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Army begins recruiting year at record low level

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 1, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Army began its recruiting year Oct. 1 with fewer signed up for basic training than in any year since it became an all-volunteer service in 1973, a top general said Wednesday.

Gen. William Wallace, whose duties as commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command include management of recruiting, said the historic dip will make it harder to achieve the full-year recruiting goal - after just barely reaching it in the year ended Sept. 30.

Achieving the Army's recruiting goals - a challenge in the best of times - is not only more difficult now but also of more consequence. That is because the Army has decided that it must increase its active-duty force by several thousand soldiers a year to relieve strain on war-weary troops.

Wallace said he expects to reach the goal of 80,000 recruits with extra effort by his recruiters.

"It's going to be another tough recruiting year," the four-star general said.

Making it even tougher is the decline in what the Army calls its delayed entry pool, which is the group of enlistees who have signed contracts to join the Army but want to wait before shipping off to basic training.

The Army tries to start its recruiting year with a delayed entry pool equal to about 25 percent of its full-year goal, which in this case would equal 20,000 recruits. Instead, it began with 7,392 recruits, or about 9 percent of its full-year goal.

Last year at this time the Army was beginning its recruiting year with 12,062, or about 15 percent.

Wallace attributed the decline in the number of presigned recruits to the Army's decision last summer to begin offering a "quick ship" bonus of $20,000 to recruits willing to leave for basic training by the end of September. For some recruits that bonus is the equivalent of a year's pay.

[Last modified November 1, 2007, 00:25:02]