunt is a different story.
“The parents don’t mind what the children do as long as it’s not infantry,” he said. “That’s the difficult part.”
Ellie