James, you are absolutely pathetic. Please please move to Canada.

MID-LEVEL OFFICERS....The Washington Post reports that the Army is offering $35,000 re-enlistment bonuses to captains and majors as part of an intensive effort to keep them from leaving for civilian life. James Joyner, who calls it "bribing," is unim...

These aren't bribes, any more than a Christmas bonus or a promotion or an improved health insurance benefit is a bribe. People are rewarded for doing a good job. People in assignments that are critical to a company's success or bottom line tend to get rewarded more. This is not breaking news.

The first sentence in the article is a lie. Retention bonuses are not "unprecedented." In a later sentence, the writer calls them "unusual." Which one is it?

I was offered a seperation bonus from the USN in 1993. Pres. Clinton paid me to get out. The Navy was drawing down from a 600-ship target to a 300-ship target. But guess what? While paying me, an aviator LT, to get out, they were paying some of my buddies (sub and nuke surface LTs) to stay in. One year salary, about $40K.

Retention bonuses have been a part of US Military recruitment strategies for decades.

Did the company do this because they didn't know what to do with all the cash on hand or because they wanted to see me carrying big bags of cash? No. They did it because in the prevailing market conditions that was what it was going to take to close the deal (and they wanted the negotiating capabilities that got them to sign off on the bonus to be on their side of the table).

There will be captains who would have signed up anyway who will gladly pockety the extra. There will be captains who were on the fence who will decide to stay because of the bonus. And there will be captains who will leave despite the bonus. The bottom line is that when hiring a volunter force you have to pay market rates. Now that isn't just cash. Part of the pay is in terms of risk/security, excitement of the work, prestige, side benefits like travel, etc.

Captains are like the middle managers, right? Are you saying that these guys should not be paid bonuses? Should work for free? Are you saying that the military shouldn't offer the same incentives as the private sector? Help me follow your logic here James.

You speak of an all-volunteer force which we definitely have but I don't understand how the issue of a retention or enlistment bonus takes away from that. I joined as an arabic linguist back in 1993 and I got a sign-up bonus because of the job I chose to take. Did that bonus have any effect on my enlisting? No, but it was nice to have considering I did what would be considered a very important job but made about $1k a month. Not very much to live off of when you live in the beltway.

Fast forward 14 years and I am now a civilian but my husband is still in the Army and is now an officer, or a "leader", and we are actually presently faced with the decision of if we should take this option. Each individual and family needs to weigh all of the options. There is more to the offering than just the lump sum payment. Another option is to accept your choice of duty station if you agree to the next 3 years.

I am going to bet this decision has a lot to do with the families and keeping the families happy. If the family is happy, the service member is usually happier and if a choice of duty station or a lump sum will help people endure the time away and hardship that has happened and is still to come with back-to-back deployments, then who's place is it to really judge that?

From a retention standpoint it is a great business model. I can tell you that on most MI officers, at least 500k is spent in training them...at least. Would you rather see 35k to retain that great experience or would you rather start fresh?

They are also considering the future leaders of the Army. if all of the Captains are getting out, who will be left to lead when it is time?

Just look at some of your past articles to try and understand why. I don't think it's a bad thing and 35k isn't really going to be enough to make anyone stay in that wasn't already considering it anyway. Most Army captains, who have been deployed, could make a lot more than their current salary provides for them as a civilian, and no, I'm not talking as a merc. My husband gets job offers almost weekly because of his experience but he's not in it for the money or the glory. He has a love to serve as do many people today.

Sorry to ramble, this obviously hits home :)

Particularly with the private mercenaries' offering so much moola.