English: Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, talks to Marines and sailors aboard Al, Asad, Iraq, after a reenlistment ceremony Oct. 1, 2006. Hagee personally reenlisted more than 25 Marines before he and Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps John L. Estrada answered questions during a discussion with Marines and sailors aboard Al Asad. The Marines who reenlisted made a good choice to reenlist at the beginning of the fiscal year, which began October 1. At the beginning of the fiscal year, the Marine Corps had a little more than 6,000 slots for reenlistment. Half of the slots were filled by the first day of the fiscal year, said Staff Sgt. Daniel Aldridge, 34, the regimental career retention specialist assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 in Al Asad. Many of the Marines reenlisted because they were allowed to choose their next duty station and the majority of the Marines were given cash bonuses of more than $30,000, which is tax-free in a combat zone, said Aldridge, a native of Longmont, Colo. The Marine Corps� goal is to reenlist 25 percent of the Marines who are on their first enlistment. The deployed battalions assigned to RCT-7 achieved that goal before many of the battalions that are not deployed to a combat zone, said Aldridge. Aldridge added that many of the job fields in the Marine Corps were offering cash bonuses for reenlistment that do not usually offer one.