Unemployed? Don't count on the military

[Modbert]

Unemployed? Don't count on the military - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- Friday's government report showing a rise in unemployment shines a light on a new hurdle facing young people in need of work: The military isn't the reliable source of employment that it used to be. The Army and Marine Corps are getting smaller, and now there's a nearly year-long waiting list just to get into boot camp, no matter which branch you want to join.

The shrinking Army and Marine Corps are part of a long-planned reduction in the size of the armed forces.

But the backlog for enlistees is a new issue. Incoming recruits will spend quite a bit of time before they see a Pentagon paycheck.

"Some may take a year or slightly longer, the typical new enlistee would probably be somewhere between 9 and 11 months," Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith wrote in an e-mail.

Can anyone currently in the military or recently retired comment on the validity of this? I found this article to be very interesting.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Ever since the military went all volunteer they have been raising standards year by year. They went to mandatory High School Diploma years ago, and then they added a competency test on top.

One of the benefits of all volunteer is the ever rising standards.

Maybe in a few years they might even require a year of jr college courses.

 

[daveman]

Unemployed? Don't count on the military - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- Friday's government report showing a rise in unemployment shines a light on a new hurdle facing young people in need of work: The military isn't the reliable source of employment that it used to be. The Army and Marine Corps are getting smaller, and now there's a nearly year-long waiting list just to get into boot camp, no matter which branch you want to join.

The shrinking Army and Marine Corps are part of a long-planned reduction in the size of the armed forces.

But the backlog for enlistees is a new issue. Incoming recruits will spend quite a bit of time before they see a Pentagon paycheck.

"Some may take a year or slightly longer, the typical new enlistee would probably be somewhere between 9 and 11 months," Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith wrote in an e-mail.

Can anyone currently in the military or recently retired comment on the validity of this? I found this article to be very interesting.

Recently retired, but I wasn't at a training base, nor did we have any new troops in my directorate. Our enlisted were a couple of E-6s and all the higher enlisted ranks. Sorry -- can't help.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Unemployed? Don't count on the military - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- Friday's government report showing a rise in unemployment shines a light on a new hurdle facing young people in need of work: The military isn't the reliable source of employment that it used to be. The Army and Marine Corps are getting smaller, and now there's a nearly year-long waiting list just to get into boot camp, no matter which branch you want to join.

The shrinking Army and Marine Corps are part of a long-planned reduction in the size of the armed forces.

But the backlog for enlistees is a new issue. Incoming recruits will spend quite a bit of time before they see a Pentagon paycheck.

"Some may take a year or slightly longer, the typical new enlistee would probably be somewhere between 9 and 11 months," Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith wrote in an e-mail.

Can anyone currently in the military or recently retired comment on the validity of this? I found this article to be very interesting.

Doesn't sound right to me. The last I heard the Marines were lagging behind their recruiting goals. That was when the economy was doing better though, so I would not be surprised if it has changed.

Regardless, score high enough on the ASVAB and watch how quickly they can get you into boot camp.

 

[Trajan]

Unemployed? Don't count on the military - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- Friday's government report showing a rise in unemployment shines a light on a new hurdle facing young people in need of work: The military isn't the reliable source of employment that it used to be. The Army and Marine Corps are getting smaller, and now there's a nearly year-long waiting list just to get into boot camp, no matter which branch you want to join.

The shrinking Army and Marine Corps are part of a long-planned reduction in the size of the armed forces.

But the backlog for enlistees is a new issue. Incoming recruits will spend quite a bit of time before they see a Pentagon paycheck.

"Some may take a year or slightly longer, the typical new enlistee would probably be somewhere between 9 and 11 months," Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith wrote in an e-mail.

Can anyone currently in the military or recently retired comment on the validity of this? I found this article to be very interesting.

Doesn't sound right to me. The last I heard the Marines were lagging behind their recruiting goals. That was when the economy was doing better though, so I would not be surprised if it has changed.

Regardless, score high enough on the ASVAB and watch how quickly they can get you into boot camp.

true but the marines have stopped taking anyone with dependents, I am not sure how long thats been going on, but I have been told its fairly recent.....the air force will not take anyone with more than 2 dependents.....the army still has a failry open policy.

and yes score high you can get in.

 

[Wiseacre]

From stripes.com, the Stars and Stripes website. Which is the military's news media. Going forward it's going to depend on the cuts in defense spending, the endstrength of the 4 branches will be affected, and that's TBD. Haven't heard about the long waiting times, the services have a limited number of slots every month for how many slicks they can bring in and train. Hard to believe it would be that long unless they got a humongous backlog of applicants.


All branches meet military recruiting goals
By Dan Blottenberger
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 14, 2011
Each of the U.S. military’s service branches met its active-duty recruitment and retention goals for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, the Department of Defense said.

“We are very proud that our all-volunteer force can still be successful in a wartime environment,” Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army’s Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky., said Thursday.

Through December the Army surpassed its first quarter goal of 14,100 by 433 recruits, with the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force all meeting their recruiting goals or exceeding them. The Marine Corps Reserve surpassed its goal by the largest percentage with 116 percent, pulling in 2,637 recruits, 71 more than its goal.

Smith said the Army is proud of its recruiters’ ability to convey war stories effectively enough to aid recruitment.

When asked if he thought the economy was a factor, Smith said it had “a small amount to do with it ... but not a major impact.”

The four active-service branches met or exceeded their fiscal year-to-date retention goals, while the National Guard and reserve components were within “acceptable limits,” according to a DOD news release. The only branch to not meet its first quarter goal was the Air National Guard, which missed its goal of 1,564 by eight recruits.

The Army’s active-duty recruiting goal in 2010 was 74,500; that number dropped more than 7,000 in 2011. The Navy’s recruiting total increased by more than 700 in 2011 to 37,300. The Air Force active-duty recruiting goal for 2011 is 27,816, slightly less than its 2010 goal of 28,363, and the Marines goal for 2011 is 31,500, an increase of 3,500 from 2010, according to the recruiting commands for each service.

 

[American Horse]

Unemployed? Don't count on the military - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- Friday's government report showing a rise in unemployment shines a light on a new hurdle facing young people in need of work: The military isn't the reliable source of employment that it used to be. The Army and Marine Corps are getting smaller, and now there's a nearly year-long waiting list just to get into boot camp, no matter which branch you want to join.

The shrinking Army and Marine Corps are part of a long-planned reduction in the size of the armed forces.

But the backlog for enlistees is a new issue. Incoming recruits will spend quite a bit of time before they see a Pentagon paycheck.

"Some may take a year or slightly longer, the typical new enlistee would probably be somewhere between 9 and 11 months," Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith wrote in an e-mail.

Can anyone currently in the military or recently retired comment on the validity of this? I found this article to be very interesting.

Doesn't sound right to me. The last I heard the Marines were lagging behind their recruiting goals. That was when the economy was doing better though[...]

October of 2010 the USMC was reaching 111 percent of it's recruitment goals; similarly for 2009. That would indicate a backlog of billet openings and a waiting list for entrance at the MCRDs. The corps announced it was also discontinuing all waivers.

 

[Salt Jones]

This happens every time the economy is bad. They start enforcing all the rules that can get people kicked out. When the economy get's back on track and people civilian jobs the military will relax rules and beg people to join.

 

[Cimerian]

Back when I joined in 91 it took me about 10 months to get into boot camp. Not sure what the long waiting period was back then though I wasn't paying attention to anything that wasn't wearing a skirt. I doubt the back log is anything new though. It's probably up some just due to the recession but really a year to wait doesn't strike me as odd.