(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Times are extremely difficult for the US Army command because its leadership has resorted to seemingly desperate and panicky measures to reverse a painful downfall in recruitment, including unexpectedly ordering some soldiers to be turned into recruiters.
The US Army has been compelled to urgently assign some non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to recruiter training with less than a fortnight’s notice before they are due at Fort Knox, confirmed Lt. Gen. Douglas Stitt, the Army’s personnel chief.
This action was a direct response to an unexpected deficit of volunteers needed to fill 800 positions at the US Army Recruiting & Retention College by year’s end, The Daily Caller reports.
Lt. Gen. Stitt said the shortage necessitated immediate orders. Some NCOs might have been informed as soon as the previous Friday.
To populate the upcoming class, the Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) has relaxed entry criteria and introduced impromptu incentives.
“We discovered recently just looking at the class of non-commissioned officers coming out, rotating out of Recruiting Command and what was projected to go in the losses exceeded the gains,” Stitt conveyed.
“In order to maintain momentum that we’re seeing within the recruiting force that we’re starting to set the conditions for transformation we made a last-we made the decision this week to bump up the numbers,” the officer added.
He also expressed regret for the abrupt nature of these orders.
“I’d like to first of all apologize to the soldiers and the families that received this last-minute notification. That mistake is mine,” he stated.
Stitt emphasized that USAREC is committed to not hastily filling positions but will engage with soldiers and their superiors to accommodate any personal or professional constraints that could impede a soldier’s ability to relocate on short notice.
While Stitt did not specify the precise errors that led to the predicament or its detection time, he acknowledged overlooked absenteeism of NCOs from an earlier recruitment course.
“Where we saw some changes in our forecasting due to some errors I take responsibility for those. Those errors have been fixed,” he asserted.
For the immediate future, USAREC aims to enlist 400 students for the course beginning November 6 and another 400 in December, consisting of both volunteers and those assigned involuntarily.
Stitt acknowledged the existence of just three volunteers so far.