Despite War, Military Recruitment Remains High

When the war on terrorism began, fears sprang up that people would stop volunteering for military service, thus requiring reinstatement of the draft. Not to worry, say Department of Defense officials, who report that both new volunteers and re-enlistments continue at a “vigorous rate.”

Despite predictions to the contrary, Americans are continuing to volunteer for the military, and those already in are re-enlisting at a vigorous rate.

Early in the war on terrorism, many critics predicted the United States would have to return to the draft to man the forces. But in this 30th year of the all-volunteer force, the military continues to meet recruiting and retention goals.

"It's really too early to see what effect Operation Iraqi Freedom will have on recruiting, but the most recent statistics are encouraging," said Maj. Sandy Burr, a Pentagon spokeswoman. Burr said the Department of Defense is making all quality and quantity goals. "We are exceeding the DOD benchmark for percentage of high school graduates and the percentage of people in the upper half of the (armed forces entrance exam)."

Service officials point to hard work by recruiters as the key to the success, but they also say increased patriotism as a result of the war on terror and a bleak economic picture in many areas also may play a role in attracting young people to the military.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are all on course to make year-end recruiting goals. The Air Force made its recruiting goals for fiscal 2003, enlisting 37,000 new airmen. This was the fourth year in a row it met its goal.

Retention also is up across the services. This is true especially of servicemembers making the choice to re-enlist following their first term in the service.

Air Force "first-termers" re-enlisted at a 60-percent rate. Service officials were shooting for 55 percent.

Complicating the retention picture, however, is the end of the Stop-Loss program. The program, which stops separations and retirements in critical specialties during war or crisis, has been lifted. However, Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Stephens said the service has not seen the mass departure many predicted when Stop-Loss ended.

In all cases, military leaders are not taking anything for granted. They continue to push to get the best, most qualified people in the service. [Air Force press release]

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