The U.S. military has struggled to attract recruits in a tight job market, where companies are willing to pay more and provide good benefits.
Updated: 16 minutes agoFILE - Airman 1st Class D'elbrah Assamoi, from Cote D'Ivoire, signs her U.S. certificate of citizenship after the Basic Military Training Coin Ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, in San Antonio, April 26, 2023. The Army and Air Force say they are on track to meet their recruiting goals in 2024, reversing previous shortfalls using a swath of new programs and policy changes. But the Navy, while improving, expects once again to fall short.
“Right now we are 5,000 contracts ahead of where we were compared to this time last year,” Wormuth said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t want to set expectations too high right now, but I’m feeling good.” Now, with six months of recruiting under their belts — including the historically meager winter months — the Air Force and Army are optimistic they’ll meet their goals.A key success, said Wormuth, has been the Army’s future soldier prep course, which has graduated about 17,000 soldiers since it was started in August 2022, including about 5,300 so far in this current fiscal year.
Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrhein, who heads the Air Force’s recruiting, said while he’s “cautiously optimistic” about making their goal, “we cannot take our foot off the gas.” He said the service needs to keep looking at policy changes and other adjustments. Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, made clear last week that the recruiting challenges are having a direct impact on the Navy’s maritime mission. She told Congress that the Navy is about 18,000 short of the number of sailors needed for operations at sea, and about 4,000 short for shore-based jobs.
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