The Marine Corps is rolling out a slew of bonuses as part of an annual push to keep Marines in the force, according to a servicewide message , or MARADMIN, released on Thursday, also offering thousands in additional cash "kickers" for certain jobs the service wants to retain.
To start, the Corps is offering tens of thousands in "primary military occupational specialty," or PMOS, bonuses for reenlisting in certain eligible jobs for up to six years. On top of that, some jobs like aircraft maintenance, aircraft readiness, infantry personnel and other critical jobs that Marines can transfer to might qualify for more money in the form of kicker bonuses.
Marines reenlisting between now and the end of September 2025 are eligible to receive the bonuses, but all the cash awards will incur additional service obligations between four and six years, according to the message.
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"If you're a Marine, we need you to reenlist now so you can maximize the benefits of this [reenlistment] program," Maj. Melissa Spencer, a spokesperson for the service's manpower and reserve affairs, told Military.com in a phone interview on Thursday.
"If you are someone who leads, mentors, [or] coaches Marines, we need you to be familiar and educated on the MARADMIN so that you can inform your Marines on these incentives, so that they can stay in the Marine Corps," she added.
She said the service is looking to be competitive, both within its own walls and with the private sector for Marine Corps jobs that are critical to fill.
But she also noted that most Marines in their first or subsequent reenlistment periods didn't use the bonus program last year. Specifically, she said that 52% of first-term Marines reenlisted without a bonus, and 60% of subsequent-term Marines also did not use the bonus program.
"I think that just goes to show that Marines are reenlisting for things beyond the monetary incentive," Spencer said. "They're reenlisting because they enjoy the camaraderie and the culture and all those other intangible things that the Marine Corps offers."
She also said that the kicker is a "condition" associated with that reenlistment, and other benefits like duty station choice are also reasons why Marines reenlist.
"Marines love predictability and stability," she said.
The announcement comes over a month after the service announced "historic" first-term reenlistment numbers not seen in more than a decade, achieving 114% of the goal for those Marines.
Between the kicker and the PMOS bonus, an eligible sergeant can receive a combined $105,000 in cash for transferring into a counterintelligence job for an additional six years of service, according to an example referenced in the announcement -- an extra $17,500 in the bank per year of extra service.
The service caps total career bonuses at $360,000, and a failure to stick with the job that a Marine signed up for to receive the stipend might result in recoupment of unearned cash, the message said.
Lateral moves -- meaning a Marine voluntarily changes their military occupational specialty, or MOS -- result in the highest additional pay out for the kicker categories. Jobs eligible for the kicker bonuses include counterintelligence, reconnaissance, influence operations and career recruiter roles, for example, some of which the service has previously identified as critical skill shortages.
Spencer said that in addition to prioritizing signal, cyber and influence operations Marines, the service added several additional jobs to the reenlistment bonus program this year. Those jobs include field artillery radio operator, ground control station Marine, CH-53 maintenance specialist and unmanned aircraft mechanic.
In the same statement, the service said that -- for this upcoming fiscal year -- it would be suspending a program meant to incentivize Marines with less than a four-year break in duty to come back to the Corps. The last time the "Broken Service" bonus program was shelved was nearly 10 years ago, according to publicly available service announcements.
"Just given the sheer number of Marines who are coming back on active duty, they are doing so for those, again, intangible reasons that are not monetary in nature," Spencer said. The Marine Corps previously told Military.com that it tripled the number of Prior Service Enlistment Program accessions, or PSEP -- a program that allows prior-service Marines to rejoin the Corps on active duty – from last year.
"They're doing so because of camaraderie, because of high standards, because of employment, because of opportunities the Marine Corps offers them," Spencer said. "So how can we use that money and then put it towards these other critical MOSs?"
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