Thursday, September 30, 1999
Military steps up recruiting as goals fall short
BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Facing a shortage of soldiers and sailors, the nation's military recruiters are under new orders: Drop and give us several thousand ... recruits, that is.
To meet that goal, recruiters are visiting area schools and using TV commercials.
Over the past year, Navy officials brought in an additional 50 recruiters to work the local district, which covers Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and two-thirds of Indiana.
In addition to sign-up bonuses ranging from about $2,000 to $12,000 for up to six years of training, and television ads across the country, local Air Force officials are doubling efforts at college fairs as they wait for more officers.
Local Army officials are still planning their own form of attack on the problem.
Only the Marines Corps has kept up with its goals and escaped the national recruitment problem whose blame, experts say, lies in a booming economy and better access to college for their potential recruits.
As of today, the end of the fiscal year, the Army nationwide lacks 7,000 enlistees of the 74,500 it needs. The Air Force is short 1,500 to 1,800 of its target of 33,800. Navy officials say they are on par with goals, though the Navy lowered its goals from last year.
“I've been out here since March of 1996, and there's a great difference in the attitudes and the interest,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Dave Hartman, recruiter for enlisted programs for Greater Cincinnati.
“Nowadays it seems like more and more people right out of high school have become certified in some type of training and are getting excellent jobs right out of high school,” he said.
Recruiters are seeing another big difference in this generation: fewer young people whose parents served in the military.
“You used to be able to sit around the table, and your dad had been in Korea and World War II and talked about the benefits of being in the military, the discipline and those kinds of things,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Roger Foley, commander of the 338 Recruiting Squadron that runs from Toledo to Northern Kentucky and includes parts of West Virginia.
“There's not as much of that today, and that's a concern to us.”
Family influence is the reason 18-year-old Mark Bragalone decided to sign up with the Air Force at the Sharonville recruiting office this week.
“It was the positive results from my family,” he said. “I just started thinking, I can
save money while I'm in the service and can go to college while I'm in the service ... But I do have friends shying away from it because they don't have anyone telling them about it.”
The fiscal year ending today is the first one in which the local Air Force squadron missed its mark on recruiting goals, Lt. Col. Foley said.
The goal is for 1,278. But only 885 people have been recruited, a shortage of almost 400.
The Navy Recruiting District, Indianapolis, is on target with its goals after a year of getting 50 more recruiters in the field, said Chief Journalist Steve Lawson, spokesman for the district, which includes Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
A section including parts of Hamilton County and Northern Kentucky was at 241, down from a goal of 321 at this time last year, he said.
At the end of August, the Cincinnati North Zone was at 182, with a goal of 189. The South Zone, including Aurora, Ind., and Northern Kentucky, stood at 140, with a goal of 152.
Army 1st Sgt. Darren Sherrard at the Cincinnati U.S. Army Recruiting Company based in Covington, which covers Cincinnati, its suburbs and Northern Kentucky, said he did not have recruiting numbers available. He plans to start an aggressive advertising campaign.
“I think the biggest thing is that people just need to be made aware that the Army is in need,” he said. “It's up to us as citizens to fill that need. We're not some college football team recruiting kids to come win the game. We're recruiting soldiers to preserve our way of life.”
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