Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Cleveland Plain Dealer
February 13, 2008
Pg. B1
Incentive tested here, may expand nationwide
By Brian Albrecht, Plain Dealer Reporter
The Army rolled out its latest recruiting incentive Tuesday for a local audience of soldiers, civic leaders and a few old veterans who gave the effort a snappy salute.
Cleveland is one of five test markets for the Army Advantage Fund that offers up to a $40,000 bonus for recruits to use toward purchase of a house or starting a business.
"It's awesome," said Harry Winfield, 79, of Cleveland, who served in the Army during the Korean War.
"When I was coming out of the service, they offered me $460 to stay, and that was huge in those days," he added. "I almost re-upped."
Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, head of the Accessions Command that covers Army recruiting and initial training, told his audience at the Crowne Plaza Hotel that the Advantage Fund is needed to keep the Army competitive with both private industry and other branches of the military.
Additionally, "American soldiers and their families deserve the best support, stability and compensation available to help them get a good start in life," said Freakley, former commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2006-2007.
One of the first three recruits in the nation to sign on was Micheal Namoski Jr., 24, of Chippewa Lake, who was sworn in at the luncheon by Freakley. He plans to go into artillery training.
Though Namoski was thinking about joining the service before learning about the fund, which he hopes to use to begin a business, he said, "It's a good incentive."
If the Army Advantage Fund proves successful during the next six months of test marketing, it will be expanded nationwide.
Freakley said the Army has a history of bonuses going back to the Revolutionary War and that benefits like the fund could be applied to post-service civilian life.
"If you remember, the GI Bill given to World War II volunteers and draftees transformed America," he told the audience. "Those men came back from that fight and helped America be the nation that it is today."
One of those men was Andrew Gilham, 82, of Cleveland, who fought across the Pacific and who added a cautionary note.
You have to be around to collect it.
"It sounds very good," he said, "but to survive . . . that's the object."
February 13, 2008
Pg. B1
Incentive tested here, may expand nationwide
By Brian Albrecht, Plain Dealer Reporter
The Army rolled out its latest recruiting incentive Tuesday for a local audience of soldiers, civic leaders and a few old veterans who gave the effort a snappy salute.
Cleveland is one of five test markets for the Army Advantage Fund that offers up to a $40,000 bonus for recruits to use toward purchase of a house or starting a business.
"It's awesome," said Harry Winfield, 79, of Cleveland, who served in the Army during the Korean War.
"When I was coming out of the service, they offered me $460 to stay, and that was huge in those days," he added. "I almost re-upped."
Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, head of the Accessions Command that covers Army recruiting and initial training, told his audience at the Crowne Plaza Hotel that the Advantage Fund is needed to keep the Army competitive with both private industry and other branches of the military.
Additionally, "American soldiers and their families deserve the best support, stability and compensation available to help them get a good start in life," said Freakley, former commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2006-2007.
One of the first three recruits in the nation to sign on was Micheal Namoski Jr., 24, of Chippewa Lake, who was sworn in at the luncheon by Freakley. He plans to go into artillery training.
Though Namoski was thinking about joining the service before learning about the fund, which he hopes to use to begin a business, he said, "It's a good incentive."
If the Army Advantage Fund proves successful during the next six months of test marketing, it will be expanded nationwide.
Freakley said the Army has a history of bonuses going back to the Revolutionary War and that benefits like the fund could be applied to post-service civilian life.
"If you remember, the GI Bill given to World War II volunteers and draftees transformed America," he told the audience. "Those men came back from that fight and helped America be the nation that it is today."
One of those men was Andrew Gilham, 82, of Cleveland, who fought across the Pacific and who added a cautionary note.
You have to be around to collect it.
"It sounds very good," he said, "but to survive . . . that's the object."