The Marine Corps is rolling out new enlistment bonuses for fiscal 2026, offering its biggest payout to recruits who sign up for specialized roles in cyber and electronics maintenance.

The incentives aren’t limited to high-demand technical roles — the service is also offering shipping bonuses to recruits in any specialty who agree to leave for boot camp on the service’s schedule.

In a message to the force, the service announced it would offer bonuses of up to $15,000 to recruits who enter the electronics maintenance and cyber and cryptologic operations career fields, which include specialties such as cyber network operators, electronic intelligence and electromagnetic warfare analysts, cryptologic linguists and tactical data systems technicians.

Recruits across dozens of military specialties, including open contacts, combat support, accounting and legal, logistics and even infantry, can also qualify for a $5,000 or $10,000 shipping bonus if they agree to ship quickly to boot camp.

The service is also offering $7,000 or $15,000 “targeted investment” bonuses for applicants willing to extend their enlistment contracts by one or two years.

The Marine Corps has long struggled with a high turnover rate among newly enlisted troops, discharging about 75% of first-term Marines each year. In the last couple of years, the service has been overhauling its approach to recruiting and retention, moving away from a “recruit and replace” personnel model that it adopted more than a generation ago toward one focused on “investing and retaining.” 

“The Marine Corps’ objective is to maximize the number of fully trained, qualified, experienced, and deployable Marines in the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) over time and within any given personnel budget. As we progress towards an ‘invest and retain’ model, it is critical to channel applicants into the right occupational fields to maximize our return on investment and increase Marines’ propensity to serve beyond their initial contract,” the message said.

Active-duty recruits are only eligible for one enlistment bonus, and the amounts may be adjusted throughout the fiscal year depending on the recruiting environment. 

In addition, the Corps is expanding incentives for the Selected Marine Corps Reserve — recruits in critical billets can receive up to $10,000, while others can qualify for $6,000 if they commit to six years of service and complete all initial training requirements. The Reserve enlistment bonus is paid in a lump sum after recruits complete their training and MOS school. 

Reserve Marines can also qualify for the Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve program, which provides up to $350 a month for as many as 36 months to offset education costs.

Congress’ inability to pass a full-year budget last fiscal year led to widespread delays in bonus payments for Marines and other service members across the Defense Department — in March, Congress extended a continuing resolution through the end of fiscal 2025, marking the first time the Pentagon had to operate under a CR for the entire year.

In April, the service announced that payments under the Selective Retention Bonus Program would now be made on a funding-available basis, with Oct. 1 as the earliest possible payout date. It is unclear how the ongoing government shutdown will impact the Marine Corps’ rollout of the new enlistment bonuses.

The fiscal 2026 enlistment incentive programs will remain in effect through Sep. 30, 2026.

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