Recruiting Gains Across the Board

During the fiscal year of 2009 all active and reserve branches met or exceeded both their numeric and quality recruiting goals. This is the first time this has happened in the 36 years that the United States Military has been an all-volunteer force. The Pentagon also reported that the retention of personal was also very successful in all of the branches. These gains have been thought to been connected to the slumping economy and an increased spending on recruiting. Enlistment bonus could also be a cause as well. Since about 40 percent of recruits received some sort of bonus for enlisting. The quality of recruits has also increased this year. The Army, for example, improved over 11 percent in the amount of its recruits being high school graduates. More specifically, the Army improved from 83 percent last year to 94.7 percent this year. The Air Force and Marine Corps lead the other services with 99 percent of recruits having a high school diploma. All the services combined have a 96 percent average compared to the national average of 75 percent of teen-agers graduating. From studies done by John Warner and Curtis Simon of Clemson University it has been estimated that for every 10 percent increase in unemployment, that in turn leads to a 3 to 4 percent increase in high-quality enlistment. Warner says there is also another study that suggests that there is a 5 percent increase. The recruiting goals of fiscal 2009 was met or surpassed by every branch. Overall, the department of defense met 103 percent of its recruiting goal. This was led by the Army with 108 percent of it goal being met and followed by the other 3 branches each meeting 100 percent of its goal. The reserve branches exceeded their goals even more. All the reserve branches combined met 104 percent of their goal. The reserve category was lead by the Marine Corps Reserve with meeting 122 percent of its goal.Click Here for the Full Story