Army Seeks Prior-service Troops

Since last November the Army has been mailing glossy, color brochures to nearly 78,000 former members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, inviting them to active duty with the Army. The target population includes some 7,000 former officers. The Army is aiming for a 2 percent acceptance of about 1,600 new soldiers. In addition to bonuses of between $5,000 and $19,000, the “Unity of Effort” program is using two draws for former enlisted members. First, it eliminated the requirement that former soldiers must return to their previous chosen career fields. Second, it modified the policy that members who are out of the service for more than two years would lose one or more pay grades upon return, depending upon total time away. Now, former E-1s to E-5s can return within four years at their former pay grade.