And the typical recruit is not a recent high school graduate. Rather, it’s a man or woman aged 24-32 with college loans, car loans and mortgage obligations to pay.
“Recruitment among college graduates is way up,” Staff Sgt. Thomas Washington said in a phone interview from an Army recruiting station in Kent, Ohio.
For the entire Cleveland-based region, recruiting goals for 2009 were met in the first half of the year, despite increased recruitment quotas. Army recruiters made their goal for reserve duty recruits back in June, while active duty quotas were met in August -- even after total quota expectations were increased by 5,000 over the previous year, Washington reports.
Gotta Pay the Bills
How does Washington explain the phenomenon? “The economy” is his simple answer. “We are recruiting people who are looking for work. They’re looking for job security and a stable paycheck. They’ve got bills to pay. Typically, they sign up for a four-year term of service.”
And not only males enlist. “I’ve seen more female recruits than ever before in my five years here,” Washington reported. “That trend is definitely on the increase.”
Navy recruiters also are targeting an older demographic than before. Retention of current Navy personnel is very high right now, so it does not have very many slots open for new recruits unless they enter at the officer level, Petty Officer Bryska reported from Navy headquarters in Columbus.
“We’re looking for college kids through the ROTC, especially for our diversity officer programs,” he explained in a phone interview. “We’re not actively recruiting high school graduates so much as officers, doctors, medical students, and diverse ethnic groups. We want high school kids to get their college education first.”
Recruitment Numbers at Historic Highs
Nationally -- assisted by the slumping economy and generous funding -- the military had its best recruiting year in the 36-year history of its all-volunteer force in fiscal 2009, according to a Pentagon report in Mid-October.
The four services and their National Guard and reserve components signed up 296,505 men and women, 96 percent of which were active-duty recruits. Ninety-five percent of new reservists had high school diplomas -- the highest rate since 1996, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy. Nearly three-fourths scored at or above the 50 percentile on the armed forces qualification exams; the best since 2002.
According to Congress Daily, the active Army had the highest recruiting goal in order to ease repetitive deployment cycles for Iraq and Afghanistan. Even so, it exceeded its goal of 65,000 recruits by 5,045. Ninety-five percent of its new soldiers had high school diplomas or the equivalent, and 65 percent scored in the upper half on the exams, far above recent results.
The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, seeking to maintain their current active duty personnel levels, all exceeded their goals, reaching 103 percent of the objective.
And despite a high rate of active-duty call-up of reserve personnel, the Congress Daily reports that the Army National Guard went slightly over its quota. The Army Reserve recruited 105 percent of its goal, and the Marine Corps Reserve hit 122 percent of its goal. Meanwhile, the Air Force Reserve, Air Guard and Navy Reserve reached 104 percent of their recruitment objectives.
Some call it a silver lining while others call it a mark of desperation. Either way, the poor economy has spurred a boom time among all branches of the military services, with new recruits lining up for the chance to sign and serve. It looks like a sign of the times.
Estelle Rodis-Brown - Estelle is a freelance writer and public relations specialist, with a focus in aviation, air shows, outdoor recreation, fitness, green ...
