After a slip in 2005, Army meets recruiting goal with eight days to spare

WASHINGTON — The Army is ending its best recruiting year since 1997 and expecting similar success in 2007, despite the weight of grim war news from Iraq, Army Secretary Francis Harvey said Thursday.

In an interview, Harvey said the Army would enlist its 80,000th soldier on Friday, reaching its goal for the year with eight days to spare. That is a considerable turnaround from last year when the Army missed its target for the first time since 1999 and by the widest margin in more than two decades.

At the start of this recruiting year, which began Oct. 1, 2005, many questioned whether the Army would reach 80,000, given the many alternative career options available to young people and the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war. But a package of new financial incentives, new recruiting approaches and a bigger recruiting corps did the trick.

Recruiters are making more use of the Internet, and the Army this year began allowing people as old as 42 to enter the service; the maximum age previously was 35.

The Army also has accepted a larger number of recruits whose score on a standardized aptitude test is at the lower end of the acceptable range, and it has granted waivers to permit the enlistment of people with criminal records that otherwise would disqualify them. The Army says it does not grant waivers if there is a pattern of criminal misconduct or for convictions of drug trafficking or any sexually violent crimes.

It is too early to know the final number for the current recruiting year, which ends Sept. 30, but Harvey said it would be the highest in nine years. Last year the Army fell short of its goal by the widest margin since 1979.

The trend in recruiting is particularly important for the Army because it is striving to expand its overall ranks. The expansion is fundamental to an Army plan that increases the number of combat brigades available for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby giving soldiers more breathing room between overseas tours.

The Army secretary said combat brigades now get, on average, only 14 months at home for every 12 months at war. The goal is 24 months at home for every 12 months at war.

By the end of the budget year on Sept. 30, the active-duty Army expects to have a total of nearly 504,000 soldiers, up from 492,000 a year ago. A year from now it hopes to reach its goal of 512,000, but that will not happen if recruiting slips again.