U.S. Army raises bonus cap for recruits to $50,000 amid COVID challenges

Details: Until now, recruits could receive a maximum bonus of $40,000. The new package will be based on a combination of incentives offered for the selected career field, individual qualifications, the length of the enlistment contract and the ship date for training, according to the spokesperson.

• Career-based incentives range from $1,000 up to $40,000 for "select occupations the Army needs to fill right now or finds difficult to fill because of the specific qualifications required," Brian McGovern, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, said in a statement.
• These range from infantry and Special Forces to radar repairers, signal support systems specialists and truck drivers.

What they're saying: "We are still living the implications of 2020 and the onset of COVID, when the school systems basically shut down," Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, head of the Army Recruiting Command, told AP.

• "We’re in a competitive market," Vereen added. "How we incentivize is absolutely essential, and that is absolutely something that we know that is important to trying to get somebody to come and join the military."