Army misses annual recruiting goal, first time since ’05

WASHINGTON — For the first time since 2005, the U.S. Army missed its recruiting goal this year, falling short by about 6,500 soldiers, despite pouring an extra $200 million into bonuses and approving some additional waivers for bad conduct or health issues.

Army leaders said they signed up about 70,000 new active duty recruits in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30 — well below the 76,500 they needed. The Army National Guard and Army Reserves also fell far short of their goals, by more than 12,000 and 5,000 respectively. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, meanwhile, all met their recruiting goals for 2018.

The Army’s shortfall, said Maj. Gen. Joe Calloway, was fueled by the strong American economy and increased competition from private sector employers who can pay more. But the failure has triggered an overhaul in Army recruiting, including an increase in recruiters, expanded marketing and a new effort to reach out to young, potential recruits through popular online gaming.

“We obviously thought we would do better than that,” said Calloway, director of military personnel management for the Army, when asked about the recruiting gap in an Associated Press interview. He said there were several thousand permanent legal residents seeking to enlist, but they did not get through the screening process in time. And, he said that in the last three years Army recruiters have brought in 3,000-5,000 more enlistees than planned during the last three months of the fiscal year.

“There was hope that they would be able to do the same thing this year,” he said. “That did not pan out.”

The recruiting struggles come at the end of a tumultuous year for the Army, which faced questions from Congress over its expanded use of waivers for recruits with previous marijuana use, bad conduct and some health problems. The debate prompted the Army to cut back on some waivers and require higher level officers to approve ones involving drug use and some health and conduct issues.