Marine Recruits Can Earn Up to $8K in Bonuses by Picking One of These Jobs

Prospective Marines who sign extended service contracts or agree to work in critical fields can take home bonuses up to $8,000 next year, officials announced this week.

The Marine Corps is on the hunt for young adults to serve in the infantry, motor transport, electronics maintenance and cyber fields, among others. Those who complete their entry-level training and receive a military occupational specialty in a field that matches that for which they agreed can earn between $2,000 and $8,000 in fiscal year 2019.

That's according to the Marine Corps' 2019 enlistment incentive program, or EIP. Details were laid out in a service-wide administrative message 450/18, which was released on Wednesday.

"The EIP aids in meeting the MOS skill needs of the Marine Corps and assists Marine Corps Recruiting Command ... in attracting highly qualified applicants for enlistment and meeting its annual accession mission," the message states.

Bonuses are available for specialties in the following communities:

• Electronics maintenance: $8,000
• Supply, accounting and legal: $3,000
• Information and communications technology: $5,000
• Cyber, intelligence, crypto linguists operations and planning: $2,000
• Motor transport: $4,000
• Infantry -- six-year enlistment option: $5,000
• Music: $6,000
• Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense: $7,000
• Quarter-one shipping bonus in any field: $1,000

Not every recruit who ships off to boot camp and earns their MOS in 2019 will be eligible for a bonus. The enlistment bonus program is meant to assist recruiters in getting "high-quality applicants into critical skills programs."

The bonuses also help recruiters meet shipping missions throughout the year, the message states.

The Marine Corps has been incentivizing longer infantry contracts for several years now. Similarly, grunts who re-enlist -- or those willing to make a lateral move into the Marine Corps' Squad Leader Development Program -- can pocket big cash bonuses of up to $70,000.

The enlistment bonuses don't apply to those wishing to join the Reserve, the administrative message states.

--Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ginaaharkins.