美軍過去三年斥資60億美元招募和留着士兵

Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

The US military spent $6 billion in the past 3 years to recruit and retain troops

The Associated Press - Lolita C. Baldor

Sun, May 25, 2025 at 4:31 a.m. PDT·4 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members, in what has been a growing campaign to counter enlistment shortfalls.

The financial incentives to reenlist in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines increased dramatically from 2022 through last year, with the Navy vastly outspending the others, according to funding totals provided by the services. The overall amount of recruiting bonuses also rose steadily, fueled by significant jumps in spending by the Army and Marine Corps.

The military services have routinely poured money into recruiting and retention bonuses over the years. But the totals spiked as Pentagon leaders tried to reverse falling enlistment numbers, particularly as COVID-19 restrictions locked down public events, fairs and school visits that recruiters relied on to meet with young people.

Coupled with an array of new programs, an increased number of recruiters and adjustments to enlistment requirements, the additional incentives have helped the services bounce back from the shortfalls. All but the Navy met their recruiting targets last year and all are expected to do so this year.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly point to Trump’s election as a reason for the recruiting rebound. But the enlistment increases began long before last November, and officials have tied them more directly to the widespread overhauls that the services have done, including the increased financial incentives.

The Army, the military's largest service, spent more on recruiting bonuses in 2022 and 2024 than the other services. But it was significantly outspent by the Navy in 2023, when the sea service was struggling to overcome a large enlistment shortfall.

As a result, even though the Navy is a smaller service, it spent more overall in the three years than the Army did.

The Navy also has spent considerably more than the others to entice sailors to reenlist, doling out retention bonuses to roughly 70,000 service members for each of the past three years. That total is more than double the number of troops the Army gave retention bonuses to each year, even though the Army is a much larger service.

“Navy is dedicated to retaining our most capable sailors; retention is a critical component of achieving our end-strength goals,” Adm. James Kilby, the vice chief of naval operations, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee in March.

He said reenlistment for enlisted sailors “remains healthy” but officers are a challenge in specific jobs, including aviation, explosive ordnance disposal, surface and submarine warfare, health professionals and naval special operations. He added that the Navy has struggled to fill all of its at-sea jobs and is using financial incentives as one way to combat the problem.

The Army has seen the greatest recruiting struggles over the past decade, and by using a range of new programs and policies has had one of the largest comebacks. The Navy has had the most trouble more recently, and took a number of steps to expand those eligible for service and spend more in bonuses.

While the Army spends hundreds of millions each year to recruit troops, it also has relied on an array of new programs and policies to woo young people. A key driver of the Army's rebound has been its decision to create the Future Soldier Prep Course, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August 2022.

That program gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and move on to basic training. It has resulted in thousands of enlistments.

The Air Force increased its spending on recruiting bonuses in 2023 as it also struggled to overcome shortfalls, but lowered the amount the following year. The payments were for jobs including munitions systems, aircraft maintenance and security forces. The Space Force does not currently authorize enlistment bonuses.

The Marine Corps and the tiny Space Force have consistently hit their recruiting goals, although the Marines had to dig deep into their pool of delayed entry candidates in 2022 to meet their target. The Corps, which is much smaller than the Army and Air Force, spends the least on bonuses and tends to spread the amount among a larger number of service members.

Maj. Jacoby Getty, a Marine spokesman, said the spike in retention bonuses from $126 million in 2023 to $201 million in 2024 was because Marines were allowed to reenlist a year early for the first time. More than 7,000 Marines got bonuses as a result, a jump of nearly 2,200 over the previous year.

When asked about bonuses in 2023, Gen. Eric Smith, the Marine commandant, famously told a naval conference that “your bonus is you get to call yourself a Marine.”

“That’s your bonus, right?" he said. "There’s no dollar amount that goes with that.”

The services tailor their recruiting and retention money to bolster harder-to-fill jobs, including cyber, intelligence and special operations forces. The Army and Marine Corps also use the money to woo troops to some combat, armor and artillery jobs.

 

Translation

美軍過去三年斥資60億美元招募和留着士兵

華盛頓（美聯社）— 美軍過去三年斥資超過60億美元招募和留用現役軍人，以應對日益嚴重的入伍人數短缺問題。

根據服務提供的資金總額, 從2022年到去年，陸軍、海軍、空軍和海軍陸戰隊的重新入伍經濟誘因大幅增加，其中海軍的支出遠超過其他軍種。由於陸軍和海軍陸戰隊支出亦大幅增加，入伍獎金總額也穩步上升。

多年來，各軍種一直在招募和留用獎金方面投入大量資金。然而, 尤其是因為在新冠疫情限制措施下, 導致徵兵人員賴以與年輕人見面的公共活動及招聘會和學校參觀活動被迫暫停的情況發生，入伍人數下降 。 但隨著五角大廈領導人試圖扭轉趨勢, 现入伍總數出現了飆升。

再加上一系列新項目的推出、負責募兵人員數量的增加, 以及調整了入伍的要求，這些額外的激勵措施幫助各軍種從不足中反彈。去年除海軍外，所有軍種都實現了徵兵目標，預計今年所有都會實現目標。

特朗普總統和國防部長 Pete Hegseth 一再指出，特朗普當選是徵兵反彈的原因。但入伍人數的增加早在去年11月之前就已開始，官員們將各軍種進行的廣泛改革 - 包括增加財政激勵措施 - 更直接地聯繫起來。

陸軍是軍隊中最大的軍種，其2022年和2024年的徵兵獎金支出超過了其他軍種。但在2023年，海軍的支出大幅超過陸軍，當時海軍正努力彌補嚴重的入伍缺口。

結果是，儘管海軍規模較小，但三年來的總支出卻超過了陸軍。

海軍在吸引水兵們重新入伍方面的支出也遠超其他軍種，過去三年每年都向大約7萬名現役軍人發放留任獎金。儘管陸軍規模更大，但這個數字是陸軍每年發放留任獎金人數的兩倍多。

海軍作戰部副部長 James Kilby 上將在今年3月對參議院軍事委員會的一個小組委員會表示： “海軍致力於留住我們最優秀的水兵；留任是實現最終兵力目標的關鍵要素。”

他表示，現役水兵的重新入伍“仍然健康”，但在特定崗位上,官兵重新入伍面臨挑戰，包括航空、爆炸物處理、水面和潛艇作戰、衛生專業人員以及海軍特種作戰。他還補充說，海軍一直難以招滿所有海上職位，並正在利用經濟誘因來解決這個問題。

過去十年，陸軍經歷了最艱難的徵兵困境，透過實施一系列新項目和政策，陸軍實現了最大規模的復甦。海軍最近遇到了最大的麻煩，並採取了一系列措施來擴大服役範圍，並增加了獎金。

雖然陸軍每年花費數億美元招募士兵，但它也依靠一系列新項目和政策來吸引年輕人。陸軍反彈的一個關鍵驅動力是其決定於2022年8月在南卡羅來納州傑克遜堡開設未來士兵預備課程。

該計劃為表現較差的新兵提供長達90天的學術或體能指導，幫助他們達到軍方標準並進入基礎訓練。該項目已促成數千人入伍。

空軍在2023年增加了徵兵獎金支出，因為它也努力彌補士兵短缺，但隔一年又降低了金額。這些獎金用於工作包括彈藥系統、飛機保養和安全部隊在內。太空部隊目前不授權發放入伍獎金。

海軍陸戰隊和規模較小的太空部隊一直在持續實現其徵兵目標，儘管海軍陸戰隊在2022年不得不深入挖掘其延遲入伍的候選人庫才能實現目標。海軍陸戰隊的規模遠小於陸軍和空軍，在獎金方面的支出最少，而且傾向於將獎金分攤給更多的服役人員。

海軍陸戰隊發言人Jacoby Getty少校表示，留任獎金從2023年的1.26億美元飆升至2024年的2.01億美元，是因為海軍陸戰隊首次被允許提前一年重新入伍。超過7,000名海軍陸戰隊員因此獲得了獎金，比前一年增加了近2,200人。

當被問及2023年的獎金時，海軍陸戰隊司令Eric Smith 將軍在一次海軍會議上發表了著名的言論： “你的獎金就是你可以稱自己為海軍陸戰隊員。”

他說: “這就是你的獎勵，對嗎”; “這是沒有任何金錢價值可比。”

各軍種會根據招募和留任資金的具體情況，調整招募和留任資金，以支持那些更難填補的職位，包括網路、情報和特種作戰部隊。陸軍和海軍陸戰隊也用這筆錢來吸引士兵擔任一些戰鬥、裝甲和砲兵職位。

So, the U.S. military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members to counter enlistment shortfalls. Apparently, military spending as whole in the US is a large expenditure in its annual budget. It is the cost for the US to maintain its super power position.

Note:

Military spending makes up about 13% of the entire U.S. federal outlays, and accounts for almost half of the discretionary portion that Congress decides year to year. (ChatGPT)