July 17, 2012: The Russian government ordered the armed forces to start paying performance bonuses to the troops on January 1st this year. The military bureaucrats took six months to carry out the order (despite months of advance warning) and have now established who will get how much for doing what. Not surprisingly, one group that is to receive bonuses are members of the General Staff (who were late in actually getting the bonus program set up) as well as students and faculty at military schools. In these institutions officers are taught how to be efficient and get things done on time.

Bonuses were also awarded to scientific and technical personnel who excelled at their work, as well as troops who did well in sports and sniping. In the United States most of the bonus money goes to a small number of specialists, like Special Forces, SEALs, explosives disposal (they deal with roadside bombs), intelligence, and medical and electronics specialists.