Pace: Army can tap delayed-entry pool to bolster recruiting numbers

[lebkuchen]

The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that Army officials can use recruits in the delayed-entry pool to reach their yearly recruiting goal if recruiting shortfalls continue.

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“The Army has enough capacity in delayed entry programs to fill in this year if needed,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace said. “The real problem then is that the pool for next year doesn’t get replenished.”

But the active Army began fiscal 2005 with far fewer recruits in the Delayed Entry Program because it pulled from the pool to reach its fiscal 2004 goals.

Army recruiters prefer to begin a fiscal year with at least 25 percent of their recruitment goal banked.

But as of Oct. 1, 2004, when the government’s fiscal 2005 began, the Army had just 18 percent of its 2005 goal total in the program, he said.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=29764

[merwin]

1. Isn't the DEP full of underage kids?

[Nordmadr]

2. For the most part, as I recall, yes.

It is typically full of high school seniors who are enlisting but can't go until after school is out, or enlistees that do their basic training between their Junior and Senior years and then go for the rest of their training upon graduation.

Olaf

[Rose Siding]

3. So how will they cover the major loss that shows up in 4-6 months?

If the trend holds, delayed entry will continue to decline too.

Fuzzy math.

[gratuitous]

11. Farmers used to call it "eating your seed"

That is, you were supposed to raise enough of your crop not only to feed your family, but also to save to seed the next year's crop. A farmer who didn't raise enough to plant for the next year had eaten his seed, and wasn't going to be a farmer for very long.

[BR_Parkway]

4. Damn, more deficit 'spending' by this administration - don't they

ever learn?

[Straight Shooter]

5. Apparently cooking the books has escalated to broiling the books.

Do these guys ever listen to themselves?

[Hobarticus]

6. So we're yanking kids out of high school, now?

I have a couple friends with kids in DEP, and they're still in high school.

Oh yeah, this'll go over well.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. hmmm yep this is a good sign really

:sarccasm:

[MissB]

8. Why does this seem like the last drastic measure

before a draft? It has to be bad if they're yanking kids out of high school to increase their numbers.

[Boomer]

9. Is this for real?

>> On Friday, the Defense Department announced that 45,333 soldiers have re-enlisted since last October, 103 percent of the goal for this point in the fiscal year. <<

I keep reading accounts about soldiers -- even career soldiers who LIKE the military -- getting out instead of re-enlisting.

What's really going on, then?

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Outsource or draft, it's the only way.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. Seems to me that's a one-time scam

All it means is they tap into the numbers of those who have enlisted but have delayed entry, mostly because of high school or other immediate concerns. I went in under this program in '73.

Once they count them, they can't do it a second time unless they intend to count them twice.

[lebkuchen]

14. AND once in the program, one can get out

How does someone get out of the Delayed Enlistment Program?
While Delayed Enlistment Program recruits have incurred a legal obligation to the military, getting out of the Delayed Entry Program is simple: write a letter requesting separation that fully explains why the recruit is unable or unwilling to serve. If there is more than one reason, explain them all.

What kinds of reasons are acceptable?
While the military defines specific separation categories, as long as the recruit states clearly that he or she is no longer interested in serving in the military almost any reason is acceptable. Despite occasional threats of involuntary activation from recruiters, the military currently releases all Delayed Entry Program recruits who request a separation.

The military's list of discharge categories includes: conscientious objection (a belief that it is wrong to take part in war); pursuit of higher education or vocational training; civilian job opportunity; erroneous enlistment or recruiting error; failure to graduate high school; family issues (marriage, children, hardship or dependency); homosexual conduct; medical or psychological disqualifications; personal problems; failure to report for active duty; and, a catch-all "other."

http://www.objector.org/girights/delayed-enlistment-program.html#anchor399195

Think those loop holes will be closed anytime soon, a "stop loss" for the Deployed Enlistment Program, if you will?

[Pinboy]

15. And there's always the "Apathy Discharge"

A fiction invented by imaginative recruiters to convince a prospective enlistee that if he didn't like the service, he could quit and get out at any time with an Apathy Discharge.

I suspect that would be DD Form Catch-22 . . .

[Pinboy]

13. Iraq War: Deficit Spending AND Deficit Recruiting

Is this a great country, or what?!