Army Offering $20,000 Bonus For 'Quick' Recruits

[RamboLiberal]

Source: WLWT.com

As the U.S. Army continues to keep thousands of troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army recruiters have a new perk to offer new recruits.

The Army is now offering a $20,000 "QS" – or “Quick Shipper” -- bonus to new and prior service recruits joining, selecting any job and shipping out for training within 30 days.

"The Q.S. letters means "quick shipper," said Columbus Recruiting Battalion spokesperson Tom Foley in a news release. "And $20,000 means, well, it means a lot of seed money for new soldiers answering the Army's call to duty. The Army is growing in size and we simply need more recruits for training, now."

The $20,000 bonus is in addition to previous offers already in place.

The Army has had trouble meeting recruiting goals, especially in southwest Ohio, in the past few months as the Middle East conflicts continue.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/13766925/detail.html

---

And Southwest Ohio was somewhat "red state" area!

And story from July 6th from this station.

Local Army recruiters told Target 5 that they will not meet this year's recruiting goals, saying the war in Iraq is making it more difficult to attract men and women.

-----

Some recruiters believe stories of injury and death are making it increasingly difficult to attract new recruits.

"The Tri-state area in general has probably seen more than its fair share of casualties in the current conflict, and that has to, of course, weigh on the minds of the folks that we talk with out there," said Maj. McKinley Cunningham, a U.S. Army recruiter in the Tri-state.

-----

"Some younger people who may have joined are probably reconsidering," said Nottingham. "Certainly a lot of parents are steering their children in other directions at this time."

http://www.wlwt.com/news/13636512/detail.html

[MadMaddie]

1. Yea and they will renig on the bonus if the soldiar gets wounded

and discharged.....bastards.

[jmowreader]

35. Renege, not "renig"

Renig sounds like part of a very racist joke.

[Captain Angry]

2. You know, they might have fewer recruiting issues if they'd change a couple things.

1: Pay the soldiers properly to begin with. They're not joining a health club, they're being sent into a war zone.

2: Send the soldiers in, only after diplomacy has failed.

3: Send the soldiers to protect the people, not the infrastructure.

4: Don't let soldiers into environments where the private armies make more money in 30 days than a soldier does in 365.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. This policy

is specifically designed to prey on the poor and the ignorant. To be followed by more stop-loss and an eventual draft.

[trixie]

4. My friend's son just signed today

He is poor, uneducated and his mother is a raging alcoholic. They preyed on him big time. He thinks he is his own man now and will come out of this wealthy. :shrug: He did not even know to get any of the special "offers". They told him (while waiting for him to turn 18) not to watch news or look at any political, military or Iraq issues. :banghead:

So sad. I have a gut feeling he is coming back in a body bag.

[SayWhatYo]

17. I think the odds are in his favor of NOT dying, but...

from what I've seen & heard, it sounds like he has a lot higher chance of coming back without a limb, or even more to be very psychologically damaged...

Then again, maybe he'll get lucky and not be shipped out to the warzone, or he'll do something that doesn't get him in the middle of combat. Then he'll come out with some money, and perhaps some technical training he can use in the real world. Although, I tend to think the former is more likely, unfortunately.

[trixie]

26. I predict

He is dead, loses limbs or does jail.

Come on, how bright can he be?

[MiserableFailure]

21. There will not be a draft

Stop loss probably, but people have been talking about a draft for more than 3 years, and it hasn't happened. We will not have a draft for this war. The bonuses and salaries and all that will be raised long before a draft is ever even considered seriously.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

22. stranger than fiction

Stop loss has already been strained to the very edge of its definition, and I'm sure if you asked some soldiers and their families who have been needlessly victimized by the policy, they might tell you that it feels like a draft is already on. I was of your opinion, but a lot of things could happen in the next 17 months. I mean, geez, we could be at war with Canada by this time next year! (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/07/09/dispute-with-us-leads-can_n_55530.html )

[MiserableFailure]

23. Come on dude, put down the pipe

War with Canada?

Draft?

Yes I know stop loss has been used quite a bit but that doesn't mean we are going to have a draft. Both parties are against it and it's just not going to happen.

[pokercat999]

28. I don't think he was serious about Canada. I'm 100%

in favor of a draft. All men and women starting at age 60 and working downward until ranks are filled. Only deferment would be for health reasons and quite strict. Hardship cases would be "allowed" to serve at or near their home, after a review of their case by a board of peers.

Lock and load baby no F---ing officer is going to give me an order I don't like. At 57 I can't wait to jam it (my M-16) in their butt.

:rofl: :woohoo: :rofl:

OK pipe down.

[MiserableFailure]

29. yeah we don't want you in the military

no offense

haha

all a draft would do is decrease morale and bring some people in who really, really don't want to be a part of the military. we'd see a lot of fraggings and it would not be pretty.

[pokercat999]

39. Exactly, no sense in having an actual ADULT in the

military. Let's keep it for the kids, maybe we could start at 14 or maybe even 12 like the war lords in Africa.

:sarcasm:

[MiserableFailure]

40. i can already tell that you've never served

so you can talk all you want about it but it doesn't matter. talk is cheap. if you'd like to enlist then go do so. but stop ignorantly spouting off about 60 year olds in the military.

[pokercat999]

43. Sorry Charlie, 1972-1975 US Army 511 MP Company,

759th MP Bn. MOS: 95B-V5

I was there, I saw it from upclose and personal, lots of inside stuff most GI's never see. War would be a completely different thing if we used only adults to do the fighting, not children in adult bodies, pretending to be Rambo.

[saigon68]

31. Can't wait for the Draft

Let the rioting in the streets begin

[rocktivity]

5. Is it just me, or do these sentences contradict each other?

"The Army is growing in size and we simply need more recruits for training, now."

The Army has had trouble meeting recruiting goals...in the past few months as the Middle East conflicts continue.

As Bon Jovi might say, WLWT.com gives journalism a bad name.

:crazy:
rocknation

[IndianaGreen]

6. Twenty grand, thirty days training, and off to war you go.

If you time it right, you can sign up on Labour Day, off to war by Thanksgiving, and back home in a coffin on time for Christmas.

[MadMaddie]

7. And last but not least the Army won't have to pay that 20 grand

sorry I am a bit bitter about this. I am betting if there were any true statistics collected many of the promised bonuses have either been challanged or not payed.

[Maat]

8. Don't know the exact info but ..

I heard that less than 50% collect the educational money that is promised them.

I heard this story on Thom Hartmann this morning; it literally made me ill. I'm a retired social worker, and I could just picture the poor, like the clients that used to be on my caseload, lining up to enlist.

It's just ... gutwrenching.

[SayWhatYo]

18. Is it not collected because they don't bother, or because of some sort of "redtape"?

[Maat]

20. I heard this through the Veterans for Peace folks ..

I will have to research where they got it. It would be interesting to find out.

[defendandprotect]

9. $160,000 per year for retired police officers to go to Iraq?

The Congress has to get ahold of these issues ---
This is the figure I've heard re leaflets passed out to ex-police officers a year or two ago --

[Lithos]

10. They won't get to keep it

Dead people don't take it with them. Course it they do make it, odds are the Army will either find a loophole to not pay them. Course if they lose or damage their equipment, the Army will simply dock them for it. Give the Army long enough they will indenture the average enlisted man so that they will never get ahead.

L-

[grilled onions]

11. Just A Package

Ship 'em off today..tommorow they come home in a box.:mad:

[Nihil]

12. Yep ... the US military has offshored its gift-wrapping department ...

Guess that the flags & boxes are cheaper abroad?

:cry:

[NMDemDist2]

13. and the 'old dogs' will have greenies who will put the whole unit at risk

:cry:

[tom_paine]

14. As in: "Quickly deploy to Iraq and get your ass blown off for GOP politicial fortunes"

[conspirator]

15. I still prefer to have 2 LEGS, 2 ARMS and 2 EYES than any money in the world n/t

[SayWhatYo]

16. Wait... the US has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?

When the hell did this happen? Why is Saddam allowing the American military on his soil, has he gone mad? Besides, doesn't putting our military in in that country take away from our defence against the Soviet Union? And why are we helping the Soviets in Afghanistan?

[SKKY]

27. Didn't you get the Memo???

The war with Eurasia is over- they surrendered. On to bigger and better things! Silly...

[Enrique]

19. and if you act now

we'll throw in a pocket fisherman

[BigDDem]

24. In addition to the $20,000, you'll be greeted as liberators!

[Amonester]

34. And imagine how many different colors of flowers you'll be able...

to kickstart your own bidness with!!

[high density]

25. I'll think about it when the offers get to $20 million NM

[Imagevision]

30. Those going beteer get their cas up front before going, dealing with Bu$hco...

[trogdor]

32. Ship 'em out quick, before they change their minds.

Makes it easier on the recruiters. $20K sounds about right.

[Divine Discontent]

33. this should be illegal to do with our tax dollars

really really illegal. :mad:

[trogdor]

36. Congress ought to be approving authority on enlistment bonuses.

Won't happen until 2009, but it's something to put on our shopping list.

[Divine Discontent]

42. shopping list... love it! I hope what we hope for will happen 11/08 cheers! n/t

[pinniped]

37. I saw some new recruits on the newz and it seemed all they were interested....

in was the $$$$. If the $$$$ was irrelevant, they would'nt have been clamoring about it.

Their scams are working.

[tabasco]

38. Quick shipping home too.

[saigon68]

41. Its a BONUS ------a Free Flag for your Mommy too.

You have died like a dog for no good reason

Oops the stockholders of Halliburton disagree with me