Congrats to Our Recruiters and Future Soldiers!
Recruiting is a tough business anytime but in a time of two wars these men and women have done a great job.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009 – December was a recruiting success for all active-duty and reserve-component U.S. military services, which all met or exceeded their goals, according to a Defense Department news release issued today.
— The Army signed 860 new active-duty soldiers, 115 percent of its target number of 750 enlistees.
— The Navy signed 2,306 new active-duty sailors, meeting its target number of enlistees for the month.
— The Marine Corps signed 2,392 new active-duty Marines, 113 percent of its target number of 2,116 enlistees.
— The Air Force signed 2,967 new active-duty airmen, meeting its target number of enlistees for the month.
“All services continue to meet or exceed their active-duty recruiting goals, thanks to the tremendous efforts of our recruiters, and those who continue to step up and serve,” Eileen Lainez, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said. “It speaks volumes for the dedication and loyalty of our nation and its volunteers.’
Let me explain some of these numbers before the trolls weigh in and piss me off.
The Air Force, Marine, and Navy targets are far greater than the Army numbers for a reason and it has zero to do with some theory that the Army can’t recruit.
November through February are considered “bath tub” months for the Army because of the obvious dip in contracts during those months. The Army lowers its mission during these months and focuses on promotions and local potential recruit support activities.
The easiest answer is the almost exclusively Army “quick ship” option. The training base determines how many recruits per month can actually be assessed onto active duty. It is not uncommon for a recruit to join one of the other services and find himself/herself waiting several weeks to several months to ship because their training bases are small compared to the Army.
With the exception of a small summer surge, the other services essentially take their annual goal and divide by twelve. The Army targets goals by month with a massive surge between April and September to make its goal of over 80,000 per year which is more than twice that of any other service.
Hope that helps.
Anyway, congrats to all the recruiters and good luck to all of those patriots about to enter the greatest institution in the United States.
Category: Politics
HOO-AH!!!
My recruiter was great. He was straight with me and told me exactly what to expect. I’ve heard the stories about how recruiters lie to potential recruits to meet their quotas, but that didn’t happen to me and I wonder how often it really does happen. I think alot of guys make stuff up on how recruiters supposably lied to them.
Last summer my son got a cold call from an Army recruiter, a polite young specialist who had been on recruiting duty for about a day. He started with the usual benign ‘no-pressure’ question, “Have you given much thought to your plans after high school?”
My son responded, “Well, I was thinking Airborne Infantry, or better yet, Ranger.”
There was a lengthy pause, followed by “When’s a good time for us to meet?”
If only it were always that easy.