Army hits recruiting goal, yet still undermanned

The Army will meet its end-strength goal of 547,000 this fiscal year, three years earlier than first planned, but that still won’t be enough to meet operational demands, a senior official said.

The Army needs to grow by at least 30,000 more troops to meet current demand, Army Undersecretary Nelson Ford said Tuesday. An end-strength of close to 580,000 is needed to meet the demand, he said.

As brigade combat teams draw down in Iraq, thousands more “enablers,” or support troops in high-demand, low-density specialties will still be needed to meet missions still underway.

“As the BCTs come down, it means you have more people spread thin and you need more logistics, more aviation, controls and communications,” Ford said. As Army undersecretary, “I don’t do demand, I do supply. The only other option [to growing the force] is lower demand,” he said.

OYE Comment: In Wall Street terms, if a publicly traded company low-balls on their annual revenue growth goal their stock will still take a beating even if that goal is met. In this instance it is not shareholders that are aggrieved, but over-deployed troops instead.

Hmmm....wonder if all the recently graduated College Republicans have been able to find employment yet? A job with a signing bonus, great vacation time in the first year, a 401K (TSP), opportunity for advancement, and excellent health insurance?