COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Personnel Crunch
High school recruits earn now to serve later
KARIN SHAW ANDERSON, The Dallas Morning News
November 9, 2007
Christopher
Keen was the first person Sgt. Robert Cotner thought of when he learned
about a new enlistment incentive the Army is offering to high school
seniors.Christopher Keen, a senior at Caddo Mills High School in Hunt
County, was already close to joining the Army when he enlisted in the
Future Soldier Training Program, which will pay him $10,000 after he
heads to basic training.
"I had just talked to him a couple of days before that," said Sgt.
Cotner, a recruiter at the Greenville, Texas, Army recruiting station.
Mr. Keen, a senior at Caddo Mills High School in Hunt County, had been
visiting with military recruiters and was already close to joining the
Army.
"I've always planned on joining the military since I was a little kid,
just to grow up and be like my dad," said Mr. Keen, whose father is a
former Air Force sergeant.
Mr. Keen's decision to enlist ranked him as one of 80,000 men and women
whom Army officials hope to sign up this year to meet their recruiting
quotas.
The Future Soldier Training Program, which pays recruits to commit now and serve later, was a clincher for him.
The Army designed the program for high school seniors. It's brand new.
Promotional materials haven't been printed yet, but recruiters are
talking it up at schools.
The program pays students $1,000 for each month between signing the
commitment contract and leaving for basic training after completing
high school. The Army pays an additional $1,000 for high school
graduation.
For example, Mr. Keen enlisted in late October and plans to leave for
basic training in late June. He'll rack up $10,000 in bonus money for
his nine months in the program, including the $1,000 graduation award.
The Army almost missed its recruiting goal for the year that ended on
Sept. 30. It began the new year on Oct. 1 with fewer men and women
signed up for basic training than in any year since it became an
all-volunteer service in 1973.
The new bonus program for high schoolers is "obviously intended to
increase recruitment" but isn't necessarily a reaction to nearly
missing national recruiting goals last year, said Kim Hanson, a public
affairs officer for the Dallas Army Recruiting Battalion.
Another program, the Quick-Ship bonus, pays recruits up to $20,000 if
they agree to leave for training within 30 days. The future soldier
program balances Quick-Ship because it banks personnel for later use,
Ms. Hanson said.
Sgt. Cotner said it's ideal for fence-sitters, not those who have never shown an interest in the military.
"There's a lot of people that say they want to [join]," he said. "But
they want to wait until after high school, so this gives them kind of
an incentive before they have the chance to get into trouble or get
into an automobile accident or one of life's misfortunes that happens.
"We're trying to go ahead and secure their future for them."
Despite the Army's push to sign up new recruits, North Texas school
officials say recruiters haven't been asking for increased access to
their students.
Federal law requires schools to give military recruiters the same access they give to college or corporate recruiters.
Many area districts allow military recruiters to set up tables outside
lunchrooms or in school common areas. Recruiters also work booths at
college fairs.
"We instruct them not to approach students," said Tim Clark, a
Richardson schools spokesman. "Students can approach [recruiters] , but
they cannot approach students.
"On a case-by-case basis, if we feel like they're abusing us, allowing
them to be there, either by approaching students or doing something
more brazen, like pulling a kid out of class, we would ask them to
depart and then determine if we want to have them back in the future,"
Mr. Clark said.
Mr. Keen said he began talking to recruiters at his school last year.
When Sgt. Cotner took over Army recruiting at Caddo Mills High School
this year, he picked up where the others left off.
Mr. Keen signed the enlistment contract within a week of learning about the opportunity.
"It opens up the future," he said. "I'll get paid well and get lots of experience and lots of travel.
"I'm going to give my car to my mom, because she loves my car, and I'm
going to put a down payment on a new one once I get out of specialty
training," he said.
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