Fort Worth, TX. -- The Navy announced new bonus programs in February for incoming Sailors who join the Reserves as an intelligence specialist (IS).

Eligible Sailors can earn sign-up bonuses, while officer candidates can earn a salary and get money for college while in school.

Bonuses now top $20,000 for a nonprior service recruit or Navy veteran who signs a six-year contract as an intelligence specialist 2nd or 3rd class. Reenlistment bonuses equal $15,000 for six years and $7,500 for three years.

Intelligence Specialist 3rd Class Alvin Augustus got interested in the Navy after seeing a listing on a job-seeker web site. Augustus had joined the Navy straight out of high school, but didn’t make it through boot camp.

After 18 years in the insurance industry, Augustus said he was bored and lacked a challenged. So he browsed employment sites and saw Navy intelligence's recent posting for qualified candidates to join the Navy.

Augustus completed the application online, got a call from a recruiter, and then got hooked.

“I know it’s a sought-after job; not just anybody can do it,” Augustus said of the IS rating while attending Navy Basic Intelligence Training classes at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas.

“It’s satisfying because it’s not repetitive; it’s not mundane -- you’ve got to think,” Augustus said. “Your expertise comes forward, and it gets used.”

Rear Adm. Michael Broadway, commander Navy Reserve Intelligence Command, told senior leaders that getting to know their local recruiters is not only important, it is imperative.

“Readiness means nothing if you don’t have a force,” Broadway said.

Intel’s enlisted Reserve ranks are only 77 percent manned, with a fiscal year 2007 recruiting goal increase of 20 percent. The IS rating is one of four rates considered crucial to the global war on terrorism -- both are reasons to bump up the incentives.

Intelligence Specialst 3rd Class Stefanie Sherman said she became an IS partly because it matched her civilian career skills of analyzing customer loyalty for a research firm.

“Intel is immersion into a specific topic, an understanding of what makes [someone or] something tick. You present a part of the picture,” Sherman said.

Navy veterans leaving active duty get two years’ deferment before they’re eligible for deployment and may be entitled to bonuses when they join the Reserves.

Nonprior service recruits can take advantage of the Navy Accession Program, which puts recruits 18 and older through the same basic training and “A” school that active-duty Sailors attend.

The Advanced Pay Grade program has also returned for recruits 26 and older with applicable civilian experience.

Active Sailors transitioning into the Navy Reserve now move seamlessly due to a streamlined paperwork process -- called Fleet to Navy Operational Support Center (NOSC).