Army's Top Civilian Leader Says Service To Pull Out All Stops To Boost Force

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European Stars and Stripes
March 21, 2005

Army's Top Civilian Leader Says Service To Pull Out All Stops To Boost Force

By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes

LANDSTUHL, Germany — After falling short of its recruiting goal, the Army will “pull all the stops out” to sign up more troops, the service’s top civilian leader said.

The Army is offering more incentives and boosting the number of recruiters by one-third to entice men and women to join the active-duty Army, National Guard and Reserve, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey said on Saturday.

The service missed its recruiting mark by more than 27 percent February. It is the first time in nearly five years the regular Army fell short of its monthly goal.

“We’re going to do some out-of-the-box thinking,” Harvey told Stars and Stripes. “But I’m concerned. I’m kind of cautiously optimistic in the (active-duty) and very concerned about the (National) Guard. But we’re not going to give up.”

The secretary talked about recruiting and various other issues after meeting with wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. He visited the hospital after wrapping up an eight-day trip overseas that also took him to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Recruiting has become a top priority for the Army as it tries to bring in 80,000 new soldiers — 3,000 more recruits than last year — by the end of this fiscal year in September.

Signing up more troops will largely fall on recruiters, who must convince men and women to join even though violence in Iraq has claimed more than 1,500 American lives.

They will have some help.

The number of recruiters will rise from 9,000 to 12,000 in the field, Harvey said. The Army also will offer higher enlistment bonuses to new recruits.

Although the war in Iraq has hurt recruiting, Harvey noted that retention in the ranks is high.

“The retention is a good story and that’s important because it’s end strength that counts,” he said. “It’s a combination of recruiting and retention.”

The Army’s efforts to reshape its forces to better fight future wars and conflicts will help keep soldiers from leaving, Harvey added. In the near future, soldiers should have a better idea when they will deploy.

Under current plans, active-duty units would be deployed one year and stay home for two years before deploying again. National Guard troops would be deployed for a year and then not deploy for five, while Reserve soldiers would deploy for one year and then stay home for at least four years.

“We’re migrating to that and it’s intense right now,” he said. “But that will relieve the stress on the force and the intention is to do that in the next four years.”

Soldiers also will stay at bases longer. Many troops and their families move from base to base every two to three years.

“So we can say to a family you’ll be at a certain base for seven years,” Harvey said. “You can plan on that. It’s predictable. The kids will be in school and you can be a member of the local community.”

The predictability of deployments and longer tours at a home base will also help recruiting, he added, but the key to bringing in more soldiers is convincing Americans the importance of military service.

“We’ve got to emphasize the value of service. I mean, we the leaders, Congress, business people have got to say, ‘Serving the country is a noble thing to do. Preserving the peace and freedom of the country is a noble thing to do.’”