In a 1st since '95, Marines miss recruit tally
Officials say war danger might be affecting quotas
By Eric Schmitt
New York Times News Service
Posted February 3 2005
WASHINGTON -- For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps in January missed its monthly recruiting goal, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's effect on the armed services.
The struggles of the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard to recruit and retain soldiers have received national attention in recent months. But the failure of the Marines, which historically has had the luxury of turning away recruits, is a potential problem for the service.
The Marines missed their January goal of 3,270 recruits by 84, less than 3 percent. They last missed a monthly goal in July 1995, and 1995 was also the last full year in which the corps fell short of its annual recruiting quota, said Maj. Dave Griesmer, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina, said, "It's most troubling because the Marines tend to attract people who are the most macho, seek the most danger and are attracted by the service most likely to put them into combat."
Senior Marine personnel officials say that one month is hardly a trend, that the Marine Corps is slightly ahead of pace for the fiscal year beginning last October and that they fully expect to meet their overall goal for the year. But senior officers acknowledge that the drop in January and close calls in November and December could be linked to the widely publicized risks in Iraq.
"Do Iraq and Afghanistan have an impact? Yes," said Brig. Gen. Walter Gaskin, the head of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command. "But I am very optimistic we will meet our goal overall."
Army tells its troubles
On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, senior Army officers warned of worrisome recruiting trends and told of steps they are taking to address them. Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, the chief of the Army National Guard, told the House Armed Services Committee that the Guard was retaining many of its top soldiers but failing to meet recruiting goals. In January, he said, the Guard met only 56 percent of its quota. Both the National Guard and Army Reserve are increasing the number of recruiters in the field, officers said.
Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said the Guard struggled to staff its second and third rotations for the Iraq war but still met the call for troops, The Associated Press reported.
He told House members he was confident the Army again will be able to fully staff its next troop rotation, but he added, "It will be painful."
Later, when pressed by lawmakers to explain, Cody said, "That's probably a poor choice of words." Still, he said, according to the AP, that "we will have to address this" if the Guard continues to operate "at this level of commitment" in Iraq because many of those troops are nearing the end of their second consecutive year of active duty and, therefore, must return home.
Of the 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, nearly 50 percent are from the Guard and Reserve. The figure is supposed to drop to 30 percent for the next rotation, beginning this summer.
In a reflection of the difficult market for Marine recruiters, the service is offering bonuses of up to $30,000 to retain combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan rather than relying on replenishing its ranks with troops from boot camp. About 75 percent of enlisted Marines leave the service after their first tour.
Although the Marine Corps is straining to meet its recruiting targets, the Air Force and Navy are flush with recruits and are actually shrinking their overall ranks. Military personnel experts say there are indications that young people interested in joining the military may be turning to the Air Force and Navy, which have suffered relatively few casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. In contrast, the Marines make up about 21 percent of the fighting force in Iraq but have suffered 31 percent of the military deaths there, according to Pentagon statistics.
"It's not surprising that the Navy and Air Force would be doing just fine," said historian Kohn. "Kids getting a start in the military will migrate to the physically safer services, and it seems to them that they'll get more technical training there."
Corps has pool of recruits
Gaskin, the corps' recruiting chief, said that despite missing January's goal, which was first reported by ABC News on Tuesday night, the Marines are in no danger of running out of recruits for boot camp. Because of strong recruiting last year, the Marines entered the current fiscal year having already signed up 52 percent of the 2005 quota, he said. Typically, a recruit is sent to boot camp several months after signing an enlistment contract.
The Marines are devising recruiting strategies and offering signing bonuses of $2,000 to $5,000 for specialized jobs, like linguists and avionics technicians.
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