Army Misses Recruiting Goal in February
Via Drudge to Yahoo News/USA Today:
This is disappointing and distressing. There are units out in Mother Army that need soldiers, units that are deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan that need every Soldier they can get to be present for duty, trained and performing their duties. Obviously, it is up to Recruiting Command to get those Soldiers to the training bases so that the drill sergeants can do their jobs. The article mentions increases in incentives as well as adding more NCO's to the recruiting force, however, it is assumed that the protracted war in Iraq is wearing thin on all branches' ability to recruit.
The reason I say "assumed" is because recruiting is not an empirical business. Sure, it is numbers driven, but it all boils down to the potential recruit interacting with the recruiter in order to get someone into boots. Even someone that is "sold" on enlisting in the Army needs the guidance and assistance that his or her recruiter will provide. While I agree that the war is having an effect, there are other underlying problems in Recruiting Command that are not addressed and that affect productiveness of the NCO's in this command.
However, this is not the post nor the time for me to go into those problems. Suffice it to say that the recruiting shortfall is a problem for our military, our nation, and for the potential difficulties we (as a nation) still face.
The Army signed up 5,114 recruits in February, 1,936 fewer than its goal of
7,050. The last time the Army missed a monthly target was in May 2000.
This is disappointing and distressing. There are units out in Mother Army that need soldiers, units that are deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan that need every Soldier they can get to be present for duty, trained and performing their duties. Obviously, it is up to Recruiting Command to get those Soldiers to the training bases so that the drill sergeants can do their jobs. The article mentions increases in incentives as well as adding more NCO's to the recruiting force, however, it is assumed that the protracted war in Iraq is wearing thin on all branches' ability to recruit.
The reason I say "assumed" is because recruiting is not an empirical business. Sure, it is numbers driven, but it all boils down to the potential recruit interacting with the recruiter in order to get someone into boots. Even someone that is "sold" on enlisting in the Army needs the guidance and assistance that his or her recruiter will provide. While I agree that the war is having an effect, there are other underlying problems in Recruiting Command that are not addressed and that affect productiveness of the NCO's in this command.
However, this is not the post nor the time for me to go into those problems. Suffice it to say that the recruiting shortfall is a problem for our military, our nation, and for the potential difficulties we (as a nation) still face.
posted by JACK ARMY at 1:19 PM
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