Army plans increase in marketing
Recruiting falls short of yearly goal by 15K
WASHINGTON — The Army plans to increase its investment in marketing and is expected to expand a new program for struggling recruits, but leaders on Monday offered few new details on how they’ll fill the ranks after falling far short of recruiting goals this year.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters that a new recruiting task force is coming up with ideas. But any new plans would have to gel quickly in order to reverse the dramatically low enlistment numbers over the past year.
For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Army enlisted just 75 percent of its goal — falling 15,000 soldiers short of the 60,000 target. It was the only service to miss its recruiting goal, but all of the others had to dig deep into their pools of delayed entry applicants, which will put them behind as they begin the next recruiting year on Saturday.
Asked if there is any sense the Army will be able to meet its goal this year, Wormuth said it is too early to speculate.
Wormuth and Gen. James Mcconville, chief of staff of the Army, said that a new program that helps low-performing recruits meet academic and fitness standards is showing promise. But they said there is still no decision on expanding it to three other locations in the country.
Wormuth and Mcconville spoke to reporters on the first day of the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army.
On other issues, Wormuth said that so far she is comfortable with the amount of ammunition and weapons systems that the U.S. is taking from Pentagon stocks and sending to Ukraine. There have been persistent questions about how much the U.S. can send without affecting the combat readiness of American forces.