ABC: Army Meets Recruiting Goals -- Surprise Success or Accounting Trick?

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2005 — Two months into what most expected to be a miserable year for recruiting, the Army has exceeded its goals.

That doesn't mean selling military service in wartime is any easier for recruiters. It's more a matter of accounting.

In November, the Army set a goal that was 1,200 recruits fewer than the same month's goal a year ago.

In October, the first month of the recruiting year, the goal was lowered even more — by more than 2,200.

That month the Army also accepted three times as many people who tested at a middle-school reading level — prospects who wouldn't have been accepted last year.....
....
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty says shifting goals is not a matter of spin — just smart business.....

"Just like a Honda dealer," Hilferty said. "We give out goals based on expected market missions. … And some months produce less recruits than others."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/IraqCoverage/story?id=1411368&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Just move the goalposts closer to the ball.

Well said.

This country is full of flag waving, magnet displaying, testosterone laden, swaggering patriots who would do anything to kick some raghead ass. I would think the Army Recruiting Offices would have to turn them away. Conservatives love this country and our constitution so much that they would kill Arabs for free. I spend way too much time in bizarro world.

Honda doesn't try to build a shittier car one year to the next.

on the economy and the job market. Young people feel they have no other option than to join the military as a last resort.

They must be taking ninth graders by now.

Don

Allows both enlisted and officer personnel who would not be retained by the Navy to switch over to the Army and maintain paygrade and years in service. Can't perform up to standards in the Navy, the Army will take you. Damn straight they'll make recruiting goals.

I chose the Navy specifically because I wasn't the rifle-toting kind of guy the Army seems to attract. I chose the Submarine Service because I wanted more of a challenge, but didn't want to live in foxholes and worry about incoming mortars. The dark, crushing depths of the ocean seemed safer. :)

FTN.

Brings back a lot of memories. Some pretty damned good, too.

:thumbsup:

A friend of mine served on a fast attack sub.

But there is no way I'd compare my service with a ground-poundin' Army or Marine.

When in doubt, lower the goals.

Can you imagine professional sports played like this?

them--(my take on this).


--In October, the first month of the recruiting year, the goal was lowered even more — by more than 2,200.

That month the Army also accepted three times as many people who tested at a middle-school reading level — prospects who wouldn't have been accepted last year.....
....

I mean really now, after lowering the recruitment goal three times now, lowering the minimum standard for acceptance at least twice that I know about, throwing loads of cash out as bonuese, and doing some nice slight of hand accounting tricks, they damn well should be meeting their goal

But one thing that this article doesn't mention, nor do I find anywhere, is a comparison of how many people were recruited in November this year and November last year, or November five years ago. I bet that would be a real interesting comparison, one that the Army wouldn't want us to see.

...the Army also accepted three times as many people who tested at a middle-school reading level.

Hey - it looks like some repukes are finally signing up!

of bootcamp. There is always a percentage that won't make it through for one reason or another. Just because the recruiters managed to come close enough to the goal to fudge the numbers, doesn't meant that 100% made it through.

Despite efforts of parents, teachers and some administrators, a lot of the Senior MALES have been getting calls from local recruiters. Some are straight pitches...others try to "pal". My son has taken 5 calls so far...the first freaked him out...now he just toys with them. The last recruiter, he told he was thinking of becoming an interior decorator. That call ended quickly. I'm sure if he knows the "quotas are filled", then why call??? Greedy? ROFL.

I see this as a combination of two factors...downsizing the numbers and a continuing depression in the middle and lower classes. Last summer I flew with a young man from East L.A. He was just a few months older than my son, but you could see they had come up from very different worlds. This young man was on his way to basic and a 5 year stint in the Navy. He had just graduated High School and was now off on his own for the very first time. As you can imagine, being from East L.A., he was Hispanic...and, after chatting for a few, it came out he was doing this cause there wasn't anything else for him to do that would give him a meaningful life. He was looking forward to the education and experience that he wouldn't have gotten stuck in the barrio and was willing to take the risk of being sent to Iraq and being away from his family for the promise of a better future. After the flight, we exchanged addresses and I have heard from him a couple times...the last around the end of September when he was finishing his first 6 weeks and was being sent to the Gulf Coast to help in disaster relief. Hopefully he's still there helping and I'll hear from him again soon.

It's easy to bad rap the military...and much of its is deserved, but it has done some good things for people. The key is to make it a peacetime military!!!!

Cheers...

I bet they'll do really well with that Torture Field Guide. :eyes:

Army of one...dumb shit.