sign on bonus

[billmac]

im new on the board so sorry if its been discussed before. i tried searching but didn't find anything.

a little about me. i went through meps and got a 79 on my asvab i was the last one to be able to talk to the job counselor and he wasn't very outgoing. he said i only had fifteen minets to decide and sign. i politely told him that i will be back on another day. i go back on tuesday to chose my job and from what they offered me im going to go with air traffic controller. i have been talking to guys at the gym that have gone through military and every one is saying demand a sign on bonus. i know in the national guards they give you alot as a sign on bonus.

does any one know if i can get one or not?

[SeaBeeMom]

I think it is totally up to what they are offering for the rating that you are interested in. My son went in the DEP program for almost a year before he went to boot camp. He wanted to be a Seabee and a heavy equipment operator. The earliest date was 11 months away. He took it and was offered a bonus. They told him at the time before he signed on for the job. You can demand a bonus but it probably won't be for a job you want. I think they are giving pretty good bonuses for jobs like EOD, Nukes because the schooling is so long, and other high risk jobs.

My son was offered $5000 for signing up for a 6 year enlistment instead of just 5. He decided 5 was plenty of time to commit too. I just recently read in the Navy Times that if he was up for re-enlistment this year he would be offered a $40,000 bonus to sign up for I think 4 more years. That is way more than the $5000 he was originally offered, but it is also for 4 years and not just one. Who know if this will be available in 4 more years when he is eligilbe to re-enlist. Or if he will still be interested in serving longer in the Navy. He will cross that path when he comes to it.

I think you were smart to tell the detailer that you needed time to think about what job you wanted and came back another day when they had more time. Picking what you are going to be doing for the next 5 or 6 years is a pretty overwhlemind choice. I don't think you can go in there and demand a signing bonus for your job. If you do they just might say thank you and the Army and Marines are just down the hall. Now you can get a pretty big bonus for signing up with them.

Good luck!

[Kristie]

Yep....the bonus depends on the job....

[glennsmom]

Or with the case of NCS (National Call to Service) with the type of contract you are signing.

[billmac]

well i signed all the papers i am now a DEP boot camp leave date is June 11th. i did not get a sign on bonus witch was surprising because its a five year contract. i think i made the rite choice. but i keep feeling like the MEPS people are out to screw me . sorry for the language but i cant think of another way to put it. also i feel like there hiding stuff from me its not a good feeling.

[glennsmom]

Congratulations on signing on but sorry to hear you are not sure you were treated fairly. Don't stop looking for information on whatever site you can to make sure you got what you deserved. This is a great site but there is also Navy-Parents which has a lot of info as well, not to mention several other sites. Good luck.

[Retired Navy Chief]

well i signed all the papers i am now a DEP boot camp leave date is June 11th. i did not get a sign on bonus witch was surprising because its a five year contract. i think i made the rite choice. but i keep feeling like the MEPS people are out to screw me . sorry for the language but i cant think of another way to put it. also i feel like there hiding stuff from me its not a good feeling.


Congrats on your new contract. You will be heading to bootcamp at the perfect time of year !!!

That is a bummer that you didn't get a bonus ... but as someone else who didn't get a bonus when I joined ... not the worst thing that could happen to ya. Keep in mind that after you complete your first term, you will be HIGHLY qualified in your rating and may very well be offered a sizable bonus at that time. I was a simple machinist and still picked up $20k for re-enlisting.

As for the MEPS people being out to screw you .... nah, I don't buy that for a minute. They are not car dealers (no offence to those on here who might be one of those :biggrin:) ... they have absolutely NOTHING to gain by putting one over on you. They are simply doing their jobs and that is enlist you into the US Navy.

As a previous recruiter ... I can tell you that 99.9 % of the time, when people come back from MEPS feeling like they were lied to or misled ... It's because they didn't do enough research BEFORE they went to join and failed to ask the questions. All of the answers to every question you could possibly ask about the Navy is out there if you just ask. Every one of my applicants had my phone number and were instructed to call me directly if there was something that wasn't sitting right with them. Some used it, most didn't.
You may not have known just WHAT to ask .... and that could be why you feel the way you do. That happens to all of us at one time or another. I just bought a brand new car and came up with several things that I wish I had thought to ask BEFORE I signed my contract. You live and you learn :cheesy:.

So ..... now that you have signed up and know what you will be doing, let's try to answer the questions that you have and address the concerns so that you can feel good about the decision you made. What do you feel like you were "screwed over" about ??

Standing by ....
PISTOL