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CFB KINGSTON -- Duncan Grant is finally getting used to all the marching and saluting.

The 24-year-old's life has transformed since he recently decided to snap up a $40,000 signing bonus the Canadian Forces is offering engineers for the first time in its history. The Timmins, Ont., native is now a second lieutenant in the army, and he must serve for at least four years.

"Before this, I couldn't find a job. I didn't have any leads at all. I had never thought about the military before. The high-tech sector was booming when I was in school. We all thought we were set," recalls 2Lt. Grant, who received his computer engineering degree from the University of Ottawa last winter. His red hair is buzzed short, and he's wearing a formal, forest green uniform with gleaming black dress shoes.

His mother told him about the military signing bonus, and he decided to visit a recruiting office in Ottawa. There, he was told that, because he had a university degree, he'd be fast-tracked into a leadership position. "I know that in the private sector that wouldn't have happened right away. I would have had to have been a code monkey for a while."

The Canadian Forces introduced the signing bonus for a variety of engineers, including aerospace, mechanical and communications, last year in a desperate bid to help attract 600 of them to its ranks by 2006. So far this fiscal year, about 450 engineers have climbed aboard.

The entry salary for an engineer ranges from $38,000 to $53,000 a year, and within a couple of years, officers are automatically bumped to captain and earn from $55,000 to $73,000.

The signing bonus, which is slated to cost the government $30 million, couldn't have been offered at a better time. Engineers, especially those starting out in the battered aerospace, high-tech and telecom industries, are having trouble finding work. Many companies in the private sector are laying off workers, freezing wages and cutting back on research and development.

The military's hefty signing bonus is all part of an aggressive, multiyear plan to build up the cash-strapped organization, which has historically had problems with recruiting and retention.

The 61,000-member operation is staring down a massive retirement bulge, like almost every other industry in Canada. The CF also went through a huge downsizing period in the mid-nineties, when the forces dropped to 60,000 members from 90,000.

"That legacy just carried on and people didn't realize that we were recruiting and slowly our staffing levels have dropped below the 60,000-mark," says Captain Vance White, a spokesman for the CF recruiting group.

He stressed that the current recruiting push isn't a direct response to the impending war in Iraq or the so-called war on terrorism that has seen Canadian troops deployed to some of the world's roughest areas, including Afghanistan, where four solders were killed last year in a friendly fire accident. An unprecedented number of members are also serving overseas as peacekeepers under the UN flag.

Normally, military recruiters are asked to sign up about 5,000 people -- both part- and full-time members -- every year. Now, they have been charged to bring in more than 10,000 annually over a three-year period. Capt. White says the military's human resources problem is compounded by the fact that it must fill spots for more than 100 different occupations.

"We need everybody. Doctors, engineers, cooks and administrative help -- everybody," he says. "If we deploy somewhere, we have to be self-sustaining. We can't depend on local civilian support for medical or for any of those professional services. . . . We are a microcosm of society, basically."

For the past five years, the military has been extending signing bonuses to doctors and dentists, but they haven't been as eagerly received as the bonuses for engineers. This is despite the fact that the military raised the doctors' signing bonus to an eye-popping $225,000 last year, from $80,000. Dentists receive $25,000.

"That signing bonus isn't doing a whole lot, quite frankly. If you have a set practice and you are comfortable with it, a $225,000 signing bonus isn't necessarily all that attractive," says Capt. White. So far this fiscal year, the CF has only managed to attract about 20 doctors; it wants 100. He adds that the military's tuition recruitment program, where it pays a person's entire tuition in exchange for four years of service, is still the best way to lure doctors.

Recruiters are also paying signing bonuses of $10,000 to $20,000 to enlistees who have college diplomas in desired areas, including Internet technology. These people join for three years and start out as privates earning $25,000.

Capt. White says the engineering signing bonus has been so successful that the military is already planning to cut back on the number it needs to sign up in the future. Back in Kingston, Ont., 2Lt. Grant can't wait for next Christmas to arrive. That's when his intense training program will be completed and he'll officially be a signals officer -- the military name for his engineering job. Signals officers make sure that the army's communication devices, including phones, pagers, networks and computers, are always working and up-to-date.

"The initial indoctrination is an adjustment because you have to leave everything behind, because you have to do all that training. But once you are done, it's like a job again. You can establish new friends, contacts," 2Lt. Grant says.

He has recently completed the dreaded basic training held in Saint-Jean, Que. Every newcomer has to go through the rigorous 13-week program, where drill sergeants "indoctrinate" new recruits into the rigid, protocol-driven world of the military.

His prize for making it through basic training: $25,000, the first installment of his signing bonus, which he plans to invest. He'll get the rest after he finishes the entire training program. The military disperses the money like that, so people won't take it and run.

"I thought about quitting all the time, but after you get through it [basic training] you can only remember the good memories," he says. "Fitting into military life was a lot more difficult than I anticipated."

Right now, 2Lt. Grant is doing odd jobs, including administrative duties, at the Canadian Forces School of Communication and Electronics while he waits for his next phase of training to began in February. Because 2Lt. Grant is bilingual, he'll skip second-language training, and head to Gagetown, N.B., where he'll learn how to be an army officer.

"They will learn that part of our trade -- how to be a soldier, how to live in the field and how to defend themselves in the field," explains Capt. Brent McGee, who works at the communication and electronics school.

2Lt. Grant says the military is best suited for a flexible person. After the training period is over, he will be posted to a base anywhere in Canada. "If I had a wife or family, this would be harder to do."

2Lt. Grant isn't sure if he wants this job to be his lifelong career, but he does appreciate the lock-solid job security, which is known in army terms as "three hots and a cot," or three square meals and accommodation.

"I see this as an adventure. Serving your country is just a bonus to that adventure. It's a great opportunity to make your life as interesting as possible," he says.

2Lt. Walter Jull, a recent computer sciences engineering graduate from the University of British Columbia, signed up last year because he wanted the "lifestyle that the military offers."

The signing bonus definitely helped "seal" his decision to join up, says the 25-year-old Vancouver native.

He heard about the special offer from his cousin, who already belongs to the military.

"The opportunities you get in the military, you can't get anywhere else," he says.

Even the military's requirement that members offer "unlimited liability" -- ie. their lives, if necessary -- doesn't bother him.

"It's a reality of accepting employment in the military. But it's always in the back of your mind," he says.

Capt. White says a big challenge for the military is retaining highly trained professionals such as second lieutenants Grant and Jull once their four years of mandatory service is up.

The military is working hard to compete with the private sector on a number of levels, including benefits, he says.

"Even five, 10 years ago, it was our policy not to mention benefits during the recruiting process because we expected people to join for patriotism, King and Country and all that good sort of stuff," Capt. White says. "We've realized over the last few years that we have to compete. And in competing, all these private sector companies are advertising all the holidays people get, their wages and benefits.

Capt. White says that the cash-strapped military is still struggling to offer competitive salaries.

2Lt. Grant says he's not in it for the money, anyway.

"This is almost like getting an MBA. You don't actually get the degree, but you get all the experience and skills that go along with it. It's already been pretty incredible."
kharding@globeandmail.ca