Can money improve the retention of personnel in the military? Will this attract better recruits?

Money always talks! However, if the SM still doesn't feel like they belong, contributing, or even valued there isn't enough money in the world to keep the "best" Soldiers!!! Soldiers still want to be valued and in today's Military it's hard to feel like we are valued!

I think if bonuses were more realistic. Entry level bonuses of 15-20K you wouldn't see that in the private sector. Bonuses need to be smaller and tax free. Secondly, money only entices. We need to stop pandering to likes and dislikes. The military has standards and traditions.

I met a 92L (Petroleum Lab Specialist) who came into the Army with a huge bonus. The chain of command placed him in the training room. His leaders knew that he received a bonus and kept him in the company training room. His morale was low. He may have ETSed. His commander and 1SG missed the opportunity here. There are many more soldiers like this out there.

Around 2006 the army was giving retention bonuses to officers. Many of my friends in year group 99 and 00 took the 25K-30K bonus. They had already plan to stay in anyways. Then most of them were kicked out through the OSB and were able to retire under TERA. Awesome, Pay them to stay and kick them out with lifetime of benefits.

I know I mixed bonuses for recruits/retention with officer retention bonuses in my response. The point is, throwing money at the problem rarely fixes it. It is a temporary bandage. For those in hard debt it sounds like a great escape.

Adjustment of the Base Pay tables can yield a different set of results, or problems if poorly adjusted.