Originally posted by CCMSG: I am not an expert on the House/Senate, but think it takes longer than a day.
I've been working on "laws" and it takes 4-5 years to get a "law" changed because of backlog (I presume). (Laws are what sneators and congressman are in the business of changing ... not policy, which is DoD (directive) or service (Army policy).
Point 1. Bonuses ARE being debated. "lawmakers, not the Big Army, make determinations on what needs to be done with a defense budget and if that means reducing or eliminating bonus money" At least indirectly since you said yourself that lawmakers decide how much and when as they go over the budget.
Point 2. Plenty of soldiers would be interested. Its as simple as knowing that tomorrow they can reenlist for money and tomorrow they cant. Why are they offering $150,000, $60,000......even my MOS capped out at $40,000 back in the summer.Why ar ethey offering tax free money in Iraq? Do you really believe that most soldiers are reenlisting because they enjoy dodging bullets, IED's and living in a desert away from their family for 15 months? No, they are not reenlisting for god honor or country, they are doing it for the tax free money. Point 3. Bonus money is an incentive, not an entitlement. Sigh........YES, I KNOW. What Im saying the knowledge of how long its going to stick around is just as valuable as th emoney itself. Not once did I say we are entitled to the money....BUT we are entitled to know how long its going to be available. Last Point. Yes, the debate and planning takes more than a day but the actual voting itself only takes a few hours. Ive watched voting and all those lazy ppl have to do is stay awake and push a damn button. Not hard. So yes...we could get the results in a few hours.
I understand that at your rank youve been in the Army a bit and you may have a institutional way of thinking so I did a neat little point/counterpoint for you in order to show you that your wrong.
Note the last paragraph: (g) No bonus shall be paid under this section with respect to any reenlistment, or voluntary extension of an active-duty enlistment, in the armed forces entered into after December 31, 2006.
This is where the NDAA played into this in January.
Originally posted by whyme: they are not reenlisting for god honor or country, they are doing it for the tax free money.
WOW! What a truly amazing comment
There's a 10-11 minute video called "The Strength of a Nation". It is an outstanding depiction of why Soldiers choose to Stay Army-told by Soldiers. There's a Soldier in this video, now SGM Jurgersen--Here's a quick synopsis of his story: severely injured on 2 separate deployments, placed on life support both times, not expected to live, lost a leg. If you have ever seen the Wounded Warrior poster with the guy wearing a prosthetic leg doing situps, that is him. You know what happened to this SGM? His son chose to join the Army. I guess the main reason he joined, though, was for the huge enlistment bonus, huh?
Posts: 126 | Location: Fort Sill (FORSCOM) | Registered: 08 January 2008
Look, for every name you offer, I can offer 10 that did it for the money. That guy was the exception and not the rule.
Besides, I dont want to get sidetracked here. The reasons for getting the money is not the issue here. This is: SOLDIERS WANT TO KNOW WHEN THEIR MOS BONUS WILL EXPIRE OR WHEN IT WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR ONE.
I read what you noted. Did you read what I capped?
Why cant soldiers know when a SRB is going to expire?
This is the question that started this whole thread. Im a reasonably intelligent guy but I have not gotten an asnwer from anyone in this forum that explains this.
Originally posted by whyme: Why cant soldiers know when a SRB is going to expire?
I really don't understand your question.
When HRC releases a new bonus message, aren't Soldiers normally given 30 days? How much more time do Soldiers need to make up their minds about reenlistment?
If you read about the reenlistment bonus law, do you understand how the process works?
I don't know much about this but if the purpose of an SRB is to address manning issues by MOS and grade then wont the SRB be in effect only as long as those issues exist? To put it as clear as possible... If they need 500 more 13F to be at full strength then they will only keep the SRB until they reach that 500 number... if the Army was able to know exactly when they could expect to reach that number I would imagine that they wouldn't need to issue an SRB in the first place... oh and by the way I am one of those guys that re-enlisted without a bonus, I'll wait patiently for the list 10 names that did it only for the money...
Posts: 126 | Location: University of Iowa | Registered: 30 April 2007
Originally posted by Dog Robber: oh and by the way I am one of those guys that re-enlisted without a bonus, I'll wait patiently for the list 10 names that did it only for the money...
You owe me 9 more names of ppl who reenlisted and turned down the money. Or did you turn it down at all? Maybe you just werent eligible to receive anything. Maybe your college is being financed......hmm? Thats the same thing as an SRB in my book.
Anyway...to answer ArmyReenlistment's question, why cant the Army tell us when an SRB is going to expire? One day its here and the next, its not.
Just because you reenlist and get a bonus doesn't mean you reenlisted because of the bonus. I reenlisted five times so far and only once did I get a bonus and it wasn't much.
Everybody in the service can get TA for free college and you don't have to reenlist for it so that is not an SRB
Posts: 177 | Location: Fort Irwin, CA | Registered: 01 January 2007
Originally posted by whyme: Anyway...to answer ArmyReenlistment's question, why cant the Army tell us when an SRB is going to expire? One day its here and the next, its not.
Did you not read the post? You get a 30 day notice on when a bonus is going to expire. Is that good enough?
Ok, I did not know that there was an expiration message on the SRB's.
So the current SRB list is still good and will continue to be so until a flash comes out telling us its about to change? Im asking this because the current list has been out for quite a while.
Topic Closed
WOW! What a truly amazing comment 
