In need of recruits, U.S. offers big bonus

By Karoun Demirjian
Chicago Tribune
August 4, 2007

Struggling to fill the ranks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army is now trying a new incentive: offering new and returning enlistees up to $20,000 "Q.S." bonuses in exchange for a promise to ship out quickly to basic training within 30 days of signing on the dotted line.

The bonus — "Q.S." for "quick-ship" — has already had some success in the 10 days since the Army started offering it.

With less than two months to go until the end of the federal fiscal year, the Army is scrambling to meet recruiting goals of 80,000 new soldiers in basic training before Sept. 30.

One of the new quick-shippers, Howard Cable, 20, and his soon-to-be brother-in-law, John Tutorow, 21, walked into the Army Recruiting Battalion in South Bend, Ind., just as the new program got under way.

"I was a student, and it was just getting way too expensive," said Cable, who would have been starting his junior year at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., in the fall. "I had a job, but it wasn't really what I wanted."

Cable learned that he could transfer his credits into the Army, that the Army would help him and Tutorow pay for college after they finished their terms in the military and that they would receive a healthy new signing bonus: $20,000 each.

That was early last week. On Monday, Tutorow and Cable signed contracts and agreed to ship out for nine weeks of basic training in Ft. Sill, Okla., starting Tuesday.

"It was a bit of a hurry," Cable acknowledged. "But I didn't want to go back to college, so I could go right away … the money didn't make that much difference to me. It really made a difference for him though," he said, referring to Tutorow, who got married Sunday, but decided to ship out little more than a week later to take advantage of the offer.

Quickly into combat

Under the "quick-ship" program, a recruit can be in a combat situation in as little as four months after signing up, depending on what additional training is required. Normally, the timeline is longer, as recruits are given up to a year from the date of signing their military contract to report to basic training. The signing bonus offer covers recruits who enlist for at least two years of active duty and report quickly to basic training. In fact, aspiring recruits willing to sign up for at least four years and report quickly can get as much as $40,000 in installments over the time of their service.

But now time is of the essence, and keeping up the ranks on the battlefield has become a special challenge for recruiters. This spring, the Army began to fall short of its recruiting mark, signing up 7,031 of an expected 8,400 in June.

The Army has offered signing bonuses in other instances when "Be All That You Can Be" and other such recruiting slogans have proven an especially tough sell. The most recent instance was in March, when the Army offered $15,000 bonuses for soldiers who agreed to a quick training and deployment schedule. But lately, as the future of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan becomes more uncertain and conditions for soldiers fighting those battles grow more trying, the Army has had to raise the offer.

"It's been a very tough recruiting environment for several years, and when we get into a tough environment, we're working very close in," said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting. "We have to fill those training seats."

Recruiter's nightmare

The environment that awaits potential recruits is not necessarily something too many are eager to rush into. April and May saw some of the highest death tolls for American troops in Iraq since hostilities began in 2003, with improvised explosives, such as roadside bombs, causing most of the casualties.

In April, combat tours were extended from one year to 15 months, the longest in American history since World War II. The majority of troops in Iraq are now on their second or third tour of duty.

Despite the challenge, the Army has not been advertising the $20,000 incentive, relying instead on word of mouth to get the message out. Recruiters say they prefer it that way, even though time is limited, both for the Army and the offer, which is likely to disappear at the end of the fiscal year.

"You won't find somebody coming in straight off the street without an interest in joining," said Sgt. William Dunn, the recruiter who talked to Tutorow and Cable. "I don't want to put someone in the Army strictly because they hear about the $20,000 … but money talks."

Most of the recruits who have taken advantage of the bonus to date have at least been considering military service, or have already signed up, and agree to expedite their deployment.

Paul Roldan, 18, had been mulling over enlisting in the Army since the summer before his senior year in high school.

"I was looking into college, other jobs, things like that," the Chicago native said. He said he had pretty much decided on the Army by graduation, but hadn't finally committed before hearing about the "quick-ship" bonus offer, which started July 25. He signed a contract July 27, and will report to Ft. Sill for basic training Tuesday.

Roldan said based on his aptitude test scores, his job specialization — cannon crew, an on-the-battlefield position right behind the infantry line — and what he knows of friends who have enlisted, he was expecting about a $5,000 signing bonus. Because he agreed to ship out for training within 30 days and enlist for three years, he said he received an extra $20,000 on top of that money, making the offer too good to pass up.

"There's not many 18-year-olds walking around with $25,000 in their pocket," he said proudly.

kdemirjian@tribune.com