Army Meets a Recruitment Goal (lowered by about a third from '04)

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001954.html?nav=rss_politics

Army Meets a Recruitment Goal
October's Target of 4,700 Is Smaller Than It Was a Year Ago

The Defense Department opened its new recruiting year with good news: announcing yesterday that the Army met its goal for October. But officials also said that the Army lowered the October recruiting goal by about a third from last year's.

Army officials said that they recruited 4,925 soldiers into active duty in October, the first month of the new fiscal year, exceeding the monthly goal of 4,700. Last October, the Army slightly exceeded its goal of 6,935.

S. Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command, said that the discrepancy does not mean the Army is lowering its goals simply to make them. "We don't set the numbers every year by month," he said. "This just means every month this year is different than last year, and there will be some higher months."

The Army, which still hopes to recruit 80,000 soldiers during the fiscal year, plans to sign up 10,450 people in July, 10,050 in August and 9,800 in September -- months that are traditionally strong for recruitment. That means the Army is leaving 30,300 recruits -- or 38 percent of its annual goal -- for the final three months of the fiscal year

[BR_Parkway]

1. CNN did a blurb this am, had met the goal every month, then finished

with how they were short of the goal for the year!

I'm wondering if they ever actually read this stuff through before doing it on the air.

[Kolesar]

2. Remember, the military changed its recruiting-reporting method in May

...And ever since has been reporting that they met the goal. This is after a long period of missing the goal-significantly-every month.

[AndyTiedye]

3. Do You feel a Draft?