This story was sent over the AP wire last night, but it's too good to pass up on.
The Pentagon announced Friday that the Army met its recruiting goal for August, which a senior Army official said makes it virtually certain that the service will achieve its aim of signing up 80,000 new soldiers for the full recruiting year, which ends Sept. 30. Last year the Army fell short for the first time since 1999.
So how did the Army do it?
"We're reaching out a lot better," said the official, Maj. Gen. Sean Byrne, director of military personnel management. The Army is making better use of the Internet, for example, to reach more young people, he said.
Interesting.
The Army also has put about one-third more recruiters on the street, and Congress approved new financial incentives for enlistees, including signing bonuses for some slots of as much as $40,000. The Army also began allowing people as old as 42 to enter the service; the maximum age previously was 35.
Right, right. Mo' money talks. We all know that. And if Roger Clemens can still grind out a Cy Young Award in his fourth decade, there's nothing so egregious about raising the maximum age - it sure as hell beats lowering the minimum.
So. With such an unpopular war, recruitment sounds like it's going swimmingly for the Army. Until, that is, you reach the end of the article. If you make it there.
Byrne [director of military personnel management] said the Iraq war continues to be a drag on recruiting, and he said unpublished Army research surveys show people of enlistment age are increasingly disinclined to join. Similarly, adults who influence the choices of potential recruits — like parents, teachers and coaches — are less inclined to recommend military service.
Hmm. If that's the case, would the aforementioned incentives actually cover this "drag on recruiting"? Is there anything else the Army's doing to make up for it?
But the Army has managed to overcome those negative factors by using more innovative techniques to reach young people, Byrne said. Recruiters, for example, are available at all hours on an Army Web site chat room. Those who indicate a strong interest are then offered a chance to meet face-to-face with a recruiter. That has proven more productive, Byrne said, than traditional tactics like waiting for people to walk into a recruiting station.
Ah, yes. Trolling a chat room 24/7 to brainwash impressionable youth. A few good men. Or, if they're not available, apparently lost boys will do. Still, you have to wonder if even that would be enough. If there's not some other recruiting tactic the Army would prefer to highlight even less.
The Army also has accepted a larger number of recruits whose score on a standardized aptitude test is at the lower end of the acceptable range, and it has granted waivers to permit the enlistment of people with criminal records that otherwise would disqualify them. The Army says it does not grant waivers if there is a pattern of criminal misconduct or for convictions of drug trafficking or any sexually violent crimes.
That's what I'm talking about, people. Fantastic. Targeting passengers on the short bus and ex-cons. But no need for concern. If there's a "pattern" of drug trafficking or sexually violent crimes, of which the Army is sure to judge conservatively, there's no way bad apples will slip through such a rigorous screening.
The Army. We don't ask for experience, we shiv it.
Army Touts Recruiting Turnaround, by Robert Burns
The Associated Press
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