Estrada: Marine Corps may extend active duty re-enlistment pay into fiscal 2008

The Marine Corps is considering extending Assignment Incentive Pay — which gives any active-duty Marine $10,000 to re-enlist — another year, according to the Corps’ top enlisted leatherneck.

“We’ve offered some generous bonuses, which were appropriated by Congress so that the commandant can pay every eligible Marine $10,000 to re-enlist during” fiscal 2007, Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, sergeant major of the Marine Corps, told leathernecks at Camp Fallujah last week during a troop visit in Iraq, according to quotes provided by a Corps official. “We’re also looking to see if we can do it for FY ’08.”

Retention in the ranks is top priority for the Corps as it readies to upsize the force by 22,000 Marines by 2011. Defense officials’ campaign to entice Marines and soldiers to stay put is costing about $1 billion in bonuses, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Read the rest at Marine Corps Times