Military Recruiting 2006 stats (by state/county/income)--"high quality" labeling

Found this article on an Oklahoma news website and then googled the organization's website/study:

http://kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=118459

National Priorities Project, a nonprofit in Massachusetts that compiles data to help citizens and community groups shape federal budget and policy priorities, examined Army recruiting through records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Nationally, the Army exceeded its quantitative goals for the year, signing almost 4 percent more recruits than in 2005, when it missed its target. However, the Army fell short on qualitative goals in 2006, with only 47 percent of recruits considered ``high quality,'' down from 61 percent in 2004, the report said. The goal was 60 percent.

The 2004 and 2005 reports found wealthier areas were under-represented in the Army, and that gap grew in 2006, she said. The largest number of recruits continues to come from neighborhoods where incomes range from $30,000 to $59,999, data show.

Arkansas led the recruiting rankings with 2.47 recruits per 1,000 youth, followed by Oklahoma, 2.44; Montana, 2.39, and Texas, 2.38.

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http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=263&Itemid=61


-These benchmarks were established to "minimize personnel and training costs while maintaining...cohort performance," according to the DoD.2 Not meeting the benchmark requirements means more recruits not completing a first term of enlistment, increasing overall recruiting and training costs as well as potentially decreasing performance.

-The states with the lowest proportion of high-quality recruits were: Mississippi (35 percent), Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Georgia, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Hawaii and Tennessee. Of those, Mississippi, Louisiana and Rhode Island were below the national recruiting rate.

-Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Montana had the highest recruiting rates. Connecticut, New Jersey and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of active-duty Army recruits per 1000 youth in fiscal year 2006.


-More tax dollars on recruiting
The recruiting and advertising budget includes Department of Defense spending on operating the recruiting stations and advertising. The budget rose to $1.5 billion in 2005 and surpassed $1.8 billion this fiscal year. However that amount does not include the pay and benefits of 22,000 military recruiters and recruiting-related spending such as enlistment bonuses used to entice new recruits. The total amount spent on all military recruiting is around $4 billion per year

who needs health care????

BRING OUR BOYS HOME NOW