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| Army Has Record Low Level of Recruits |
| 2007-11-01 |
| The economy must not be as bad as we are being told. When times are tough economically, those Army jobs start to look a lot more attractive. (Especially with the reduced casualty rates we have been seeing lately.) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army began its recruiting year Oct. 1 with fewer signed up for basic training than in any year since it became an all-volunteer service in 1973, a top general said Wednesday. Gen. William S. Wallace, whose duties as commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command include management of recruiting, told reporters at the Pentagon that the historic dip will make it harder to achieve the full-year recruiting goal—after just barely reaching it in the year ended Sept. 30. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #13 The service extensions in Iraq weren't popular, and that could effect enlistment. That situation will improve. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2007-11-01 18:09 |
| #12 Beer and hookers would help. We're all out of boy scouts. Oh, and let them fight to win, that might boost interest. I don't blame the kids for not wanting to join a churchy, candie-ass army that they have been trying to put together for the last couple of years. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-11-01 17:19 |
| #11 Two points not quite mentioned in the post jump out at this little civilian housewife (I did not go to the link to read the original article). First of all, this appears to be only about the Army, not the other services, and not the Reserves. Second, if I recall correctly, re-enlistments were seriously above expectations throughout the past year, even amongst units on their third, fourth and fifth rotations into battle zones since 9/11. So between beating recruiting targets for the year and re-enlistments, our armed forces mustlikely currently have more troops than expected, separate from the large number of casualties vs. historic death rates. The trainers must be glad to have a bit of a break before starting the next round, given the increased targets for fiscal 2008. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-11-01 17:17 |
| #10 I think my wife may be the only one in her particular office. Something about a meeting in San Diego. (She got the NYC meeting a few weeks back, so it wasn't all bad.) |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-11-01 17:04 |
| #9 IIRC the reports during the last year were that the armed forces met targets for recruits each month. So what if the total number is down; if advances in weaponry are such that you can reduce the labor, then let it be. what a bunch of crap. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2007-11-01 14:30 |
| #8 P2k's point is very valid. This is the case in virtually ALL Fed Gov't agencies/Dept's. October is your "down month" because you worked so hard to meet expectations in Sept (end of FY). Then you have several holidays, and virtually a ghost-town during Thanksgiving & Chritmas/New Year's. Work doesn't truly pick up until 2nd qtr. (Jan.-Mar.). |
| Posted by: BA 2007-11-01 11:48 |
| #7 Crap article. Our town has 2 kids who left for Ft. Sill (after Basic) this month. This town has quite a record of those serving/served for such a 'tiny town'. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2007-11-01 11:37 |
| #6 And the guys probably worked their ass off just up to the end of the previous fiscal year to close the books as successfully as they did. Guess what, they get 30 days a year leave. When do you think they're going to hobble together a couple weeks away from the office? Meanwhile Congress is squirming around with the DoD budget, so the incentive packages for recruits are not solid yet till the ink is on the paper. That implies an understanding of the military environment that is alien to a "AP Military Writer". Every thing they know about the military they learned from Hollyweird. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-11-01 09:46 |
| #5 so they take a one day sampel and turnin tino a "feling" headline? WHat happened to all those months where they ahve EXCEEDED the numbers in terms of recruits AND retention? Not a dam peep. And these assholes in the press wonder why we accuse them of bias. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-11-01 09:45 |
| #4 Saw a new office yesterday. Sign said "Armed Forces Career Office" rather than "Recruiting Office". Strikes the right note I think. The area around the office has a lot of working class people including some very hard working Hispanic immigrant families. The coastal elite snobs notwithstanding, the military has long been a way for newcomers to gain useful skills and long term stable incomes for their families while contributing and integrating into the society. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-11-01 09:12 |
| #3 It means what it means in every sales organization. The recruiters didn't have a backlog of recruits they could enlist day 1. In fact they may have stuffed the channel with product that will come back when the Army finds out the true quality. This is a victory for the MSM in its war against the Army. The bad news is that things in Iraq have turned around so much that even the MSM has to concede it. That should help enlistments this year. Unfortunately, the economy will probably help also. So it shouldn't look too bad next September. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-11-01 09:05 |
| #2 The old joke goes: What do they call the fellow who graduates last in his class at med school? Doctor. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-11-01 08:35 |
#1 The Army began its recruiting year Oct. 1... after just barely reaching it in the year ended Sept. 30. So the day after the recruiting year ended -- a year in which the goal was reached -- the numbers were lower than for the same day in previous years. So what? And "just barely" hitting your target means you hit your target, and that your forecast was correct. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-11-01 08:32 |