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:

<a href=" http://www.usarec.army.mil/" target="_blank"> U.S. Army Recruiting Command Web site</a>

<a href=" http://www.2k.army.mil/" target="_blank"> Support Army Recruiting</a>

<a href="http://www.goarmy.com/home/officership/index.jsp'iom=F693-OFFI-R1NA-07012009-08271-OFFICER" target="_blank"> Go Army Officer Program</a>

Related article: <a href="http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/10/14/28725-army-other-services-have-record-recruiting-year/index.html" target="_blank">Army, other services have record recruiting year</a>

Related STAND-TOs!:

<a href="http://www.army.mil/standto/archive/2009/08/03/" target="_blank">STAND-TO! Edition August 3: The Army's New 'Officership' Recruiting Campaign</a>

<a href="http://www.army.mil/standto/archive/2009/10/05/" target="_blank">

STAND-TO! Edition October 5: Update on Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest Pilot Recruiting Program</a>