Army achieves December recruiting goal

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Army, which fell short in
recruiting in fiscal 2005, achieved its seventh straight
monthly recruiting target in December, albeit the smallest goal
of the year, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

With an objective of sending 80,000 recruits into boot camp
in the 2006 fiscal year that ends on September 30, the regular
Army landed 741 recruits last month, topping its December goal
of 700, officials said.

The monthly goal was kept low because the Army does not
ship recruits into boot camp in December due to the holidays
and counted only recruits with prior military service who do
not have to go to basic training, said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty,
an Army spokesman.

“I wouldn’t brag too much about this one because it’s so
small, but it’s still seven straight months,” Hilferty said.

The Army has made its recruiting goal in every month since
June after missing four straight.

It fell about 7,000 short of its annual goal of 80,000
recruits in fiscal 2005. Army officials attributed that
shortfall in part to wariness of young people to join the
all-volunteer military during the Iraq war.

The part-time Army National Guard and Army Reserve also
made their December recruiting goals, the Pentagon said.
Meanwhile, the active-duty Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy
also made their December goals, but the Navy Reserve and Air
National Guard missed their targets.

Fiscal 2005 marked the first time the Army fell short of an
annual recruiting goal since 1999 and was one of its poorest
recruiting performances since the birth of the all-volunteer
military in 1973 during the tumult of the Vietnam War era.

The Army has added recruiters, and last month it hired a
new advertising agency to handle its recruiting campaign.

McCann Erickson Worldwide replaces the Leo Burnett agency,
which handled advertising for the Army since July 2000 and
created the theme “An Army of One.” The Army intends to spend
$1.35 billion in the next five years on advertising to recruit
for the regular Army and Army Reserve, making this the federal
government’s biggest ad account.

The Army in November also launched an effort to coax former
troops to sign up again for active-duty military service,
contacting 78,000 people who previously served in the Army,
Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Unlike in the past, they now
can return to the Army without giving up their previous rank or
undergo the rigors of basic training.