COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: General
Army Touts Recruiting Turnaround
Associated Press
September 09, 2006
WASHINGTON
- The Army says its success in enlisting new Soldiers this year, after
a dismal 2005, is innovative salesmanship by a bigger team of
recruiters and financial incentives like bonuses of up to $40,000.
The Pentagon announced Friday that the Army met its recruiting goal for
August, which a senior Army official said makes it virtually certain
that the service will achieve its aim of signing up 80,000 new Soldiers
for the full recruiting year, which ends Sept. 30. Last year the Army
fell short for the first time since 1999.
"We're reaching out a lot better," said the official, Maj. Gen. Sean
Byrne, director of military personnel management. The Army is making
better use of the Internet, for example, to reach more young people, he
said.
The Army also has put about one-third more recruiters on the street,
and Congress approved new financial incentives for enlistees, including
signing bonuses for some slots of as much as $40,000. The Army also
began allowing people as old as 42 to enter the service; the maximum
age previously was 35.
Through August, the active-duty Army had signed up 72,997 new Soldiers,
nearly 3,000 above its year-to-date target. The Army National Guard was
about 200 below its target of 63,240, while the Army Reserve, which had
a particularly weak performance in August, was almost 2,000 below its
year-to-date target of 33,124.
For August alone, the active Army topped the 10,000 mark for the second
month in a row. It was the 15th consecutive month the active Army has
met or exceeded its monthly goal. It missed four months in a row in
early 2005, and some questioned whether the Army had developed a
chronic and debilitating problem.
The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy all achieved their August goals
and are on target to meet their full-year targets, the Pentagon said.
Summer is typically the strongest recruiting season.
The Army's ability to recruit is particularly important now because it
is trying to grow in size, as part of a plan to build a larger number
of combat brigades for use in Iraq, Afghanistan and potentially
elsewhere. Without that growth, existing brigades would be rotating so
often on overseas combat tours that the Army would risk alienating
Soldiers and their families, thus eroding their willingness to
re-enlist.
Even now, after increasing the active-duty Army by about 10,000
Soldiers this year, to about 501,000, Soldiers generally get less than
two years at home between one-year tours in Iraq.
Byrne said the Iraq war continues to be a drag on recruiting, and he
said unpublished Army research surveys show people of enlistment age
are increasingly disinclined to join. Similarly, adults who influence
the choices of potential recruits - like parents, teachers and coaches
- are less inclined to recommend military service.
But the Army has managed to overcome those negative factors by using
more innovative techniques to reach young people, Byrne said.
Recruiters, for example, are available at all hours on an Army Web site
chat room. Those who indicate a strong interest are then offered a
chance to meet face-to-face with a recruiter. That has proven more
productive, Byrne said, than traditional tactics like waiting for
people to walk into a recruiting station.
The Army also has accepted a larger number of recruits whose score on a
standardized aptitude test is at the lower end of the acceptable range,
and it has granted waivers to permit the enlistment of people with
criminal records that otherwise would disqualify them. The Army says it
does not grant waivers if there is a pattern of criminal misconduct or
for convictions of drug trafficking or any sexually violent crimes.
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