Record Recruiting - Economic Slump helps Navy exceed recruiting targets...

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

Recruiting for the 36-year-old all-volun­teer force has never been better: The active and reserve military branches each met or exceeded both their numer­ic and recruit quality recruiting goals for fiscal 2009 — the first time since 1973, said Bill Carr, the undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.

The Navy had 35,527 accessions, making 100 percent of its 35,500 goal. The Navy Reserve had 7,793 accessions, making 101 per­cent of its 7,743 goal.

The Army topped the active branches, sign­ing up 108 percent of its goal of 65,000 recruits; the top reserve component was the Marine Corps Reserve, which signed up 8,805, or 122 percent of its goal.

Ninety-six percent of the Navy’s recruits were high school graduates in fiscal year 2009

— matching the average for all of the services, Carr said. That is the best showing since 1996. A weak economy and increased spending on recruiting were the primary reasons for the successes, Carr said.

The seasonally adjusted U.S. unemployment rate for September stood at 9.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Pentagon spent about $4.4 billion on all recruiting-related costs in fiscal 2009, accord­ing to Curtis Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accession policy.

Spending on recruiting declined from $4.9 billion in fiscal 2008. And based on the strong showing and economic forecasts, the Pentagon has trimmed 11 percent from its initial fiscal 2010 request, asking Congress for $4.12 billion. The surplus of recruits means the services have started the fiscal year with much deeper delayed-entry pools of people ready to ship out to boot camp.

The Navy’s surplus is 19,093, or 53 percent of its fiscal 2010 recruiting goal of 35,750; the Marine Corps has 19,721 recruits signed up — 66 percent of its fiscal 2010 goal.

— William H. McMichael

[Melissa (Tucson)]

Great article! Love the numbers!!