Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Bonus Army

The creeping monetization of military service.

By Fred Kaplan
The U.S. Army is having such a hard time recruiting new soldiers that it is about to offer a truly breathtaking incentive to high-school graduates who sign up—a $40,000 signing bonus, to be applied to buying a home or starting a business after their service is complete.

This comes on top of standard-dipping measures that the Army has recently had to take to meet its enlistment targets—accepting more dropouts, more criminals, and more people who score poorly on aptitude tests.

The latest lure is no less disturbing... http://www.slate.com/id/2184482/

3 comments:

Angelina Fierro said...

Offering a bonus is a good way to ensure that people continue to enlist in the military because of the many anti war standpoints. It does seem fair however, that the Captin bonus increases as well. If this does not happen I predict that many will choose to retire and then many promontions will come to those less qualified which isn't good.

brandon nguyen said...

Criminals in the military is disturbing to me. It's not necessary a bad idea but they represent our nation. The things they may do are disturbing. That is not to say that all criminals have no chance of reforming.

Kalpan said...

This is similar to the incentive of money for students to get better grades in classes. I think its wrong but I suppose temptation is running rampant these days. It all depends on what you find more important: your country and cause while making extra money or your life.