Funny, it was $40k when I went to the recruiter in 2007. Surge money

https://abc13.com/us-army-pay-jobs-bonuses

Link fail

Tiered and conditional I am guessing?

$50K for SF enlistment option AND completion of schooling?

When I was discharging in '09, the USMC was expanding like crazy and throwing a lot of retention bonuses around. It was tiered however. Upper limit was around $90K but that was for EOD/Recon NCOs or those going into those MOS's but conditional to passing everything of course. My grunt ass in a line company was offered $12K and at that point, I think I would have paid them just to get out.

My enlistment bonus was $9k back in '02. This was along with the GI Bill. I don't remember being offered a bonus when I got out in '06. Nowhere near $50k though and it was time for me to move on.

I was a PFC in Iraq my 1st deployment and walked with my CPL to retention so he could reenlist. He got 18K. This was early '08. Fast forward to December '09 and I'm an E5 back in Iraq and got 3200 for 5 years.

Army has been missing their quota for a few years. My son joined in '19 w/a $15K or $25K sign-on bonus for 4 yr. stint(8 really). I week b/f reporting, broke his foot running in the neighborhood. Lost his bonus as his contrtact wasn't available anymore. Went in Dec. of '19, gave him a $1K bonus.

Navy, too. Millions of open civilian jobs mean the military has to compete for workers, too.

I joined in '03 and got a $4k enlistment bonus. I re-enlisted in '07 and got a $45k re-enlistment bonus. We were deployed in a hazard area at the time, so…TAX FREE!

Aggie1 said:

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I was drafted in 1967 - no bonus. $91/mo base at first. When I got married '$121/mo base. +BAS, +BAH (neither of which was very much)

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I was about to get drafted in '67, talked to a recruiter first and he said I could walk the rice paddies for 2 years or fly helicopters for 4, the bonus was I'd get to be a Warrant Officer. Got a whopping $700/month for the privilege of sitting in a seat under a fan with my feet up talking on the radio all day, getting my ass shot at just about every day was my bonus. Beat the heck out of walking in the rice paddies. My monetary bonus was my overseas tour was tax free.

Aggie1 said:

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I was drafted in 1967 - no bonus. $91/mo base at first. When I got married '$121/mo base. +BAS, +BAH (neither of which was very much)

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My dad retired in 1965 as a E8 with 20 years and by the time he died in 1997, his retirement was more than he made in 65. I remember him telling me that most of the airmen that reported to him could quality for public assistance.