Military Pay Raise and Enlisted and Aviation Officer Bonus Programs

In a statement before a congressional subcommittee, GAO assessed how to best use monetary incentives to attract and keep sufficient numbers of quality people in the Armed Forces. Although the services are keeping up with their annually authorized strength levels, fundamental changes are needed to make the total compensation system cost effective to the services and financially attractive to careerists. Although the active career force has remained relatively stable in each of the services, the problems have been in recruiting and retaining quality people with the right mix of skills and experience. Active duty enlistment bonuses and selective reenlistment bonuses are the two major cash incentive programs for attracting and retaining personnel in occupational specialties where critical shortages exist. Although the manpower problems confronting the services are seldom serious, the services are encountering difficulties in retaining a sufficient number of officers, particularly pilots, in some aviation specialties. GAO believes that legislation should restrict the use of bonuses to insure that they are used only for aviation specialties where there are critical shortages and where retention can be improved. GAO concluded that the enlistment and reenlistment bonus programs should be extended, and the Armed Forces should continue the practice of targeting particular areas for pay raises as opposed to across-the-board raises.