April 10, 2006

WELL, IT IS THE PERFECT WAR:

Army surpassing year's retention goal by 15% (Tom Vanden Brook, 4/9/2006, USA TODAY)

Two of every three eligible soldiers continue to re-enlist, putting the Army, which has endured most of the fighting in Iraq, ahead of its annual goal.

The Army was 15% ahead of its re-enlistment goal of 34,668 for the first six months of fiscal year 2006, which ended March 31. More than 39,900 soldiers had re-enlisted, according to figures scheduled to be released today by the Army.

Strong retention has helped the Army offset recruiting that has failed to meet its targets as the war in Iraq has made it harder to attract new soldiers. The Army fell 8% short of its goal of recruiting 80,000 soldiers in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, although it is exceeding its goal this year. Army recruiting figures for the first half of the year are to be released today.

The Army has met or exceeded its goals for retention for the past five years, records show. It was 8% over its goal for 2005, and 7% ahead of its targets for 2004. The number of re-enlistments has exceeded the Army's goal by a larger margin each year since 2001.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 10, 2006 7:26 AM
Comments

Strong retention has helped the Army offset recruiting that has failed to meet its targets as the war in Iraq has made it harder to attract new soldiers

Thank you, MSM.

Posted by: Gideon at April 10, 2006 7:52 AM

Sounds like the "broken army" isn't all that broken.

Posted by: Mikey at April 10, 2006 8:36 AM

The reported news is positive.

My informants tell me that the Army is making really good offers for re-enlistments right now, with big bonuses for short terms.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Posted by: Lou Gots at April 10, 2006 3:59 PM

oj,
You might want to check out this regarding young officers.
Mike

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/washington/10army.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=e302c78ef39fdd7c&hp=&ex=1144641600&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

Posted by: Mike Daley at April 10, 2006 9:22 PM

With good NCOs, which the American military has in spades, it's not that critical that we retain young Lieutenants. (LT j.g., for you Navy vets).

If they don't like it, or can't handle it, it's better that they do get out.

In the Army, at least, platoon leaders aren't critical, they're just in training to be company commanders - who are critical.
A good platoon sergeant runs the platoon anyway, and has at least eight years' experience, and usually twelve or more.

Posted by: Michael Herdegen [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 11, 2006 4:07 AM
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