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Recession helps military recruiters reach 36-year high

By Otto Kreisher CongressDaily October 14, 2009

Aided by the slumping economy and generous funding, the military had its best recruiting year in the 36-year history of its all-volunteer force in fiscal 2009, a defense official announced Tuesday.

"For the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all the military components, active and reserve, met their numerical and quality goals," Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, said at a Pentagon briefing.

The four services and their National Guard and reserve components signed up 296,505 young men and women, of which 96 percent of active-duty recruits and 95 percent of new reservists had high school diplomas, the highest rate since 1996, Carr said. Nearly three-fourths scored at or above the 50 percentile on the armed forces qualification exams, the best since 2002.

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Defense Department quality objectives are 90 percent high school graduates and 60 percent in the upper half of test results.

The services also had to grant fewer waivers for conduct or medical problems than in recent years, with fewer than 20 percent requiring an exemption to the standards, Carr said. Two-thirds of the waivers were for misconduct, which did not result in jail sentences, and one-third were for medical issues, mostly obesity, he said.

Carr acknowledged that the bad economy, which has driven the national unemployment rate to nearly 10 percent, "was a force" in the recruiting success. The services also benefited from a high level of fiscal 2009 funding for recruiters and advertising, because the full scale of the economic recession had not been anticipated.

Although the services will need to attract nearly the same number of recruits, the fiscal 2010 recruiting budget is about 11 percent below last year's $3.1 billion, which could be an issue if the economy rebounds, Carr said.

The active Army, which had the highest recruiting goal in its effort to ease a punishing deployment cycle for Iraq and Afghanistan and has had trouble attracting all the soldiers it needs, exceeded its goal of 65,000 recruits by 5,045. And 95 percent of its new soldiers had high school diplomas or the equivalent and 65 percent scored in the upper half on the exams, far above recent results.

The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, which are seeking to maintain their current active duty personnel levels, all went just over their goals, for a total result of 103 percent of the objective.

And despite a high rate of active-duty call-up of reserve personnel, the Army National Guard went slightly over its quota, the Army Reserve recruited 105 percent of its goal and the Marine Corps Reserve hit 122 percent of its goal. Meanwhile, the Air Force Reserve, Air Guard and Navy Reserve slightly exceeded their goals, for a total of 104 percent of the objective.

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  • Michael, My apologies for the delayed reply: I've been out with the flu. Your well-crafted attempt to skew the points is formidable. I am impressed. But, let me help guide you back on track. While conscription may have been the harsh reality faced by 18th and 19th century European militaries, the characteristics of today's US military force does not reflect the intentional exploitation of poor, uneducated Americans who have no other options than enlistment. In other words, contrary to what you'd have us believe, the military is not comprised of involuntary participants, rather we maintain a highly motivated, highly trained, all volunteer force. We can test this premise by reviewing the readily available quantitative data I mentioned, which reveals a proportionate representation across socioeconomic and ethnic classes, specifically in the following areas: income, education, race and region (considering the limited space, please research this on your own). To digress, it's unclear how you can consider these "base low-bar" statistics, unless, of course, you have a better access and insight into American and military demographic data than the US census bureau and the Department of Defense. Assuming you don't, the data reveals trends that contradict your baseless opinion that only the poor, ignorant and underprivileged enlist after exhausting all other reasonable options. Your belief that forcing involuntary military service on US citizens would be more just and less offensive than providing for voluntary service is narrow and dangerous. Americans join the military for a limitless number of reasons (including, but not limited to, a sense of patriotic duty). The bottom line is there's no reason to relearn and relive the mistakes of the past. Voluntary service works and is the most equitable method for maintaining a military force. Patrick Toler Posted October 29, 2009 4:39 PM
  • How nice no work in this country because we have allowed our politicians to ship our industrial base away to prop up other 3rd world economies. Which in turn has given our kids no hope for a job they may one day retire from. I guess the folks that worked a factory job all their lives have invested their money are to greedy to see they are responsible for the destruction of our industrial base and nation. Sock holders pulling on lobbiest lining the pockets of our polititians NICE! Its all about the stock holders isnt it what a shame screw the youth. Of course the kids are pouring into the services its the best paying job out there unless you where gifted with super brains. Not all people are college material a matter a fact very few are. Stop this greedy tearing of our nation and give the kids hope to feed their families without having to work a 16 hr day at 8 bucks an hour. That or drive the price of everything down so 8 bucks is good money either way the old timers with investments that care about no one but themselves should be ashamed they have created this monster. How much is enough I read these blogs and it cracks me up the people that do not see the obvious. Dont complicate this it is simple. No work no money no food famlies hurting. As a responsible parent you have to do something so the military is paying well so I can feed my family simple isnt it. Makes me sad to see one generation getting fat while another is struggling and may never see that same future. Greed is the driver here nothing else. We have the power to change this and become a great industrial nation again but your 401K isnt going to do as well. LC Posted October 20, 2009 3:24 PM
  • Patrick: Your apparent perception of "current quantitative data" and/or an American military that is fully or at least acceptably representative of the full range of American socioeconomic classes has already been attained because of the following: 1. 'increased' number of high school graduates, 2. 'raised' test scores, and 3. misconduct waivers not the result of jail time." You cannot be serious? These base low-bar statistics attest to the fact that most of those who opt to join do so only after being enticed by large enlistment bonuses and the lack of opportunity elsewhere and the hope of gaining US citizenship. Good grief, how can you possibly believe that merely 'higher' rates of high school grads and scores on standardized military entrance tests are indicative of military that represents a cross section from the wealthy and privileged classes as well as the poor. And yes, of course a re-instituted draft that is adequately administered would do just that. Michael J. Smith, MPA Posted October 19, 2009 4:15 PM
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