The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers — or 25% — short of its recruitment goal this year, despite a frantic effort to make up the widely expected gap in a year when all the military services struggled in a tight jobs market to find young people willing and fit to enlist
FILE - The U.S. Army National Guard members stand outside the Army National Guard office during training on April 21, 2022, in Washington. The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers — or 25% — short of its recruitment goal this year, officials confirmed Friday, Sept. 30, despite a frantic effort to make up the widely expected gap in a year when all the military services struggled in a tight jobs market to find young people willing and fit to enlist.
According to officials, the Marine Corps, which usually goes into each fiscal year with as much as 50% of its recruiting goal already locked in, has only a bit more than 30%. And the Air Force and the Navy will only have about 10% of their goals as they start the new fiscal year. The Air Force usually has about 25%. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details on the recruiting totals that have not yet been released.
The Air Force, meanwhile, was able to pull enough recruits from its delayed entry pool to exactly met its goal to bring in 26,151 recruits this year. Early this year, military leaders were already braced for a bad recruiting season. The Army, for example, announced several months ago that it would have to
Exacerbating the problem is the fact that according to estimates, just 23% of young people can meet the military's fitness, educational and moral requirements — with many disqualified for reasons ranging from medical issues to criminal records and tattoos. At the same time, the patriotism that fueled the rush to military service in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks has dimmed. Some may look around and see no more wars and terrorists to fight so they look elsewhere. And others see lucrative hiring campaigns by private industry and know the salaries will be better than military pay, and they will be less likely to end up wounded or killed in those jobs.
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