Army Signing Bonuses Bring In Recruits

Twenty-nine-year-old Joan Marte thinks now is the right time to join the army.

"I get to travel, basic training sounds like fun," he says.

Yemin Ko, 24, who describes himself as a patriot, is also signing up.

"I wanted to do something important," he says.

The Army needs them both to meet its enlistment goals for this year.

It surpassed its July recruitment targets by more than 200 new soldiers, CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports, by adding recruiters — and with an unprecedented incentive: $20,000 signing bonus given to soldiers willing to ship out to basic training within a month.

"The intent of the bonus is to get folks to ship quickly so they can attend basic training and we can meet the end strength the army is required to have," says Lt. Col. Joseph Feliciano.

In New York, recruitment commanders say they're already seeing better numbers this month since the signing bonuses were put on the table. And the army hopes to pump up those numbers by September 30th, the end of the fiscal year.

"Is this what we really want? To bribe people to get them to go and fight an unpopular war?" says Larry Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan Administration. Korb, who is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, says the new policy will be bad for the army.

"They've already lowered the standards. Last year, when they did meet their recruiting goals, they had lowered the educational and aptitude standards," says Korb.

Under the new deal, recruits could be serving in a combat zone within four months.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, and I'm proud of it," says Ko.

Yemin Ko says he'll be ready to serve, and at a time when every body counts, the Army is banking on the same thing.