COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Personnel Crunch
Army meets its fiscal 2007 recruiting goals
MICHELLE TAN, Army Times
October 4, 2007
The Army has met its recruiting goals for 2007, the commanding general for Accessions Command said.
Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley declined to reveal specific recruiting
numbers during an Oct. 2 meeting with defense-industry reporters,
citing a Defense Department announcement scheduled for Oct. 10.
The active component’s goal for 2007 was 80,000 soldiers, while
the Army Reserve was working toward 26,500 new soldiers. As of Aug. 31,
both components were ahead of or on track with their year-to-date goals.
In 2008, the goals will again be 80,000 for the active Army and 26,500 for the Reserve, Freakley said.
The Army plans to grow to an end strength of 547,000 by 2011, and the
big push late in the fiscal year to recruit more soldiers, which
included a $20,000 quick-ship bonus, has drained the service’s
Delayed Entry Pool.
Freakley estimated the service will have 6,500 to 7,000 soldiers in the
DEP, or less than 9 percent of the 80,000 goal. The Army had about 12
percent of its goal in the DEP entering fiscal 2007.
The DEP consists of recruits who have enlisted but have not shipped to
basic training. They have up to a year to ship, and they will not be
counted in the monthly recruiting totals until they go to basic
training.
“It’s going to be a challenge this year as it is every
year,” Freakley said, adding that he would like to have about 35
percent of the Army’s goal in the DEP.
“It’s not going to be done this year,” he said. “It’s going to be a gradual grow-back.”
Army Secretary Pete Geren said Sept. 27 that he is waiting for Defense
Secretary Robert Gates to decide on a proposal to slash a five-year
growth plan to four years in an effort to ease the strain of repeat and
long combat deployments.
“This is the first time that we have had to recruit an
all-volunteer Army during a protracted conflict, so it is a little more
challenging,” Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commanding general of
Recruiting Command, has said.
The push to meet this year’s recruiting goal has helped deplete the DEP pool.
The goal is to start the year with at least 20 percent of the annual
goal in the DEP, but the last time the Army had such a healthy DEP was
in 2004, Bostick said.
As of the end of August, about 83,000 people had joined the Army and Army Reserve, Bostick said.
The Army is in a tough recruiting environment, Bostick said.
The propensity to serve is the lowest it’s been in 20 years,
parents are less inclined to recommend military service to their
children, and the unemployment rate is low, he said. Also, every year,
the Army has what it calls future soldier losses, soldiers who sign up
but at the last minute are unable to ship to basic training for reasons
such as education, trouble with the law or changing their minds.
Bostick estimated the Army will have about 10,000 future soldier losses this year.
In order to maintain its recruiting momentum, the Army is offering fat
bonuses to potential soldiers, with the maximum active Army bonus
totaling $40,000. For example, Army is offering a quick-ship bonus
worth $20,000 to recruits who leave for basic training within 30 days
of enlisting.
When asked if soldiers were only joining the Army for bonuses that can total up to $40,000, Bostick said no.
“There are a lot of patriots out there. This is a competitive
market,” he said. “I also feel the bonuses we’re
paying are not enough to make up for the challenges those soldiers and
their families will face. I don’t think the bonuses are
excessive. I think they’re competitive.”
The Army also is working to keep the soldiers it has.
On Sept. 13, the service rolled out an unprecedented but temporary menu
of incentives to keep junior officers in uniform, including up to
$35,000 in cash, assignment options and graduate school.
The target group for these incentives is 17,000 active Army captains. The goal is to retain 95 percent of them.
As it enters the next fiscal year, the Army also is offering up to $150,000 in re-enlistment bonuses to qualified soldiers.
For example, noncommissioned officers in the Special Forces career
management field and selected specialties in the high-priority career
fields of military intelligence, ordnance, transportation, engineer,
psychological operations and signal can qualify for bonuses of $8,000
to $150,000. Warrant officers in military intelligence, Special Forces,
field artillery and criminal investigation also can qualify for these
bonuses.
“We’re interested in maintaining a quality Army,”
Bostick said. “We are going to fight to maintain the
best-trained, best-equipped, best-led and best-outfitted
soldiers.”
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