- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
U.S. Army will allow recruits to sign up for just 15 months of active-duty
service, rather than the typical four-year enlistment, as it struggles
to lure new soldiers amid the Iraq war, a general said on Thursday.
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- Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, U.S. Army Recruiting Command
head, also said this was "the toughest recruiting climate ever faced
by the all-volunteer Army," with the war causing concern among potential
recruits and their families and the economy offering civilian job prospects.
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- America abolished the draft in 1973 during the tumult
of the Vietnam War era and has since relied on a military made up exclusively
of volunteers.
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- Rochelle said the Army this week expanded nationwide
a pilot program in place since October 2003 in 10 cities offering recruits
the option of a 15-month active-duty enlistment.
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- In a conference call with reporters, Rochelle expressed
concern about a recent spike in recruiting improprieties. The Army said
this week it will suspend recruiting on May 20 tocounsel its 7,545 recruiters
on ethics.
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- The Army is examining allegations recruiters offered
to help people cheat on drug tests or get phony diplomas. In a recent incident
in Texas, a recruiter threatened a 20-year-old man with arrest if he did
not get to an interview at a recruiting station by a given time.
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- "Some of the incidents were flying just below my
radar," said Rochelle, who acknowledged the stress experienced by
recruiters who work nearly 80 hours per week to attract new soldiers.
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- Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith said
as of April 29, the Army had fielded 480 allegations of improper conduct
by recruiters in fiscal 2005 beginning Oct. 1. So far, there have been
91 substantiated improprieties, with eight recruiters relieved and 98 recruiters
admonished, Smith said.
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- A NEW OPTION
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- The Army said some young people might want to serve the
country but do not want to dedicate the amount of time required by the
normal four-year active-duty enlistment.
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- They will be offered the option of serving 15 months
on active duty after completing their training, and then two years in the
part-time Army Reserve or National Guard. The soldier then would spend
nearly seven years in the Individual Ready Reserve, which requires no training
and until recently was rarely mobilized, or serve in a program like the
Peace Corps.
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- Rochelle said he was "cautiously optimistic"
the active-duty Army, now 16 percent behind its year-to-date goal, would
reach its goal of 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2005, which ends on Sept. 30.
It has missed its recruiting targets the past three months, falling short
by a whopping 42 percent in April.
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- He sounded less optimistic about the Army Reserve, currently
21 percent behind its year-to-date goal, saying achieving its annual goal
was "not completely foreclosed."
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- Rochelle predicted a rough 2006 fiscal year. He said
while the Army entered fiscal 2005 with about 18 percent of the year's
goal met by recruits who had already committed to enlist, the figure will
be about 9.9 percent next year, the lowest number in memory.
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- The Army has taken other steps to try to lure recruits,
including increasing by 5 years to 39 the maximum age for enlisting in
the Army Reserve and launching a new ad campaign.
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- The 15-month enlistment pilot program was in place in
Albany, New York; Columbia, South Carolina; Miami; Raleigh, North Carolina,
Cleveland, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Sacramento,
California; Mission Viejo, California, and San Antonio, Texas.
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