Proposed Program To Promote Enlistment and Satisfactory Service in Army

A GAO opinion was requested as to the propriety of a proposed program under which enlisted members of the Army would receive payments from a private corporation as an encouragement to their enlistment and satisfactory service in the Army. The basic concept of the proposed recruiting program is that a nonprofit corporation, funded entirely by private industries, would pay selected high school graduates who enlist in the Army monthly stipends during their initial term of service and provide certain of these enlistees with employment assistance once they complete their Army service. Participating private industries would be responsible for recruiting the industrial sponsors of the program and for establishing and funding the nonprofit corporation. The responsibilities of the corporation and the soldiers enrolled in the program would be set out in a written agreement that would be subject to Army approval. The amount of the monthly stipends would be based on the type of skill learned and duty performed by the soldier in the service and would continue as long as the soldier continued satisfactory performance of his military duties. The program is intended to benefit the Army recruitment program and the participating industries by providing a pool of trained and motivated potential employees. Regulations provide that no bounty may be paid to induce any person to enlist in an armed force, and this program appears to fall within the usual definitions of a bounty. Regulations also prohibit payment of supplemental salary to members of the armed services. The proposed payments would be subject to the established principle of law that earnings of a Government employee in excess of his regular compensation which are gained in the course of his service belongs to the Government and are to be paid into the Treasury. The program should not be implemented without enactment of specific statutory authority to authorize it.