There are currently more than 250,000 American troops deployed in almost 130 countries. It’s an impressive figure. But the number that has raised eyebrows in the military community is much smaller — and it’s somewhere between 73 and 90.
Those are the percentages at which recruitment and enlistment goals have been met for the Army National Guard and Army, respectively, this past year. Significantly, they’re both below 100 percent.
California Connected takes a firsthand look at the challenges facing today’s Army recruiters. Some argue that today’s recruiters are working in the most difficult environment since the advent of the all-volunteer Army.
We visit recruiters in Sonora, a rural town where the Army regularly meets its quota, and tag along with an Army recruiter in San Francisco, where the political climate is decidedly different.
Update November 21, 2006
The Army’s goals for fiscal year 2006 are: 80,000 for active duty; 25,500 for army reserve.
The U.S. Army has made several changes to meet its 2006 goal of 80,000 new recruits. It has substantially increased monetary bonuses and raised the age limit from 35 to 42, to encourage new enlistments. Standards have been lowered by allowing in more recruits without high school diplomas or who have scored below the curve on the Army’s aptitude test. The Army has also added more than 1,000 recruiters.
- “Is the U.S Military Overstretched?,” VOA News
- “Military recruitment hits October targets,” The Associated Press via The Sacramento Bee
- DoD Announces Recruiting and Retention Numbers for August, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), U.S. Department of Defense
- Stretched Thin: Army Forces for Sustained Operations, prepared for the United States Army by the RAND Corporation
- GoArmy.com, the official recruiting web site for the United States Army.
- America’s Army, the Official US Army Game
- LeaveMyChildAlone.org, advocacy group, opposes recruitment of high school students without parent consent
- Proposition 1: No Military Recruiters in Public Schools, Scholarships for Education and Job Training, official ballot description for a proposed San Francisco City and County law that would bar on-campus military recruitment.
- “Army Sets Up Video-Game Studio,” Wired News
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