By Will Dunham
Reuters, 10 January 2006
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army, which fell short in recruiting in fiscal 2005, achieved its seventh straight monthly recruiting target in December, albeit the smallest goal of the year, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
With an objective of sending 80,000 recruits into boot camp in the 2006 fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, the regular Army landed 741 recruits last month, topping its December goal of 700, officials said.
The monthly goal was kept low because the Army does not ship recruits into boot camp in December due to the holidays and counted only recruits with prior military service who do not have to go to basic training, said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman.
"I wouldn't brag too much about this one because it's so small, but it's still seven straight months," Hilferty said.
The Army has made its recruiting goal in every month since June after missing four straight.
It fell about 7,000 short of its annual goal of 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2005. Army officials attributed that shortfall in part to wariness of young people to join the all-volunteer military during the Iraq war.
The part-time Army National Guard and Army Reserve also made their December recruiting goals, the Pentagon said. Meanwhile, the active-duty Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy also made their December goals, but the Navy Reserve and Air National Guard missed their targets.
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 has added recruiters, and last month it hired a new advertising agency to handle its recruiting campaign.
McCann Erickson Worldwide replaces the Leo Burnett agency, which handled advertising for the Army since July 2000 and created the theme "An Army of One." The Army intends to spend $1.35 billion in the next five years on advertising to recruit for the regular Army and Army Reserve, making this the federal government's biggest ad account.
The Army in November also launched an effort to coax former troops to sign up again for active-duty military service, contacting 78,000 people who previously served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Unlike in the past, they now can return to the Army without giving up their previous rank or undergo the rigors of basic training.
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Citation: Will Dunham. "U.S. Army achieves minimal December recruiting goal," Reuters, 10 January 2006.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10296689.htm
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