The Army is offering two-year contracts and cash bonuses to grow the Army

I have mixed feelings about this. Just recently we saw the military spending out "pink slips" to service members now they are talking about growing the Army? How about the Army works on retaining the good, effective leaders to groom junior service members that will one day take their spot rather than canning the good ones to leave the bad ones there to train the junior service members? I would much rather see the service member is 6, 8, 10+ years in get a higher bonus than to give more money to someone that might only do years and then leave.

Definitely not the first time this has occurred. I saw these contracts being given when I enlisted. I will just put my trust to those that are in charge of making these calls. So there is no real discussion here.

I was a two-year guy when I joined in 1984. And that included Basic/AIT. Here is the 24 month breakdown:

4 months Basic Training and13B AIT (with in/out processing and transport)
1 month transportation, in-processing, Head-start class (Germany)
2 months leave (spread throughout)
1 month out-processing, transportation home (although a 3 month "Short-Timer Attitude")

That only left 16 months of Battle-Readiness! (my unit motto was "Battle Ready", 2-29 FA). Is this enough time for Soldiering? Two-years doesn't mean 24 months of deploy-ability.

Of course I got back in a few years my ETS and added 24 year active to that 2 years!