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The Army Beat Its Recruitment Goals This Year by Targeting Students in Debt

Leila Ettachfini

“Debt is a form of social control. You can force people to do all kinds of things if you put them in debt first."

Leila Ettachfini / VICE - The U.S. Army has already achieved its recruiting goal this year, after falling short about 6,500 recruits in 2018. At the Pentagon this week, the head of Army Recruiting Command Maj. Gen. Frank Muth attributed the success to America’s crippling student debt crisis.

While the Department of Defense’s 2019 budget is $686 billion, that number is less than half of the collective student debt in America, which surpassed $1.5 trillion this year. “One of the national crises right now is student loans, so $31,000 is [about] the average,” Muth told reporters. “You can get out [of the Army] after four years, 100 percent paid for state college anywhere in the United States."

Local Efforts Towards Military Counter-recruitment in Boston

Bonnie J. Caracciolo

Bonnie J. Caracciolo, Chelsea Uniting Against the War (CUAW) - On September 9, 2019 members and supporters of Chelsea Uniting Against the War (CUAW) greeted students on their way to school. CUAW was there to inform students about their right to opt out from having their personal information given to military recruiters.

Since 2001 and the No Child Left Behind Act along with the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act- both which provided for the presence of military recruiters in middle- and high-schools - young people have become vulnerable targets.

The group distributed over 1000 leaflets describing the facts about military enlistment including information on homelessness among veterans along with other serious issues. One in ten homeless people in the US is a military veteran. (2019) Additionally, 150 opt out forms were handed out.

Chelsea High School is in a mostly immigrant, working-class neighborhood near Boston, MA. Current enrollment is 1,335 students in 9th through 12th grade.

Each of the activists spoke to several students who knew about the opt out forms and had already signed them.

U.S. Army Tries New Recruiting Tactics After Missing Targets

Ben Kesling

Largest branch of military struggles in a strong economy; a pilot program in Chicago

Sgt. 1st Class Jose Tejada speaks to a class of Junior ROTC students about what life is like in the U.S. Army for new recruits. PHOTO: JOSHUA LOTT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Ben Kesling, Wall Street Journal - CHICAGO —The U.S. Army is experimenting with new recruiting tactics as it struggles to connect with young people who have other job options in a strong economy.

Last year the nation’s largest military branch recruited just under 70,000 troops, about 10% short of its target of 76,500, which marked the first time in a decade the Army missed its goal. For this fiscal year ending in September, they met a more-modest goal of 68,000.

Experts say the military’s appeal has been waning among young people, and a tight labor market is typically the toughest time to recruit.

In a pilot program in Chicago, the Army is tailoring its message by neighborhood, adjusting advertising and staffing to match an area’s demographics. The program here is part of a push into nearly two dozen cities where the Army has missed targets in the past. Across the country, the service is tapping into market data the way corporations or political campaigns might, and it is making sure recruiters are the first ones who get issued new eye-catching uniforms.