WASHINGTON — The Army has ordered a one-day halt in recruiting activities nationwide to address complaints about aggressive tactics used by military recruiters as they struggle to meet monthly goals, Army officials said yesterday.

The order for a recruiting "stand down" comes in the midst of a significant recruiting slump, blamed on the Iraq war, in which the Army has missed its active-duty recruiting goals for the past three months.

The personnel shortfalls have placed increased pressures on recruiters to meet monthly quotas, drawing attention to incidents in which recruiters have forcefully gone after prospective enlistees.

In recent incidents, one recruiter threatened a prospect with prison time for not keeping an appointment; another provided a possible enlistee with laxatives to help him lose weight and pass a military physical; and recruits were instructed how to cover up instances of drug use, according to news reports.

Schools and parents have complained about recruiters aggressively pursuing teenagers in class and at home.

Army spokesman Col. Joseph Curtin said the decision was made to give recruiters a day to "focus on how they can do a very tough mission without violating good order and discipline."

Commanders of each unit will go over proper procedures with their subordinates, clearly establishing which recruiting tactics are off limits. The stand down will affect all 7,500 Army recruiters at 1,700 recruiting stations nationwide, officials said.

The decision to call the stand down was made by Maj. Gen Michael Rochelle, head of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. The stand down date will be May 20, said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for Army Recruiting Command.

Smith said the Army was investigating 480 allegations of improper conduct by Army recruiters this fiscal year.

The Army has missed its monthly recruiting targets from February to April, and at the end of last month it was 15 percent off the pace to hit its annual target of 80,000 recruits for this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

The lackluster figures also have hit the Marine Corps, which in April missed its fourth straight monthly recruiting goal.

Senior generals in both services say recruiting is not at a crisis point, but they are leaning heavily on recruiters to reverse the downward trend.

"Nobody will deny it's a high-pressure job," Curtin said.