Does the United States Military need to start offering our long-term members retention bonuses?

In my point of view I can say that I went INDEF without a bonus. &nbsp;I don't do this for the money, I do it because I enjoy the experiences and especially the job.&nbsp;<div><br></div><div>From career management POV, if the MOS has a balanced grade structure, there is no reason to offer bells and whistles to maintain the force. &nbsp;When strengths begin to fall into low 90's/80's.. That's when bonuses are needed in order to achieve and maintainn a more reasonable grade structure (pyramid).</div>

Other than the CSRB, there are career reenlistment windows with bonuses paid out to 16 years. Then the CSRB messages kick in

The Army does have the CSRB (Critical Skills Retention Bonus) Program.  This is a retention tool used to retain senior NCOs is shortage and critical MOSs.  I had a few friends who took advantage of this back in 2008/2009.  The CSRB was open to 35Ms at that time and they collected a very nice retention bonus. 

My reenlistment missions are divided into first term and careerist.

I have never had a problem exceeding my careerist mission.

Bonuses are incentives. They are designed to entice you to do something you wouldn't otherwise do. After the first 10 years, incentives are not as needed to meet strength requirements.

So the answer is: They offer incentives if and when they are needed in order to assess and retain. If you are not offered an incentive, they have already determined the enticement is not needed.

Does this seem right to me? Yes. If I can meet strength requirements without spending millions of dollars, why would I spend the millions?

Should the military want to retain experienced members? Yes; and they do. A certain rate of turnover is expected and necessary. As a rule of thumb (not actually applicable to real missions) we expect ~65% of first term and ~85% of careerists to stay on.

The military, according to the personnelists, statisticians and actuaries, ARE keeping "enough" seasoned Service Members. The military needs a certain amount of attrition to enable promotion through the ranks (hence the up or out policy for Officers). The retention bonus is one lever used to balance attrition/retention to keep needed critical skills without clogging the entire system.

"Enough" is certainly a subjective term, and factors that go into the formula include military pay budgets, force structure, grade plates, etc. The 'bonus' is not money for doing a good job the previous year (as in a civilian job) but, like all military bonuses, it is an incentive provided to influence the decision process for each individual - to get someone to do something they might not otherwise do - re-enlist, take a difficult and/or dangerous MOS, etc.

In a sense, it is a market driven incentive: if the supply of individuals wanting to stay is higher than needed, there is no need for a bonus. If retention is too low - overall or in a specific MOS - then an incentive may be used. With regard to the 'over 13' crowd: historically, those that make it past 12 years of service will tend to stick it out for the 20 year retirement, so the 'cliff-vesting' retirement becomes your general "retention incentive" rather than a separate bonus, and the bonus program becomes much more targeted based on skill/MOS, which allows for larger bonus payments for specific individuals given the fixed budget we work with.

Bonuses is a marketing strategy to retain skill shortages. After the money is spent, then what? After that it is up to the person to make career decisions not based on money incentives alone. There may come time when the Army out grows you or you out grow it. That is the time to make career change choices. I made that choice after 22 years. At that time a bonus would not have caused me to stay longer. If the nation was at war at that time I retired and I felt I could make a small difference, I would have continued service.

No, as a lower enlisted soldier, it is in your best interest to see those people leave, to give you and others a chance to move up.