Posted on 09/04/2023 11:59:37 AM PDT by CodeToad
WASHINGTON – A remedial course designed to prepare potential Army recruits for basic training will become a permanent part of the service’s strategy in overcoming its sagging enlistment numbers, officials said.
The Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course was launched at Fort Jackson, S.C., in August 2022 as an experiment to help young Americans qualify physically and academically for military service. With higher obesity rates in America and fewer young people qualified to meet the Army’s entry standards, the service hoped the course would give those who don’t qualify much-needed time and training to get in shape. Service leaders said the yearlong test has worked.
The Army said it has had a 95% graduation rate from the prep course since the program started, a figure that service leaders called “an overwhelming level of success.” The results led the service to open the course at a second base — Fort Moore, Ga. — earlier this year. Officials said further expansion is possible.
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The success of the course comes at a time when the Army has faced substantial obstacles in recruiting. The service is aiming to sign 65,000 new recruits in fiscal 2023, which ends Sept. 30, but officials have already said they will come up a few thousand soldiers short. All branches of the military have encountered recruiting challenges, largely because fewer than 25% of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 can meet the requirements to join the military, according to Pentagon data.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said recently that the service will bring in more soldiers in 2023 than it did in 2022, when it enlisted about 45,000 new recruits against a goal of 60,000. Wormuth said the total for 2023 will be between 50,000 and 55,000 recruits.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
...I could not agree with you more....!! Saaayyyy..wasn’t Fort Jackson one of the Army installations that underwent a recent name change.....now Fort Obama or something like that...??
(BTW....a proud United States Air Force retiree here.....)
In any endeavor, military or not, the raising of standards will attract more applicants/recruits.
ROTFL! An Army first. We’re scrapin’ the bottom of the barrel now. Didn’t even have to do this when we had the draft. The U.S. Army looks like the cafeteria at the U.N. at lunch time. Or maybe the Star Wars Cantina scene. Now we know why the Ukies are kick the Russkis asses. They’re going to kick our asses next if the Red Chinese or North Koreans don’t get to us first.
aka Dead-Start. Take a piece of meat with two eyes and turn them into an Army recruit. LOL.
John Candy was a genuinely funny guy. Chris Farley, not so much.
Farley falls into the lazy late-SNL tactic of screaming so the audience laughs nervously. The only guy who could pull that off was Sam Kinison.
....remember that Army recruiting slogan from some decades back.....
“Be all you can be!” ..........yeah....sure.....
Public schools are working exactly as planned.
Sad.
5.56mm
You can bet the first thing they cover in this recruit Dead-Start Program is helping them determine their correct “unassigned” gender so the proper adjustments can be made to their “mess kit”.
Ain’t no use in looking down, ain’t no discharge on the ground.
Ain’t no use in looking back, Jody’s got your Cadillac.
Sound off 1 2, sound off 3 4...
5.56mm
Not a bad idea to reduce stress injuries.
This is not "our" military, except in the sense that we have to pay for it.
It will never be used to protect us. It will very likely be used against us.
“Kindergarten for Basic Training. Is there a ribbon for that?”
Ya had to mention it. Juuuust great! There willllll beeeee noooow.
I retired with 30 years starting with than wonderful "Police Action" called Vietnam. When someone thanks me for my service I ask the same question you have Brother.
“Drug use, criminal history, financial problems ( presumably debt), and other factors barred them. That said, the security clearance background check by the FBI is only a “ recommendation “, if the skill set was really needed, the person could be employed by the agency or contracting agency….( standards dropped).”
I know of no one who has had a clearance denied. Not a single person, and a few that definiately should have.
“Adapt, Move or Suicide, one of three.”
No “fight back”?
“Prep? I came out of basic in worse shape than when I went in.”
No kidding! Same here! I went into basic hitting the base gym 5 days a week for 2-4 hours a day. I left basic hungry for a gym.
“OK, so maybe not Chinese invasion.”
If I were the Chinese I would just sit back and watch the rot happen. We’re doing it faster to ourselves than they could ever do it.
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