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Army Lowers Recruitment Goals As All Services Face Shrinking Pool Of Volunteers

Last updated on Tuesday, April 24, 2018

(WASHINGTON. D.C.) - The Marines used to have a recruiting slogan — “We’re Looking for a Few Good Men” — that worked well for that branch a few decades ago in catching the eye among the young men and women who just might volunteer for military service.

Tom Squitieri of Talk Media News reports that today, that slogan can be extrapolated across the service branches, who are facing a growing quandary in looking for -- and finding -- thousands of healthy good men and women, both to join the military and then to stay physically "good."

In the prime target group for recruiters of Americans aged 17 to 24, roughly 75 percent cannot even be considered for the military due to a health issue -- notably obesity -- or other problems such as criminal backgrounds, no high school diploma or other educational issues and other red lines, according to Pentagon officials and private sector data.

"I think we are all facing the same challenge," Adm. William Moran, vice chief of naval operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support on Feb. 15.

Moran told subcommittee members that the vast majority of volunteers have a family member or acquaintance with a military background and that "we need to reach out to more Americans and have them participate in national defense."

A report earlier this year from the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C, think tank, buttresses those statistics. It shows that "71 percent of young Americans between 17 and 24 are ineligible to serve in the military -- roughly 24 million of the 34 million people of that age group."

"A manpower shortage in the United States Armed Forces directly compromises national security," the report stated. "As the number of eligible Americans declines, it is increasingly difficult to meet military needs."

On Friday Army Secretary Mark Esper told Pentagon reporters the Army is lowering its recruiting goals for the current fiscal year. Instead of seeking 80,000 new active-duty soldiers, Esper said the new target is 76,500.

So far, about 28,000 new recruits have been signed up, Esper told Pentagon reporters. Fewer are needed, he said, because more personnel are remaining in the service.

Historically spring and summer are the key time frames for recruiting. That is when high school and college students graduate and often flounder in finding higher-paying private-sector employment, thus making them more receptive to military wooing.

To meet enlistment metrics, the Pentagon previously adjusted recruitment criteria to bring in bodies from lower qualifying categories. For example, in fiscal 2017 the Army recruited 69,000 active-duty soldiers; 1.9 percent of them came from the lowest qualifying category. But in 2016, only 0.6 percent of recruits came from that group.

No branch can have more than 4 percent of the recruiting pool from that bottom category, which includes individuals with low test scores to previous drug use to excessive body art, Pentagon officials said.

According to statistics provided to Talk Media News, the Army has met recruiting goals for active duty in every year from 2006 to the present. However, it has struggled to meet goals for the Army Reserve.

The Air Force did not supply numbers. "The Air Force is growing but we have continued to meet our recruiting goals each Fiscal Year," Major Kathleen Atanasoff said in an email.

Likewise, the Marines did not provide statistics but insisted they are meeting their metrics.

"In doing so, Marine recruiters overcome challenges like the one you mentioned -- 70% of age-qualified youth being unqualified for service -- and others such as the fact that more than 90% of America's youth is disinterested in military service (less than 8% of females are interested in military service). We have not relaxed any standards for acceptance into the Marine Corps," said Gunnery Sgt. Justin Kronenberg.

The Navy did not provide recruitment data. In a Feb. 15 story in USNI News, Vice Adm. Robert Burke, the Navy's personnel chief, said he is braced for "difficult times ahead in attracting and keeping sailors and officers as the sea service expands the fleet in the coming years."

According to the Pentagon, fiscal year 2018, which started last November, showed total force strength for the armed services was 1.3 million. That was a slight bump from the 1.29 million the year before.

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