- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
U.S. Army has slipped further behind its recruiting goals amid the Iraq
war, figures released on Friday showed, as officials developed proposals
to double cash bonuses and offer mortgage aid for enlisting.
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- The Army hopes to raise the maximum cash bonus for new
recruits to $40,000 and begin a pilot program to give up to $50,000 in
home-mortgage assistance to people who volunteer for eight years of active-duty
service, said Lt. Col. Thomas Collins, an Army spokesman.
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- These would augment incentives already being offered
to try to coax people into volunteering. The new proposals would need congressional
approval, and Army Secretary Francis Harvey already has spoken to lawmakers,
Collins said.
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- The new Pentagon recruiting figures showed that two-thirds
through the fiscal 2005 recruiting year, which ends Sept. 30, the regular
Army was 17 percent behind its goal, the Army Reserve was 20 percent behind
and the Army National Guard was 24 percent behind its end-of-May plans.
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- The Army, which provides most of the U.S. ground troops
in Iraq, had missed its fourth consecutive monthly recruiting goal in May,
officials said earlier in the week. The Pentagon had delayed release of
the detailed recruiting figures by more than a week for what it called
extra scrutiny.
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- Unlike the Army, the Marine Corps, with a smaller share
of the Iraq ground troops, exceeded its May recruiting goal and was 2 percent
ahead of its year-to-date target toward an annual goal of 39,150 recruits.
The Navy and Air Force also were on target.
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- The Pentagon said there have been 1,685 U.S. military
deaths, mostly from the Army, since the beginning of the Iraq war in March
2003.
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- 'REALLY TOUGH FIGHT'
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- Army officials have said potential recruits and their
families have been wary of service during the Iraq war, and civilian job
opportunities also are affecting recruiting.
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- "We're having a really tough fight (to recruit)
this year, and we're going to have an even tougher fight next year,"
said Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith.
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- The Army said in statement that summer months are easier
for recruiting and that it remained "cautiously optimistic" about
meeting the active-duty annual goal of 80,000 recruits. It did not offer
similar optimism about goals for the part-time Guard and Reserve.
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- An Army official said, "I think the Guard is not
going to make it" -- meaning it would miss its a second straight annual
goal -- and that "I don't think that there's a whole lot of enthusiasm"
that the Army Reserve will meet its annual goal. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because the Army had not yet made public projections
on Guard and Reserve recruitment.
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- Both the regular Army and Army Reserve last missed an
annual recruiting goal in 1999.
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- In May, the regular Army lowered its recruiting goal
to 6,700 and still missed it by 25 percent, while the Reserve missed its
monthly goal by 18 percent and the Guard fell 29 percent short.
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- The Pentagon has relied heavily on part-time soldiers
from the Army Guard and Reserve to maintain troop levels in Iraq, where
America has 139,000 troops, and Afghanistan, where it has 19,000.
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- The Pentagon said the Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve
and Air National Guard all missed their May recruiting goals.
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- The Iraq war represents the first test of the all-volunteer
military in a protracted war. Some defense analysts have argued the United
States may have to consider reviving the draft, abolished in 1973 during
the tumult of the Vietnam War.
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- "Any number of officials have talked about the merits
of the all-volunteer force and what that's done for our country. And I
see no indication of anybody taking under consideration a draft,"
said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
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