Uncle Sam Needs You: Army Doesn’t Have Enough Soldiers, Service May Not Reach 2015 Recruiting Goal

The U.S. Army was short of new recruits by nearly 10,000 men and women in 2015.

For the first time in nearly six years, the Army might miss its recruiting goal by almost 14 percent because of a strong economy and changing recruiting methods.

The U.S. Army needs 59,000 new soldiers every year to keep its commitments here at home and around the world, but recruiting becomes more difficult when the economy is good.

The Army is also becoming pickier about who it lets in, and at the same time, they are reducing signing bonuses.

The other services, Air Force, Marines, Navy, have made their recruiting goals, but the Army is still struggling to fill its quota as recruiters have failed to sign up the needed number of new recruits.

Although recruiters made 415,000 appointments with prospective soldiers this year, they were only able to enlist about 50,000.

That’s because of the change in recruiting methods.

An Army recruiting poster with the words “God and country” outraged sectarian groups earlier this year and forced an apology from the Army recruiting command.

Members of groups devoted to the separation between church and state demanded the removal of the words, saying they were unconstitutional.

The improving economy has also made it harder for the Army to fill its ranks.

Correction: #USArmy Soldiers load a M777 howitzer during ex. Wessex Storm @ Grafenwoehr, Germany, Jul 28, 2015 pic.twitter.com/RtxCuFSKAb

— U.S. Army (@USArmy) July 31, 2015

In a down economy, people are more likely to join the military because they can’t find good jobs anywhere else, but in a good economy, filling slots becomes more difficult.

That’s not the only reason the Army is struggling to fill gaps in its ranks. The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan encouraged recruiters to lower their standards, but now the service is being more selective about who it lets in.

In 2005, four percent of new recruits ranked in the lowest third on the Army’s recruitment test, but this year, a mere one percent were in that category.

New technologies signify shift in assessing #USArmy innovation, shaping requirementshttp://t.co/ZKUAAbXEYn pic.twitter.com/a0Rh3IaIOI

— U.S. Army (@USArmy) July 30, 2015

The Army is also skimping on recruitment bonuses. In 2006, the Army spent $1 billion on new recruit bonuses and $235 million in 2013, but in 2014, it only spent $117 million.

The Army is planning to reduce the number of soldiers in its ranks by about 40,000, but the service must recruit about 60,000 new soldiers every year to replace those who have returned to civilian life.

All this belt-tightening has caused the Department of Defense to chase after the same successful, highly motivated high school graduates that everyone else is chasing.

[Photo by John Moore/Luke Sharrett/Getty Images]