Will Shorter Hitches Do The Trick?

By SALLY B. DONNELLY, DOUGLAS WALLER

Anxious to shore up sagging recruiting numbers, the U.S. Army says it will offer prospects a 15-month enlistment option, instead of the usual two- to six-year hitch they're currently asked to sign. But will the shorter stint really solve the Army's recruiting woes? For one thing, those 15 months come only after the recruit has completed basic and advanced individual training, which can take another three to six months depending on the job a recruit is headed for. Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University, argues the Army should make the commitment 15 months total, coupled with generous education benefits, and market it to a group the service has largely ignored: recent college graduates looking for a character-building adventure before taking a civilian job or going to grad school. "We now graduate 1.2 million bachelor's degree students every year," he says. "If you could get 10% of them, our recruitment woes would be over."

But shorter enlistments may not be enough to attract students if the adventure still means combat in Iraq. The Army had "disappointing" results when it tried out its 15-month enlistment option in a pilot program over the past two years in 10 cities, said Major General Michael Rochelle, head of the Army Recruiting Command. He insists it was because the program wasn't advertised broadly. But even an aggressive marketing campaign by no means guarantees compensating for the shortfall of 6,600 enlistees so far this year, with next year looking not much better. Rochelle says the military is facing "the most challenging conditions we have seen in recruiting in my 33 years in this uniform." -By Sally B. Donnelly and Douglas Waller