Friday, January 25, 2008

More Recruiting Woes for the Army

The National Priorities Project has released its annual study of military recruitment. As one would expect, things got worse in 2007, the fifth year of a dispiriting war.

The decline in the quality of recruits continues. Where the goal is that 90% of recruits will have graduated from high school, in 2007 only 70.7% did; this is worse than 2005 (83.5%) and 2006 (73.1%). Another recruiting goal is that two-thirds of recruits will pass the Armed Forces Qualification Test as well as have graduated from high school; only 44.6% did in 2007. This is less than 2006, which, in turn, was less than 2005 (56.2%).

All of this costs us money in recruiting ($4billion a year) and training. Despite enlistment bonuses of as much as $40,000, the quality is just not there. What happens when an organization settles for second best, especially when the second best is armed?

Bring back the draft!.

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