The Army's Answer to a Lack of Recruits is a Prep Course to Boost Low Scores. It's Working
FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — Index cards taped to a large board on the wall at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, reveal the sometimes blunt and gritty reasons that new recruits took a chance at a last-ditch program to get into the Army. “Eviction notices motivate me,” one said. Others talked about getting free college, a […]
Army and Navy Prep Courses May Be a Recruiting Crisis Silver Bullet. But Other Services Aren't Interested.
The Army and Navy had early recruiting successes with new pre-basic training programs aimed at helping subpar applicants qualify for enlistment, but so far other service branches are reluctant to follow their lead. “I would offer the answer is ‘no,’” Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrhein, who oversees recruiting for the Air Force and Space Force, told […]
Prep Courses, Policy Tweaks Largely Drove the Military's Recruiting Success in 2024
After years of negative recruiting news and headlines, all the military branches managed to eke out wins this year and meet their recruiting goals — largely aided by new programs and policies that allowed them to sign up recruits who would have been disqualified in previous years. However, despite the wins this year, between ambitious […]
Army Expanding Pre-Basic Training Prep Courses to Bring in More Soldiers and Curb Recruiting Crisis
The Army is again dramatically expanding its pre-basic training courses that were created to get young Americans into compliance with the service’s enlistment standards, as those courses are becoming key to curtailing the ongoing recruiting slump. The Future Soldier Preparatory Course’s capacity will grow from nearly 18,000 to 23,500 this year, according to data provided […]
