Military enlistment down

The ongoing U.S. military conflicts in the Middle East are taking a toll on military enlistment, said an army official Tuesday, making February the first month since May 2000 that recruiters failed a monthly recruitment mission. "We knew it was going to be a difficult recruiting year," said Douglas Smith, public affairs officer at the U.S. Army Recruiting Command headquarters at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Despite the Army running into recruiting difficulties for the 2005 fiscal year, the ROTC program at SIUC has not experienced the same problems. "You don't see us out on campus asking for everybody, because we're not looking for everybody," said Lt. Col. James Shutt, who has worked with the University's ROTC for four years. "I'm looking for scholars, athletes and leaders." Shutt said that enrollment in the ROTC program has remained steady because they recruit students who plan to become officers.

"We had an opening enrollment this fall of 106, and that is on par with every other year I have been here," Shutt said. ROTC member Amanda Gusik, a senior from Fox River Grove studying advertising, said she has noticed that more people have been motivated to be there and serve their country now that the United States is involved in the war on terrorism. In fact, 9/11 was one of the motivating factors for her to join ROTC.

"I knew I wanted to help and wanted to be here," Gusik said. In contrast, recruiters had a mission of recruiting 7,050 nationally, but only achieved 5,114, which has put them behind their monthly goal by 27 percent. The recruitment deficit in February single-handedly put the Army behind their year-to-date mission by 6 percent for active recruits. The reserve recruitment was also behind by 15 percent in February and 10 percent for the year, Smith said. The Army Recruitment Office in Carbondale declined to comment on its own local recruitment efforts.

Smith blames the lull in recruiting on the ongoing war on terrorism and the improving economy. Recruiters have had to work harder to assure applicants that they will still go through extensive training and that joining doesn't guarantee deployment.

"Potential applicants and parents are showing hesitation because of the fact we have soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan," Smith said. "We have to reassure that enlisting today doesn't mean deployment tomorrow," Smith said. The Army also took steps to encourage potential applicants to join, such as increased benefits. The Army College Fund, for those who sign on for five or six years, was increased from $50,000 to $70,000. In addition, the cash enlistment bonuses were increased, said Smith.

Another program created to expand the number of eligible recruits was to raise the maximum age. Those interested in joining the Army must be at least 17 years old. However, the maximum age was changed from 34 as of March 18, when the Army announced the increase to 39. The change is effective immediately and will continue until Sept. 30, 2008.

Part of the recruiting problem stems from the fact that the Army's recruiting mission was increased by 4,500 for the 2004 fiscal year. "We had to scramble to get those additional recruits," Smith said. "We are only now getting enough recruiters for that recruiting goal." The Army will have increased the number of active recruiters by 23 percent to 6,400 and reserve recruiters by 37 percent to a total of 1,270 by the end of April, Smith said.

"We've spent 2005 trying to catch up," Smith said.