Today's Focus:
Fiscal Year 2009 Recruiting Success
SENIOR LEADERS ARE SAYING
"The recruiting force is highly trained and motivated. They will continue to meet challenges this country places on them. The greatest take-away from our success is not the numbers or the mission, but it’s the commitment. We continue to have a long line of individuals who are willing to serve their country."
- Lt. Col. Ron Walls, chief of the strength and maintenance division at the National Guard Bureau
Army, Air Guard Reach End-Strength Goals
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Year of the Noncommissioned Officer
"Education in the key. Everyone has a talent. You just need to find out what yours is."
- Staff Sgt. John Okumu, a logistics NCO, who hails originally from Kenya, at the Kitgum High School surrounded by curious Kenyan teens eager to learn more about the American sergeant who spoke their language. Okumu is among the first U.S. Soldiers setting up operations for Natural Fire 10, a multi-national partnership exercise held in Uganda.
Soldier inspires teens in Uganda
INFORMATION YOU CAN USE
- Early Bird News Site
- Information Papers with "2009 Army Posture Statement"
- Stories of Valor
- Army Public Affairs Portal
- Strategic Communication Coordination Group (SCCG) Workspace
- 2009 Strategic Communication Guide - Read the 2009 Army Strategic Communication Guide for key messages and updates
CALENDAR
2009 Commemorations :
Year of the NCO
Year of the Military Family
100th Anniversary of the Chaplain Assistant
October 2009
Army Domestic Abuse Prevention/Awareness Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
National Depression Education and Awareness Month
Energy Awareness Month
Sept. 15 - Oct. 15: National Hispanic Heritage Month
TODAY'S FOCUS
Fiscal Year 2009 Recruiting Success
What is it?
The Department of Defense (DOD) announced on Oct. 13, that in fiscal year 2009 (FY09) the Active Army achieved its fourth consecutive year of recruiting success and that the quality of Army recruits exceeded standards. The Active Army had 70,045 accessions, making 108 percent of its 65,000 goal. The Army National Guard had 56,071 accessions, making 100 percent of its 56,000 goal, and the Army Reserve had 36,189 accessions, making 105 percent of its 34,598 goal.
What has the Army done?
The tremendous work of recruiters, the "Army Strong" advertising campaign, and Soldiers telling their personal Army stories to prospective enlistees generated strong enlistment results for the Active Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard throughout FY09- the eighth year the nation has been at war.
In addition to achieving its FY09 recruiting mission for quantity of enlistees, the quality of Army recruits was strong. The Army measures recruits' quality by the percentage who have high school diplomas (or equivalent), the percentage who score average or above on the military aptitude test, and the percentage who score below average. The Army (and DOD) standard is 90 percent, 60 percent, and no more than 4 percent.
FY09 recruit quality results exceeded the DOD/Army standard in all three Army components:
Regular Army:
- Diploma 94.66 percent; Test score average or above 66.33 percent; Below average score 1.53 percent
Army Reserve:
- Diploma 97.02 percent; Test score average or above 63.19 percent; Below average score 1.33 percent
Army National Guard:
- Diploma 94.32 percent; Test score average or above 75.73 percent; Below average score 1.02 percent
Why is this important to the Army?
To sustain the world's greatest land power in an era of persistent conflict there's no mission more important to the nation's all-volunteer force than recruiting. It is a critical factor in assuring deploying units are at or near full strength. Recruiting also is crucial to addressing the Army's overarching challenge of being out of balance. A mission capable force is needed for contingencies other than the current conflicts and for types of missions other than irregular warfare.
What's the way ahead?
FY10 recruiting is starting strong. More than 30,000 people already are in the "entry pool" of enlistees slated to ship to basic training in the coming months. The recruiting effort will include addressing needs in specific occupational specialties, such as Special Forces, medical personnel, foreign language speakers, and electronic maintenance. There's also a need for officer candidates, especially for: ordnance, transportation, quartermaster, chemical, signal, air defense, adjutant general, field artillery, and engineer.
Resources:
U.S. Army Recruiting Command Web site
Support Army Recruiting
Go Army Officer Program
Related article: Army, other services have record recruiting year
Related STAND-TOs!:
STAND-TO! Edition August 3: The Army's New 'Officership' Recruiting Campaign
STAND-TO! Edition October 5: Update on Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest Pilot Recruiting Program
STAND-TO! NEWS
ABOUT THE ARMY
- Army easily exceeds FY 2009 recruiting goals (Army Times)
- Fallen Korean War chaplain considered for MoH (Army Times)
- Army leaders detail commitment to Family Covenant (The U.S. Army)
- Commentary: Reintegration not just for adults (The U.S. Army)
- Opinion: Stop military suicides (Orlando Sentinel)
- Study finds stresses high on Army wives during deployments (The Fayetteville Observer)
OVERSEAS OPERATIONS
- U.S. military says Afghan force numbers no secret (The Washington Post)
- Troops to Afghanistan: Logistics may be tougher than the politics (Time)
- Afghan corruption worries McChrystal (NPR)
- Biden no longer a lone voice on Afghanistan (The New York Times)
- Inouye embraces McChrystal strategy (Politico)
- Sway over Afghan insurgents proves elusive (The Washington Post)
- Newly trained counter-IED teams deploy to Afghanistan (The U.S. Army)
- U.S. seeks to ease Pakistanis' concerns before Obama signs aid bill (The Washington Post)
OF INTEREST
- A historic success in military recruiting (The Washington Post)
- Droves of recruits to ease burden on troops (The Washington Times)
- VA to ease burden of proof requirement for some Agent Orange rulings (The U.S. Army)
- U.S. sees Saudi program as an option for detainees (The Washington Post)
- Iraq vets exposed to chemical at water plant (San Francisco Chronicle)
- AKO 'Go Mobile' to give users virtual desktop in backpack (The U.S. Army)
- Opinion: Let gay Soldiers serve (Chicago Tribune)
WORLD VIEW
- Gordon Brown to send more British troops to Afghanistan (The Guardian)
- Russia snubs U.S. on Iran sanctions (Al Jazeera)
- 'No change' to Pakistan aid bill (BBC)
- Al-Qaeda in crisis amid cash shortage (London Daily Telegraph)
- U.S. rethinks Afghan aid strategy (The Financial Times)
- Maybe we can buy our way to victory in Afghanistan, says general (London Times)
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SOCIAL NETWORKING