Recruiting brightens for U.S. Army in fiscal 2006
10 Nov 2005 22:30:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, in its first recruiting month since missing its fiscal 2005 goal, topped its target for October, and the Army National Guard beat its goal for the first time in 13 months, officials said on Thursday.
The Army sent 4,925 recruits into boot camp in October, beating the goal of 4,700 by 5 percent, the Pentagon said. That means the Army has achieved five consecutive monthly recruiting goals dating back to June after a difficult spring.
Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith said the recent positive trend may be attributable to steps taken by the Army to add recruiters and increase enlistment incentives.
The active-duty Army fell about 7,000 short of its annual goal of 80,000 recruits in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, and Army officials attributed that shortfall in part to wariness of young people to volunteer during the Iraq war.
Fiscal 2005 marked the first time the Army fell short of an annual recruiting goal since 1999 and was one of its poorest recruiting performances since the birth of the all-volunteer military in 1973 during the tumult of the Vietnam War era.
The Army again is seeking to attract 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2006.
While the active-duty Army has experienced its recruiting difficulties, the situation has been even harder in the part-time Army National Guard and Army Reserve.
The Army National Guard missed every monthly goal in fiscal 2005. But in October, it topped its recruiting goal by 2 percent (getting 4,050 recruits, beating a goal of 3,970).
Army Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said that meant the Army National Guard achieved its first monthly goal since September 2004. In comparison, the Army National Guard missed its October 2004 recruiting goal by 31 percent.
"It's getting better slowly," said Lt. Col. Mike Jones, an Army National Guard spokesman, who said recruiting started improving several months ago even as the Army National Guard continued to miss monthly goals.
The Army Reserve, which also fell short in the latest fiscal year, beat its October goal by 3 percent (getting 2,198, beating the goal of 2,133).
The Army National Guard is a force of part-time soldiers under the command of state governors who also can be summoned to active duty by the Pentagon. The Army Reserve is a force of part-time federal troops.
The Pentagon has relied heavily on soldiers from the Army Reserve and National Guard to maintain troop levels in the Iraq war, but officials plan to reduce the numbers of these troops deployed to Iraq in upcoming force rotations.
Meanwhile, the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force all made their October recruiting goals. Among the part-time services, the Air National Guard and Navy Reserve missed their October targets.
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