Despite the relative success of a new program to help aspiring soldiers meet eligibility requirements, the U.S. Army will again “fall short” of its annual recruitment goals, according to Defense Department officials.
While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on May 2, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said: “The chief [of staff] and I set a very ambitious goal of 65,000 new recruits this year, and we are not going to make that goal. We are doing everything we can to get as close to it as possible, but we are going to fall short of that.”
In October, the Army announced that it had missed its recruitment target for 2022 by 25 percent—or 15,000 soldiers—making it the worst recruitment year on record since the start of the all-volunteer force 50 years ago….