1
1
0
Army faces recruit deficit, may miss '15 goal - Are you ready to go back?
For only the third time in the past two decades, the U.S. Army is in real danger of falling short of its annual recruiting goals. USA Today’s Tom Vanden Brook writes as of right now, the service is 14 percent shy of its 2015 goal of signing up 59,000 new recruits by time the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Army officials say the recruiting problem is partly due to the improving economy, and partly due to the drying up of big signing bonuses. But the shortfall also comes just as the Army is getting ready to eliminate about 40,000 soldiers from its ranks. Even with that cut however, the Army still needs around 60,000 new recruits each year to make up for those leaving the service.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/30/army-recruiting/30900555/
For only the third time in the past two decades, the U.S. Army is in real danger of falling short of its annual recruiting goals. USA Today’s Tom Vanden Brook writes as of right now, the service is 14 percent shy of its 2015 goal of signing up 59,000 new recruits by time the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Army officials say the recruiting problem is partly due to the improving economy, and partly due to the drying up of big signing bonuses. But the shortfall also comes just as the Army is getting ready to eliminate about 40,000 soldiers from its ranks. Even with that cut however, the Army still needs around 60,000 new recruits each year to make up for those leaving the service.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/30/army-recruiting/30900555/
Recruiting
Retention
Downsizing
Reduction in Force (RIF)
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 9
4
4
0
They keep making certain things uncertain these days. Constant battles over military retirement, benefit cuts, cost increases and over 1% annual pay increases. Then there's the whole "don't know when it's gonna end" troop cuts. Does that sound like a secure and reliable job to you? Even without the threat of death or severe injury on a distant battlefield or a local VA hospital.
Added to that the ever increasing number of "peacetime readiness deployments" for an ever shrinking force. Got a family? Good, you can leave them back stateside in a garrison environment so you can go to a foreign garrison environment without them for 9 months. All so they can pinch pennies and call it better for readiness. The divorce rate is terrible, suicide rate is bad too, this trend will do nothing to improve either. People looking to join will see and hear about this.
I love the Army and will stay in as long as it will have me and my family. That being said, as the economy gets better I would not want to be a recruiter. Get in another shooting war and its gonna be a repeat of the 2000's when they were letting criminals in.
Added to that the ever increasing number of "peacetime readiness deployments" for an ever shrinking force. Got a family? Good, you can leave them back stateside in a garrison environment so you can go to a foreign garrison environment without them for 9 months. All so they can pinch pennies and call it better for readiness. The divorce rate is terrible, suicide rate is bad too, this trend will do nothing to improve either. People looking to join will see and hear about this.
I love the Army and will stay in as long as it will have me and my family. That being said, as the economy gets better I would not want to be a recruiter. Get in another shooting war and its gonna be a repeat of the 2000's when they were letting criminals in.
(4)
(0)
3
3
0
There are 2 months left in the year. 2 out of 12 is 16.7% of the year remaining. Unless they mean by projections we are 14% low, we are actually still in good shape.
If that is what was meant, there was some information missing from the article.
If that is what was meant, there was some information missing from the article.
(3)
(0)
2
2
0
A copy and paste from my FB response to the Army Times posting:
With a Draconian draw down that is destroying Soldiers and their family's plans and a VA system that at best is passive allowing Veterans to wither on the vine and at worst medicates them into oblivion, I can't see why recruits wouldn't be flocking to the recruiting station. SMH
With a Draconian draw down that is destroying Soldiers and their family's plans and a VA system that at best is passive allowing Veterans to wither on the vine and at worst medicates them into oblivion, I can't see why recruits wouldn't be flocking to the recruiting station. SMH
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google