That’s what the US Army plans to do at the end of the month to make up for the shortage of potential soldiers coming forward during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The crisis left the Army shy of about half the number it usually signs up during the early months of the year. 

So service leaders are launching Army National Hiring Days between 30 June and 2 July to close the enlistment gap that developed when physical army recruiting stations shut down during lockdown in the US. People who commit to joining during the three-day drive could get bonuses of up to $2,000 (£1,600) Army officials said.

“We’ve never done this,” said Major General Frank Muth, leader of the US Army Recruiting Command. “It’s historic to have everybody focused on three days of becoming an active recruiter, and we feel very strongly we can go after 10,000 [potential recruits]; we think we can hit our mark.”

The hiring blitz will see the Army drive their initiative on social media and its recruiting website. It hopes to highlight the diverse career fields it offers of more than 150 military occupational specialties. 

But Army leaders say they are also seeking recruits to enlist on contracts to fill 10 high-need roles, which could bring bonuses of up to $40,000. Another perk for signing up to one of these jobs would be a programme to repay up to $60,000 of student loan debt.

The high-need positions include cryptological linguists, psychological operations specialists, air and missile defence crew members, and unmanned aircraft systems operators, to name a few.