Originally posted by: shinerburke
Originally posted by: Zebo
Cads saying he would join if they needed him. Well he says they don't need him now but I say go down and ask those who are doing the needing. They tell you yup. Have you in and out of meps withing the week and probably in bagdag in 6 mo. Fastest professional job hire ever.
Since you obviously missed my post earlier in this thread...
FY 2003 Turning Into a Banner Recruiting Year
From here
Jun 15 2003
One thing about the enlistment process that many people don't understand are military recruiting goals. Most people assume, because of the "War on Terrorism," and the War in Iraq, that the military services would be stepping up recruiting efforts to increase the size of America's military force. They are then surprised to learn that they may have to wait six months to a year to go on active duty.
That's because the military (Department of Defense) has absolutely no say in the size of the military. Each year, when Congress passes the annual Military Appropriations Act, they tell the Department of Defense exactly how many people can be in uniform in each military service. This number has not increased (significantly) in the past several years, and probably won't increase under the current administration (Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has gone on record many times, stating that he believes the size of our current military is sufficient).
So, how does the military set their recruiting goals? Each year, a certain number of people get out of the military. Maybe they simply finish their terms and get out, or they retire, or they are medically discharged, or they are first-termers who wash out of training. The military services are able to (pretty well) forecast the number of people who are getting out of the military each year, and establish "recruiting goals" to replace those who are forecasted to leave the service.
The military services recruit on a "Fiscal Year." That means they set a certain goal (number to recruit) beginning on 1 October of each year, and lasting through 30 September of the following year. This year's "recruiting year" (Fiscal Year 2003) began on 1 October 2002, and terminates on 30 September 2003. The services cannot (significantly) exceed these goals. If they meet their recruiting goals for the Fiscal Year, they must either stop accepting applicants or (more likely) get a "head start" on the next Fiscal Year by enlisting applicants into the Delayed Enlistment Program (DEP), to go onto active duty sometime after 1 October 2003 (which would be FY 2004).
FY 2003 Enlisted Recruiting Goals:
Army: 73,800
Air Force: 37,000
Navy: 41,077
Marine Corps: 38,914
The Navy originally started the year with a recruiting goal of 48,000, but quickly reduced the goal because of an unexpected upswing in re-enlistments (if fewer people get out, then fewer replacements must be recruited).
All of the services have met their recruiting goals for the past two fiscal years, and all expect to (easily) meet them again this year. In fact, as of May 18th (2003), the Air Force had already signed up 98 percent of the recruits that they need for the entire fiscal year, and are now focusing on signing up recruits for next fiscal year (plus a few this year to replace those who drop out of the DEP before going onto active duty).
The Army wanted to have 33,960 of their goal signed up before the end of March, but ended that second "quarter" of the fiscal year with 34,222.
The Marine Corps doesn't count recruits until they actually ship out to boot camp. As of March, the Marines have already sent more than half of their fiscal year goal to Marine boot camp.
In fact, the only services which are currently (slightly) behind are the Army Reserves and the Army National Guard. For the first quarter of the fiscal year, The Army Reserve signed up 98 percent of its goal (short 182 soldiers) and the Army National Guard 86 percent of their goal (short 2,107 soldiers).
Your inner voice has a point Hero ... maybe you should listen to it 
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