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WASHINGTON (AP) – A year after failing to reach its goal of enlisting for the first time in 13 years, the US military is poised to reach a lower target for 2019 after reorganizing its recruitment efforts.
Army leaders told the Associated Press that they planned to hire more than 68,000 active duty troops for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, while the largest branch US military is turning more and more to social media and to new online methods to find potential recruits. .
Last year, the Army recruited about 70,000 new recruits on active service, well below the 76,500 needed, due to the low unemployment rate and stiff competition from higher-paying civilian firms. Reaching the lowest number in 2019 is considered a victory for a service that has struggled to compete with young people less familiar with the military and who was criticized last year for using more money. Exemptions for misbehavior and other exemptions to achieve its enrollment goals.
"We are launching the growth of the Army," said General James McConville, Chief of Staff of the Army, in an interview with AP. "What we want is to have modest growth over the next two years. And we try to make sure that the final strength we have is of high quality. "
Army leaders dispute the idea that they have lowered the goal to meet expectations. Instead, they announced their intention to move the army from 476,000 members last year to about 490,000 by 2024, in search of high quality recruits who would risk less to fail or get hurt at the beginning of their training.
Ryan McCarthy and Acting Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, said it had taken time to institute recruitment changes in the past year, but these changes were beginning to look promising. Recruiters already have 13,000 additional recruits under contract to join the service in the fiscal year beginning October 1, giving them an advantage over next year's totals.
They said that the recruitment target for next year would be between 68,000 and 69,000.
After a massive rise to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the army has in recent years, destroyed more than 50,000 soldiers while the conflicts were reduced. Now, to meet the military demands, the army has yet to develop.
But in order to recruit more soldiers, army leaders have been criticized, including by Congress, for extending the use of waivers to recruits who have already used marijuana, had misconduct and health problems.
The use of waivers has raised fears that the service is repeating the mistakes made during the war when recruiters brought in more youth with a history of misconduct, drugs and crime, which resulted in problems discipline and behavior in the units.
Now, army leaders say they have reduced renunciations and improved the quality of recruits.
Major-General Frank Muth, Chief of the Army Recruitment Command, said the number of waivers has been reduced by 3.4% this year, which is the lowest percentage of driving waivers in two decades. He added that in 2019, about 12% of recruits needed a waiver and less than 9% this year needed it.
To achieve the recruiting goal while limiting waivers and raising standards, the Army has increased the number of recruiters and targeted 22 previously difficult cities. And Muth said, "We are hiring, we have moved from the industrial age to the digital age."
Historically, the best method for recruiting recruits has been in person. But young people are now more interested in connecting online than face-to-face.
As a result, said Muth, "the numbers show that, for the first time, the paradigm shift is about to occur and that our main source of prospecting and lead generation for next year will be the position of virtual recruitment ".
For example, he said, a traditionally top-notch recruitment event, like the Houston Rodeo, would generate about 350 follow-up opportunities for recruiters. At the Salt Lake City Games tournament last July, recruiters earned about 1,400 leads in a weekend, he said.
According to McCarthy, two years ago, the military spent half of its marketing budget on television ads and the other half on digital ads. Now, he said, 90% are digital.
"We are moving into the digital age," he said, adding that officials are learning as they go. "You have to touch the same set of eyeballs about six times before they have a conversation with a recruiter."
The military has also increased enlistment efforts in 22 targeted cities this year and improved in 16 of them, including New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, McCarthy's hometown in Chicago, and McConville's birthplace in Boston. Recruiters have failed in six other positions, including Seattle, Miami and Orlando, Florida. But McCarthy said army leaders plan to continue visiting these cities until targets are met.
Army officials hope that the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, who are also far from reaching their recruitment goals last year will reach their goals, but may not know by the end of the month.
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