[Batt]

I can tell you that as an ex-Army recruiter, that bonuses, school dates et al are fleeting. I have seen with my own eyes, an applicant walk into an office one morning sit down and grab a 63B job (Light wheel vehicle Mechanic) with a 15,000 dollar bonus. Later that same day another applicant was in looking at the same exact job the only difference is that it had no bonus at all. The army places and removes bonuses as they see fit. You have to understand that that everything we do is at “The Needs of the Army”. This means that when the Army is done offering bonuses for a job then they will pull those bonuses off the table.
As has been stated here, if you are looking at a bonus as the driving factor in your decision to go SF then you are already in the wrong field. If however you are offered a bonus then by all means ensure that you get the best deal possible. I used to tell all of my applicants that there is no way I could lie to them as all the information they need is online. This is a very true statement and you will see it again and again being said here on this forum. Go online and do research. Don’t trust your “buddy who knows a guy” or some TV show you watched once. Get out and make some phone calls, get on the internet, go to multiple recruiters and see what they tell you, Take charge of your career from day one.
Further, for those of you who are in the processes of enlistment right now, I can tell you that the Army uses a program called FSR2 (Future Soldier Reservation Request) At least they did 2 years ago. This is a real time enlistment tool that allows your recruiter to “see” all of the Jobs, bonuses, school dates, ship dates, and seats available to an applicant. This is based on factors such as ASVAB line scores (Not your overall score), age, law history, med history etc. All of these things play a factor in your options to enlist. The only issue with this is that EVERY recruiter nationwide can see the same thing and it’s a first come first serve deal, so go get yours.