Should officers get bonuses?

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:24:18 -0500

Should officers receive bonuses like many enlisted for reenlistment? Of course officers do not reenlist, but rather when they finish serving their mandatory obligation should they receive a bonus to stay in?

Would this help retain some good officers? Or with a shrinking force should we try to keep costs down?

Response by LTC Yinon Weiss made Jan 22 at 2015 7:35 PM

LTC Yinon Weiss — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:35:11 -0500

Many active duty Captains in my peer group received retention bonuses of $30,000 for committing to 3 years back in 2007/2008. I did not take it.

The military uses bonuses to meet its numbers, not to really shape the quality of the force, since bonuses are given across the board and not based on performance.

Scenario 1: Top performing officers are offered a retention bonus based on performance. If this is done, the military will retain more of its best.

Scenario 2: All officers, regardless of performance are offered the same bonus (as was previously done). If this is done, then a lot of people who are not as well qualified to excel in the private sector will stay in the military, and those that want to work in a more merit based organization will get out. In this scenario, I believe that people who were going to stay in are just going to stay in anyway, and those that planned to get out would just get out anyway. The end result is that the military probably didn't spend its money wisely. Another concern I have with scenario 2 is... what kind of officer do you want leading troops if they would not have stayed in without a bonus? I guess I'm just apprehensive about any officer who wouldn't have otherwise served unless he gets paid a little more. Officers are already paid well.

Turn the bonus into a merit based award, and you will see more of the best retained... but that is not how the military really works of course... it's a numbers game unfortunately.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 22 at 2015 7:37 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:37:21 -0500

Only General Maurelli. :)

Response by LTC Stephen C. made Jan 22 at 2015 8:15 PM

LTC Stephen C. — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:15:03 -0500

LTC Private RallyPoint Member, I think retired officers are most deserving! :)

Response by Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 22 at 2015 8:24 PM

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:24:40 -0500

A bonus across the board? No; it simply isn't needed, and in the AF anyways we have slashed quite a few of bonuses on the enlisted side based on retention. Now selective bonuses of course makes sense; take for example personnel with a military intelligence background...private sector contracts often pay quite a bit more for the experience that the military provided. Retaining talent often gets difficult, thus paying a bonus to retain ends up cheaper than ramping up the recruiting and training pipeline. I strongly agree with MAJ Weiss, and would add that any bonus type of program be based on merit. The lack of this is exactly why I went reserve and private sector ;)

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made Jan 22 at 2015 8:36 PM

SGM Erik Marquez — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:36:16 -0500

Bonus , like the Masters program available to officers but not enlisted? Like higher pay? Like fellowships, like accredited teaching positions?

Id say they get bonuses in many ways not available to enlisted.

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made Jan 22 at 2015 9:10 PM

SSG (ret) William Martin — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 21:10:20 -0500

Sir, I don't see why not since VA workers get bonuses when they are jacking up the system.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 22 at 2015 9:13 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 21:13:46 -0500

As an Officer, we have already received the incentive of getting to lead others. I believe this would encourage lazy useless officers to keep dragging down the system of poor performance.

Response by CW5 Jim Steddum made Jan 22 at 2015 9:19 PM

CW5 Jim Steddum — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 21:19:00 -0500

Some specialty AOCs do receive bonuses depending on strength. For example, Army Judge Advocate captains get loan repayment incentives and continuation incentives through their first 12 years of commissioned service. Doc's get pro-pay and other incentives. Other skills that are more military specific and critical to mission should get bonuses if they are in shortage.

Response by SFC Collin McMillion made Jan 22 at 2015 9:35 PM

SFC Collin McMillion — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 21:35:12 -0500

I really don'the believe officers are getting rich from their pay, so why not give incentitive to a good officer to retain him? Makes perfect sense to me.

Response by PO2 Stephen Brinkley (Scott) made Jan 22 at 2015 11:16 PM

PO2 Stephen Brinkley (Scott) — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:16:19 -0500

@CPT Brian Maurelli No disrespect to you or any other Officer, but please explain why you feel you need a bonus when make two to three times what an enlisted member makes?

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 22 at 2015 11:51 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:51:54 -0500

It's is curious to even contemplate this as we all remain concerned about the personnel costs and other benefits already being truncated or cut (BHA, smaller or no pay raises); in addition I would rather not get a bonus if we could keep the end strength of the Army a little higher as drawing down to the low 400k range leaves us too small a force.

We should be more focused on being fiscally responsible -- paying an officer a bonus when he probably will stay in anyway doesn't seem to be in line with "selfless service". I never joined for the money and I have always been able to provide well enough for my family as an officer, especially in comparison to the lifestyle I had when I was enlisted.

Officers earn their pay like everyone else and they are by no means overpaid, but a bonus is not the right incentive and now is not the right time.

Response by TSgt Joshua Copeland made Jan 23 at 2015 8:25 AM

TSgt Joshua Copeland — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:25:41 -0500

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/485775/pilots-combat-systems-officers-may-be-eligible-for-retention-incentives.aspx

Pilots, combat systems officers may be eligible for retention incentiv

Eligible active-duty pilots and combat systems officers have until Sept. 30 to apply for the fiscal year 2014 Aviator Retention Pay Program, Air Force officials said June 25.

Response by SFC Nikhil Kumra made Jan 23 at 2015 8:31 AM

SFC Nikhil Kumra — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:31:01 -0500

Could you imagine if bonuses were based on performance/ncoers/oers? What a crazy world that would be. The common sense would be daunting.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 23 at 2015 8:50 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:50:30 -0500

I worry about how troops are being treated, and aren't exempt. Handing out "pink slips" to well qualified officers in combat zones is appalling, but not surprising. I believe there should be some kind of incentive to keep the best and brightest in the officer corps as there is in the enlisted ranks. I'm not sure what those incentives would be. I do believe, just as in the period after every war, a draw down is occurring to save money, so they say. As George Washington said in his state of the Union address "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace". Sorry if I went on a rant of sorts, but but to answer the question, yea, some kind of incentive.

Response by Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 23 at 2015 11:24 AM

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 11:24:31 -0500

It depends on the branch or specialty of the officer. The goal should be to focus the bonuses in areas where retention is required or difficult to attain (in the Air Force, we offer bonuses to pilots to convince them to stay in after their initial commitment because training a pilot costs so much time, effort, and money that we are better off keeping them than training new ones). We're also now offering bonuses to the missile career field, because the conditions were so bad that they were not staying beyond the initial four-year commitment, creating a gap in the number of crews available to do the job.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 24 at 2015 10:39 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:39:24 -0500

For critical skills retention, yes. This is a way to protect the Army's investment in its people. It makes little sense to spend tons of money training someone to do something special and then just letting them walk away.

I don't think completion of initial obligation would be the point in an officer's career to implement a retention bonus, though. While the Army invests substantially in initial entry training, all officers receive "the same" training (with variation based on commissioning source and branch). I think targeting officers based on investment makes more sense. For example, if the Army invested in training an officer to do something special (pilots, surgeons, physician's assistants, special forces, etc), perhaps this would warrant a retention bonus after the initial term of service. The Army would be smart to protect its other investments as well (graduate school, foreign languages, etc).

Would a retention program help retain good officers? Maybe. But the statistics from past retention programs suggest otherwise---generally only officers who planned on staying in already took the money.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 24 at 2015 10:48 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:48:18 -0500

Honestly, I get paid as well as an O-4 over 6 yrs as I would as a professor in most colleges. I'm happy with my pay.

Response by SFC Stephen P. made Jan 24 at 2015 11:55 AM

SFC Stephen P. — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 11:55:39 -0500

We currently have accession and affiliation bonuses for officers and warrant officers on the USAR side.

The affiliation bonus seems to influence those officers who might otherwise fall into the purgatory of the IRR and standby reserve.

The accession bonus somewhat counteracts the loss of enlistment incentives on appointment.

So yes, give bonuses where needed to address shortages.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 12 at 2015 11:26 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 11:26:52 -0400

Yes, but only officers with specific skills that the Army really needs that are in high demand in the private sector.

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Sep 17 at 2015 2:42 PM

MCPO Roger Collins — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 14:42:39 -0400

If it works for enlisted MOS (USN NECs), why not officers with particular talents. However, I seriously doubt that that will be a driving factor in reenlistments.