To determine whether enlistment and reenlistment bonuses are effective in maintaining or increasing the supply of personnel to the armed forces, the authors provide an empirical analysis of bonuses' effects. They developed models to assess whether bonuses have contributed to recruiting success and retention, whether they have been used flexibly, and whether they have been used efficiently, using data for each service, but with a particular emphasis on the Army. The authors find that bonus programs have been important in helping the services meet recruiting and retention objectives and have been managed flexibly by targeting bonuses to specific groups. Bonuses have helped overcome declining youth attitudes toward enlisting in the military and the adverse effects of frequent and long deployments.

"Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense"--T.p. "RAND National Defense Research Institute"--T.p.

Introduction -- Background on enlistment bonuses -- Methodology and data for the enlistment model -- Enlistment results -- Army attrition results -- Background on the Army's selective reenlistment bonus program -- Methodology and data for the Army reenlistment model -- Reenlistment results for the all services -- Conclusions -- Appendix A: detailed background on enlistment bonuses -- Appendix B: detailed background on reenlistment bonuses -- Appendix C: estimated reenlistment models, Army 24-MOS sample -- Appendix D: estimated reenlistment models, all services -- Appendix E: average SRBM, by occupations, all services -- Appendix F: distribution of bonuses.