To help, the army has added 1,000 new recruiters since September; offered a new 15-month enlistment, instead of the previous minimum two-year term; and run new advertisements aimed at parents. The army is also considering plans to double the top cash enlistment bonuses for recruits in some specialties to US$40,000, and to begin a pilot program to provide up to US$50,000 in home mortgage help to recruits who enlist for eight years of active duty.
The quality of recruits is a delicate issue for the army, which halted recruiting for a day last month to review practices after some recruiters were found to have broken or bent rules to meet quotas.
According to an army spokesman, Bryan Hilferty, in the first eight months of this fiscal year, 10 percent of the recruits the army accepted earned a high school diploma by passing the General Educational Development, or GED, test, instead of graduating. For all of 2004, the army accepted 8 percent of applicants without a high school diploma. In addition, the army has so far recruited roughly 800 recruits -- about 2 percent of all enlistees -- who are deemed category 4, the lowest level.
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