[Senate Hearing 110-503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 110-503
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON MILITARY RECRUITING
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL
of the
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JANUARY 31, 2008
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services
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COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
CARL LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia JOHN WARNER, Virginia,
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
JACK REED, Rhode Island JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
BILL NELSON, Florida SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
EVAN BAYH, Indiana ELIZABETH DOLE, North Carolina
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York JOHN CORNYN, Texas
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
JIM WEBB, Virginia MEL MARTINEZ, Florida
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
Richard D. DeBobes, Staff Director
Michael V. Kostiw, Republican Staff Director
______
Subcommittee on Personnel
E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska, Chairman
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
JIM WEBB, Virginia SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ELIZABETH DOLE, North Carolina
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
__________
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES
Oversight Hearing on Military Recruiting
january 31, 2008
Page
Bostick, MG Thomas P., USA, Commanding General, U.S. Army
Recruiting Command............................................. 4
Kilkenny, RADM Joseph F., USN, Commander, Navy Recruiting Command 9
Vautrinot, Brig. Gen. Suzanne M., USAF, Commander, Air Force
Recruiting Service............................................. 13
Tryon, Maj. Gen. Richard T., USMC, Commanding General, Marine
Corps Recruiting Command....................................... 17
Britton, SSGT James M., USMC, Active Duty Recruiter.............. 32
White, MSGT David B., USAF, Active Duty Recruiter................ 32
Brummer, MCPO Travis P., USN, Active Duty Recruiter.............. 32
Webb, SFC Ricky Lee, USA, Active Duty Recruiter.................. 32
(iii)
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON MILITARY RECRUITING
----------
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Personnel,
Committee on Armed Services,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:33 a.m. in
room SR-232A, Russell Senate Office Building, Senator E.
Benjamin Nelson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Committee members present: Senators E. Benjamin Nelson,
Webb, McCaskill, and Chambliss.
Committee staff member present: John H. Quirk V, security
clerk.
Majority staff members present: Gabriella Eisen, counsel;
and Gerald J. Leeling, counsel.
Minority staff members present: Diana G. Tabler,
professional staff member; and Richard F. Walsh, counsel.
Staff assistants present: Jessica L. Kingston and Ali Z.
Pasha.
Committee members' assistants present: Frederick M. Downey,
assistant to Senator Lieberman; Andrew R. Vanlandingham,
assistant to Senator Ben Nelson; Gordon I. Peterson, assistant
to Senator Webb; Stephen C. Hedger, assistant to Senator
McCaskill; Jennifer Cave, assistant to Senator Warner; Lenwood
Landrum, assistant to Senator Sessions; Mark J. Winter,
assistant to Senator Collins; and Clyde A. Taylor IV, assistant
to Senator Chambliss.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR E. BENJAMIN NELSON, CHAIRMAN
Senator Ben Nelson. Good morning. The subcommittee will
come to order.
Senator Graham, the ranking member of this subcommittee, is
unable to be with us this morning and so Senator Chambliss has
graciously agreed to take his place today. This brings back
very pleasant memories. I was the ranking member when Senator
Chambliss was the chairman of this subcommittee. We worked very
well together then as a team and I know we will continue to do
so. Thank you for being here today, Senator.
Our hearing today is focused on military recruiting.
Recruiting and retention is the core of this subcommittee's
business and successful recruiting is critical to the continued
success of the All-Volunteer Force. Everything that we do on
this subcommittee is designed to care for our servicemembers
and their families. Our goal is to make military service an
attractive option to all young Americans and a desirable career
for those who choose to serve and continue to serve.
I welcome our witnesses here today. We're privileged to
have on our first panel the commanders of each Service's
recruiting command: Major General Bostick, the Commanding
General of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command; Rear Admiral
Kilkenny, Commander of the Navy Recruiting Command; Brigadier
General Vautrinot--I hope I said that close.
General Vautrinot. ``VOE-tri-noe,'' sir.
Senator Ben Nelson. ``VOE-tri-not,'' ``VOE-tri-noe.''
--Commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service; and Major
General Richard Tryon, Commanding General, Marine Corps
Recruiting Command. We're delighted to have all of you with us
this morning.
Our second panel consists of military recruiters and I'll
introduce them when their panel is seated following the
testimony of the first panel.
Recruiting is a challenging duty even in the best of times.
These are not the best of times for our military recruiters.
I'm aware that the pool of young Americans from which our
recruiters recruit is shrinking. Only about three of ten young
Americans are qualified for military service for varying
reasons, including medical conditions, criminal records, lack
of education, and low aptitude test scores. Declining high
school graduation rates and obesity are national issues that
directly impact the national security of the United States
because they limit those who are eligible to serve in the
military.
We also face a significant challenge in recruiting medical
officers, which we need in order to provide for our troops. I
understand that all Services have met their Active Duty
recruiting goals last year and that they're doing well so far
this year. But I know that this has been a particularly tough
time for the Army, and I'll be interested in hearing about the
experiences from all the Services.
I know the Army has increased the number of waivers for
such things as medical conditions and criminal convictions. I
also believe that the Army is accepting more enlistments of
soldiers scoring in category 4 of the Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). We'd certainly be interested in
hearing more about this.
This subcommittee has and will continue to be responsive to
your requests for legislation to achieve your recruiting
mission and I hope that you'll let us know if there is anything
else that you need from Congress to make your mission a little
easier.
Senator Chambliss, perhaps you have an opening statement.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR SAXBY CHAMBLISS
Senator Chambliss. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It's
an honor to be here with you once again at the head of the
table at this important hearing of the Personnel Subcommittee
on military recruiting. Senator Graham asked me to fill in for
him. He's otherwise occupied with a military hero and expresses
his regret to you and to our witnesses that he could not be
here. But I'm certainly glad to be with our members of the
Armed Forces who are in charge of making sure that we continue
to have our fair share of the very finest young men and women
that America has to offer in every branch of the military.
I enjoyed our partnership during the 108th Congress, when I
was chairman and you were ranking member. We had a lot of good
times and accomplished an awful lot of positive things. We also
paid an awful lot of attention then, as you have done since, to
our men and women of the Armed Forces who have sacrificed so
much and have performed so magnificently in the global war on
terrorism.
The changes we helped bring about during those 2 years were
many and included substantial pay raises and increased bonuses
for military personnel, reform of the survivor benefit plan to
eliminate the old two-tier system for payment of benefits,
elimination of many of the barriers to the concurrent receipt
of both military retired pay and veterans disability
compensation, expansion of TRICARE coverage to reservists;
significant increases to servicemembers' group life insurance;
and other benefits for the survivors of these brave men and
women who die while serving on Active Duty.
I recall our field hearings at both Robins Air Force Base
in Georgia as well as Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where
we heard directly from military spouses and families about the
challenges they encounter in their daily lives. As you, I, and
Senator Webb know, the families make just as many sacrifices as
the men and women who serve on Active and Reserve duty.
I congratulate you and Senator Graham for continuing that
tradition and also on the enactment of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which was signed into
law a few days ago, and for the many benefits and improvements
in quality of life for servicemembers, including the landmark
bipartisan legislation to aid wounded warriors and their
families.
I join you in welcoming the witnesses today and look
forward to hearing from these senior leaders and from the line
recruiters on our second panel. I assure our witnesses that I
and all the members of this subcommittee appreciate your
challenge. We place enormous value on your efforts in
sustaining the All-Volunteer Force or, as you have said in your
written statements, the All-Recruited Force.
I conclude my remarks here, but I do want to thank each of
you and all members of your recruiting teams for the sacrifices
and dedication you bring to this vital mission.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
Senator Webb, do you have some comments?
Senator Webb. Mr. Chairman, I have a conflicting hearing on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We have a full
committee hearing this morning with respect to the situation in
Afghanistan. But I wanted to come down here and reaffirm not
only my support, but also my very deep interest in these
issues.
Speaking of military families, I grew up in the military.
My father was a career military officer. I spent many years
working on these issues inside the Pentagon. We have a strong
interest on our staff in working toward different sorts of
analysis to try to ensure that we get the highest quality of
people coming into our military with the most efficiency.
I'm going to have to leave here in a few minutes, but I'm
leaving two staff members behind and I would ask consent if we
could submit a series of questions at the end of this hearing
that we could get responses to.
Senator Ben Nelson. Without objection.
Senator Webb. We look forward to working on these issues in
some detail in the future.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator. Thank you for being
here. I think we all understand conflicts. We have to be at two
different places at the same time and try to do that. Thank
you.
I think what we'll do is we'll just go ahead and start with
General Bostick and we'll move this direction with this panel,
and the next panel we'll move the other direction, if that
would meet with your satisfaction.
General Bostick?
STATEMENT OF MG THOMAS P. BOSTICK, USA, COMMANDING GENERAL,
U.S. ARMY RECRUITING COMMAND
General Bostick. Good morning, sir. Chairman Nelson,
Senator Chambliss, and distinguished members of this
subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity today to talk about
Army recruiting. I also want to thank you for all of your
support throughout this past year on the many initiatives that
we have to attract the best young men and women to our Army.
I'm very proud of our soldiers, our civilians, and our
families that are involved in the recruiting mission, both
within my command and outside of my command. As you pointed
out, the All-Volunteer Force is actually an All-Recruited
Force. The mission of manning this force is one that is not a
challenge just for the Army, but a challenge for our Nation.
We continue to face an environment that is marked by
decreasing influencer support and the lowest propensity to
serve in two decades. Nonetheless, last year the Active Army,
the Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard combined to
enlist 170,000 soldiers during a persistent period of conflict.
This is the size of the entire city of Fayetteville, NC, or
Newport News, VA. I'm confident that we will again achieve our
mission this year and in so doing we will strive to meet
Department of Defense and Department of the Army goals for high
school diploma graduates and aptitude.
We're recruiting men and women who are raising their right
hand and volunteering to serve during a period of combat. They
will join the best Army in the world. Many will deploy and
serve in harm's way. Some of these soldiers will have General
Equivalency Degrees (GEDs). Some will have waivers. But all
will be qualified to serve in our Army.
I feel very comfortable about the soldiers in our Army. We
are very careful in who we select to serve. Some have made
mistakes in the past, but have demonstrated that they can serve
this Nation proudly. The more serious waivers go through 10
levels of decisionmaking, ultimately arriving on the desk of a
general officer to approve or disapprove that waiver.
The Army is reviewing the long-term impact of the lower
number of high school diploma graduates and the increased
waivers on the effectiveness of an Army at war. But in talking
to soldiers and drill sergeants and our Army leaders, there's a
common theme that the quality and the skills of our initial
entry training graduates remain high.
We're working several initiatives to increase our recruiter
efforts. All of our soldiers are equipped with laptop computers
and on that computer we have a system called Future Soldier
Remote Reservation System. Today, recruiters like Sergeant
First Class Webb can go into the home of a parent and a
prospect and they can sit in the confines of that home and
decide what his specialty is going to be, what his bonuses will
be. They can lock that specialty in for a period of 7 days and
buy in with the parents, the family, and friends, buy in that
decision together.
We're working hard in the area of education that you
mentioned with several programs, including one called March to
Success. Many potential soldiers that are high school graduates
and even some college students have a tough time with our test.
March to Success is a free of charge online test preparation
program that assists our prospects with the ACT, the SAT, and
the Army military tests. Over 95,000 signed up for this March
to Success program last year.
In addition to that, we instituted a tutor program, one-on-
one tutoring where we're asking the people of America, the
citizens of America, to stand up and support this Nation by
helping to tutor young men and women that are interested in
joining our Army.
We continue to develop and foster partnerships with
business and industry through a program called Partnership for
Youth Success, where our young men and women that sign up to
the military also sign up for a guaranteed interview with that
company. We want to continue to partner with America. Today we
have over 260 in the Partnership for Youth Success program.
As you pointed out, America is also challenged by an
epidemic of obesity. To address this challenge, we developed a
program called the Assessment of Recruiter Motivation and
Strength (ARMS) program, where we recognize that some young men
and women are going to be 2 to 3 percent over body fat and
we're going to bring them into the Army. As long as they meet
and can pass this ARMS test, we're going to put them into basic
training and we'll give them a year to lose the weight. We're
finding that their attrition rate is no different than the
other soldiers that we bring in.
We're going to roll out next month the Army Advantage
Program, which will provide our soldiers an opportunity to buy
a house or start a small business later on in life.
We created a Super Leads Program. Since the Super Leads
Program started, we've made over 7.6 million phone calls. Those
are phone calls that we've taken off the backs of our soldiers,
for them to have to make, and that gives them more time.
We are transforming in the way that we recruit. We've added
automation. We've changed our structure. We've looked at our
processes, all of this to help our recruiters to save time, so
that they can tell their story in the home towns across
America.
We know that our recruiters are ambassadors for the Army
and they take this responsibility very seriously. They are
committed to accomplishing the mission. They're committed to
maintaining the warrior ethos. They're committed to maintaining
their Army values and accomplishing this mission.
I look forward to the rest of the discussion today. Thank
you for the opportunity to be here.
[The prepared statement of General Bostick follows:]
Prepared Statement by MG Thomas P. Bostick, USA
Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and distinguished members of the
committee, thank you for providing me the opportunity to appear before
you today on behalf of the Army's recruiting force. I also want to
thank you for supporting our initiatives to improve incentives and
bonus programs to attract the very best soldiers. I take tremendous
pride in saying that today's All-Volunteer Force is actually an ``all-
recruited'' force and they are proudly representing our Nation
throughout the Army.
In fiscal year 2005, the Army did not achieve its regular Army
recruiting mission by accessing 73,000 of its required 80,000 mission.
Additionally, the Army achieved 19,400 of the required 22,175 Reserve
mission. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) was then reinforced
with additional manpower, resources, and incentives, and as a result,
enlisted 13,000 more soldiers for the regular Army and Army Reserve in
fiscal year 2006 than in fiscal year 2005 to achieve the 80,000 regular
Army mission and 99 percent of the 25,500 Army Reserve mission. We
built upon this success in fiscal year 2007 to achieve both the 80,000
Regular Army and 26,500 Army Reserve missions recruiting an additional
107,000 soldiers for our Army. The regular Army, Army Reserve, and
Army National Guard combined to enlist 170,000 soldiers into our Army
during a period of persistent combat. We knew what we needed to do, and
clearly made the right adjustments at the time. However, adequate
resources are not always enough to ensure success.
Fiscal year 2008 will be another challenging recruiting year. We
have the support of the total Army as we work to achieve the fiscal
year 2008 mission of 80,000 accessions for the regular Army and 26,500
accessions for the Army Reserve. These accession missions support
reaching established Army end-strength goals. We are on glide to
achieve our 80,000 accession mission for the regular Army; however, we
are slightly behind established monthly objectives for the Army
Reserve. We are aggressively working with the Army leadership to
develop the way ahead to achieve our Army Reserve mission for this
year.
We have a committed recruiting force and the necessary tools to
achieve our recruiting missions this year. We need your continued
support to help the Army mobilize the Nation behind this effort.
recruiting environment
For the first time since the implementation of the All-Volunteer
Force, we are recruiting during a period of protracted combat. Today's
recruiting environment is incredibly challenging. Less than 3 out of 10
of our Nation's youth are fully qualified for service in the Army due
to disqualifying medical conditions, criminal records, lack of
education credentials or low aptitude test scores. The Army competes
head on with industry, the economy, and with higher education for the
same high-quality youth. Today, parents and influences are less likely
to encourage their family members and other young adults to join the
military. Propensity, the desire to enlist in the Armed Forces, is at
its lowest point in two decades.
Despite the challenges in the current environment, 170,000
Americans stepped forward to enlist in the regular Army, Army Reserve,
and Army National Guard last year. In my conversations with commanders
throughout the Army, it is clear that our soldiers are proudly serving
with distinction. They are also re-enlisting in large numbers,
particularly those in combat. No amount of money would be enough to
convince them to continue to serve, if they did not believe in what
they were doing. We have the best trained, best equipped, and best led
Army in the world. Our volunteer soldiers are re-enlisting because they
believe in their Nation, they believe in their flag, and they believe
in each other. Each of these soldiers became heroes for this Nation the
day they decided to enlist in our Army.
Recent congressional incentives for recruiting such as the $2,000
referral bonus program and increased enlistment bonus caps have
provided the Army the necessary tools to attract the men and women who
want to serve our great Nation during these challenging times. There
are many good news stories that do not make it to the evening news, so
we rely heavily on important public influences, including strong
support from Members of Congress, to help us tell the Army Story. I am
confident that, with your continued support, we will continue to meet
the needs of our All-Volunteer Army.
funding
The administration, Congress, and the Department of Defense with
the Army and its senior leadership have provided Recruiting Command the
support we have asked for to accomplish our mission. Fiscal year 2008
funding levels allow the Command to satisfy all recruiter support
requirements. When additional resource requirements are identified and
made known to the Senior Army leadership, they have taken immediate
action to meet those requirements. The challenge is often one of
timing. As the environment changes, we must be able to adapt quickly.
Train-up of new recruiters and the development of new advertising, for
example, require long lead times. We must continue to improve our
understanding of the market and the recruiting environment, and
implement those actions necessary to mitigate risks to the mission.
transformation
We are constantly innovating and improving our recruiting programs
to address changes in our market. Ongoing transformation efforts within
USAREC span across four major areas: policy and process, personnel
selection and training, quality of life initiatives and force
structure. USAREC is in the final stages of an extensive force
structure transformation as a result of significant changes in market
trends and population demographics. As part of this transformation,
USAREC realigned and/or restructured its 41 enlisted recruiting
battalions and their respective boundaries.
The purpose of this realignment was to make the battalion spans of
control more consistent across the command. This corrected existing
imbalances in mission responsibilities by reducing the size of some
large battalions and added responsibility to some smaller battalions.
As a result of this realignment, four battalion headquarters were
recommended for inactivation to the Department of the Army. Three of
the inactivation recommendations were approved, with the final decision
pending.
In addition to boundary realignments, we formed a Special Missions
Brigade to handle the administration, logistics and special missions
for all subordinate brigades, so that the rest of the command could
focus on training, leading, and mission accomplishment. We formed a
Medical Recruiting Brigade to provide the necessary command and
control, and focus necessary for our five medical recruiting
battalions.
At the conclusion of these transformation initiatives, USAREC will
have five enlisted recruiting brigades consisting of 38 recruiting
battalions, a Special Missions Brigade, and a Medical Recruiting
Brigade. We believe this force structure gives us the best opportunity
to achieve our assigned missions in this challenging recruiting
environment.
quality
All soldiers serving in our Army are qualified to serve. We strive
to achieve the goals of the Department of Defense and the Department of
the Army, which are 90 percent high school diploma graduates (HSDGs),
60 percent test score category I-IIIA, and with no more than 4 percent
test scoring category IV. The Army does not accept applicants scoring
in the lowest category on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery (ASVAB), test score category V. In fiscal year 2007, the
regular Army met Department of Defense goals for category I-IIIA and
Category IV, but fell short in the area of HSDG, achieving 79 percent.
The Army Reserve met Department of Defense goals for Category IV but
fell short in the areas of HSDG and category I-IIIA achieving 86
percent and 57 percent respectively.
Field commanders are very pleased with the men and women now
serving in their formations, some of whom are not HSDGs or may have
received a waiver to serve in our Army. While the Department of Defense
goal for HSDGs is 90 percent, the national average for high school
graduation is 70 to 80 percent. In some urban areas of the country, the
graduation rate is less than 50 percent.
The Secretary of Education has called the graduation rates in this
country a ``Silent Epidemic.'' High school graduation rates are of
significant concern to the Army. Additionally, there are those who want
to serve in our formations, who have graduated from High School but
cannot pass the ASVAB. The Army has established education programs such
as March2Success and our GED Education Plus Program to provide an
academic second chance for the youth of America to give them an
opportunity to serve in our Army.
Another significant issue that is affecting recruiting is the
emerging obesity epidemic in the country. More and more of our youth
are not exercising and have poor eating habits. We have developed a
program called the Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength test
which will allow those who pass and are a few percentage points over
Army accessions body-fat standards to serve. They have up to 1 year to
lose the weight from the time they ship to Basic Combat Training. We
began this program across the country in April 2006 and initial results
indicate these soldiers are performing well and in a similar manner as
those not participating in the program.
All of the soldiers that we recruit are qualified to serve in our
Army. I have witnessed their outstanding performance first-hand during
my own deployment to Iraq, and commanders in the field are extremely
proud of their soldiers.
waivers
We have a very solid process for reviewing and approving all
waivers. We place special emphasis in carefully screening those
applicants who have been charged with a felony. Conduct waivers for
applicants with felony charges are approved at the General Officer
level. These requests are reviewed by 10 different decisionmakers to
determine whether or not it is in the best interests of our Army to
allow the applicant the opportunity to serve.
We are not recruiting hardened criminals. Those with felony
convictions made the kind of mistake that a general officer has
determined does not indicate deep rooted discipline or values issues
and the person has demonstrated that they have overcome their prior
mistakes.
We are seeing an overall increase in waivers. We believe this
increase is partly a result of changes in society, changes in policy
and our improved processing procedures. In the past few years, we
streamlined the waiver process from weeks to days, providing recruiters
with less reason to turn away applicants who need waivers and resulting
in more applicants staying with the Army enlistment process.
We conduct a very thorough examination of the facts, circumstances,
and the legal disposition of the charges prior to allowing individuals
to enlist in our Army with a conduct waiver. These men and women are
raising their hand, asking for a chance to serve their country. They
are asking to not only be a productive member of society, but are
willing to defend the Constitution of the United States on behalf of
their fellow citizens. They enter our Army, grow and mature as a result
of Army training, teamwork, exposure to Army values and to the warrior
ethos. I am confident that our process is sound and in the best
interest of the applicant, the Army and our Nation.
In our continuing efforts to define what constitutes a ``quality''
soldier, the Army is evaluating whether soldiers enlisting with waivers
perform on par with non-waivered recruits over time. We expect
preliminary results of this research effort in September 2008.
recruiter misconduct and impropriety
Recruiters are the Army's ambassadors across the Nation and hold a
position of trust with the young people and influencers in our
communities. There is a small percentage of the force that violates
that trust. As a result, we take very seriously allegations of
recruiting misconduct and impropriety. We investigate every allegation
and take appropriate action, as necessary. In fiscal year 2007, 185 of
our 8,200 recruiter force had substantiated allegations.
We have a multi-pronged approach for preventing recruiter
misconduct: starting with the recruiter selection process, a
prescriptive training program, routine standard inspections and
enforcement down to recruiter level, and reinforcement of discipline
through command information and command presence on a weekly basis. We
have instituted a ``buddy system,'' where a recruiter must be
accompanied by another recruiter when in the company of an applicant of
the opposite gender. Our leadership is required to conduct proactive
and regular discussions of Army Values and what they mean in a
recruiting environment. We also schedule an annual Army Values/Safety
Stand-down Day with all command personnel, to reinforce what it means
to be an American soldier.
Each year, our recruiters have millions of contacts with the
American public. Our ability to recruit successfully depends upon the
public's confidence in our commitment to recruiting with integrity.
medical recruiting
A very important part of our mission is to recruit medical
professionals for our Army. In 1995, the USAREC began recruiting all
medical professionals. Today, our medical recruiting force is made up
of enlisted professional recruiters, enlisted medical soldiers, and
officers from the Medical Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Specialist
Corps. We also engage both regular Army and Army Reserve health care
professionals to assist in our recruitment efforts.
We have made dramatic changes in how we execute our Medical
Recruiting mission over the past several years. On October 2, 2007, we
activated a Medical Recruiting Brigade Headquarters to provide command
and control over our five Medical Recruiting Battalions. This effort
will ensure we have the right levels of emphasis and expertise working
this critically important mission. Initial results of this
transformation have been positive. We are ahead 122 accessions compared
to our performance over the same time period last year. This remains
one of our most challenging areas, but we are making significant
progress.
We continue to work with the Department of the Army Office of the
Surgeon General to ensure the Army offers competitive benefits to
encourage today's medical professionals to explore the challenges and
rewards of Army service. We appreciate your continued support of our
medical recruiting programs.
recruiter access to schools
The No Child Left Behind Act provided Armed Forces recruiters
access to student recruiting information and the same access to
students enjoyed by colleges and prospective employers. Under current
legislation, however, the military can be singled out when students or
parents ``Opt-Out'' from having their contact information released to
the military. In the same schools, there is no opt-out option against
postsecondary schools or prospective employers receiving contact
information. In addition, there is no established timeframe for a
school to provide the student information upon request by the military
recruiting services. We have instances where schools have promised
repeatedly to provide the list, but ultimately give it to our
recruiters too late in the year to be of much use. We desire the
opportunity to tell the Army story to young adults and let them decide
for themselves whether or not service in our Army is the right choice
to help them reach their full potential. Access to our Nation's schools
and student information is critical to this effort. We need your help
to ensure all our Nation's youth have the opportunity to hear what the
Army has to offer.
conclusion
I am confident that our recruiters will maximize the resources you
have given them in order to achieve our mission. While public support
for our soldiers remains strong, we need more Americans to step forward
and serve our Nation, a nation at war. I thank you for your commitment
to assist Army recruiting, and ask for your continued support to
encourage Americans to answer our Nation's call to duty.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today and
I look forward to answering your questions.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, General.
Admiral Kilkenny?
STATEMENT OF RADM JOSEPH F. KILKENNY, USN, COMMANDER, NAVY
RECRUITING COMMAND
Admiral Kilkenny. Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of
the Personnel Subcommittee: I am extremely grateful for the
opportunity to appear today to update you on the Navy's total
force recruiting. Despite an increasing challenge in the
environment as you alluded to, sir, I'm pleased to report that
my outstanding team of 7,500 total force recruiters is
succeeding in quality and quantity.
Today we are successfully competing with America's top
employers, colleges and universities, Federal agencies, and our
fellow uniformed Services for the sharpest minds of our
millennial generation, those with the highest aptitudes and
natural leadership skills who are most likely to succeed and
excel. We're reaching out to a new generation of potential
recruits whose primary social lifestyles are experienced
through the Internet, instant messaging, text messaging, and
interactive social networking Web sites like FaceBook and
MySpace. Millennials experience the world on a global scale 24/
7. We must use modern tools and methods to reach today's youth
and let them know the exceptional opportunities awaiting them
in the United States Navy.
Military service is often not first among career options
millennials consider. Today's influencers, most of whom never
served, are often not inclined to steer them toward a military
option. We are responding to this challenge by meeting
millennials on their terms, appealing to their search for
something more, their sense of service, their spirit of
volunteerism, and their interest in the world around them.
Fiscal year 2007 marked the 9th consecutive year we met
overall Active component accession mission, attaining 101
percent of our enlisted accession goal, with 93 percent high
school diploma and 73 percent in test categories I through III-
Alpha on the Armed Forces Qualification Test. This year to date
we have attained 112 percent of the first quarter accession
goal, with 92 percent high school diploma grads and 75 percent
test score categories I through III-Alpha.
This past year we made significant progress on our number
one recruiting priority, Navy Special Warfare and Special
Operations. We made dramatic inroads in recruiting and
retaining high performing youths in our most elite programs by
hiring former SEALs and Special Operations personnel to assist
in selecting, testing, educating, and mentoring new recruits.
Requiring candidates to pass the physical screening test before
accessing them has contributed to improving the pass rate from
a historic norm of 28 percent to 78 percent in just 1 year.
A $40,000 enlistment bonus has proven an exceptional
incentive and we thank you for your staunch support for such
critical enlistment tools.
We achieved 100 percent of our Reserve component accession
goal in 2007, compared to 87 percent the previous year. Much of
the fiscal year 2006 shortfall was in ratings directly
supporting the global war on terror. By realigning the
proportion of non-prior service sailors accessed into global
war on terror ratings through our new accession training
program, streamlining our transition from the Active to the
Reserve component, and implementing a transition bonus of up to
$20,000 to convert to global war on terror ratings, we attained
115 percent of overall accession goal, 122 percent of prior
service goal, and 103 percent of new accession training thus
far in fiscal year 2008.
We've had mixed results in officer recruiting, meeting 19
of 23 Active component community goals in 2007, including all
unrestricted, restricted, and staff core goals. We've increased
our focus and taken steps to enhance our chances of succeeding
in the four remaining communities: Chaplain Corps, Chaplain
Student Programs, Naval Reactors Engineers, and Medical
Profession Student Programs.
Our number one priority in fiscal year 2008 is medical
officer recruiting. We're executing a comprehensive medical
recruiting strategy to address shortfalls in this area. Many
incentives enacted in the 2007 and 2008 defense bills will help
us keep competitive and move us forward toward sustained
success in recruiting medical professions. With the help of an
increase in the Nurse Corps accession bonus to $30,000, we are
currently 30 percent ahead of last year's very successful
recruiting season. Enhanced direct accession bonuses for
medical doctors and dentists and a $20,000 accession bonus for
medical student programs have contributed to our identifying 35
percent of our accession goals to date compared to 21 percent
this time last year, keeping us on pace to make all Active
officer accessions in fiscal year 2008.
The Reserve officer market continues to pose significant
challenges. Faced with an accession mission requirement for 72
percent prior service personnel, we achieved just 52 percent of
the overall 2007 accession mission. Accordingly, we reduced our
2008 prior service requirement to 51 percent of the accession
plan in many designators and implemented several initiatives,
such as a $10,000 affiliation bonus and 2-year mobilization
deferment, to attract prior service sailors to the Reserve
component. Thus far in 2008, we've attained 36 percent of non-
medical Reserve officer, compared to only 51 percent for the
entire fiscal year in 2007.
In Reserve medical recruiting, we've attained or selected
53 percent of our annual goal so far, compared to only 57
percent for all last year.
With your continued support, I'm confident we will be able
to continue in the successes we are currently enjoying and in
addressing existing shortfalls.
I thank you for your unwavering support for Navy recruiting
and I look forward to responding to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Kilkenny follows:]
Prepared Statement by RADM Joseph F. Kilkenny, USN
Mr. Chairman, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, I
appreciate the opportunity to appear today to offer an update on the
state of Navy recruiting, both Active and Reserve. It is an honor for
me to lead the 7,500 Total Force sailors who are dedicated to the
Navy's recruiting efforts to enlist the best and brightest young men
and women to succeed in today's Navy. I am pleased to tell you that we
are meeting our mission requirements in both quality and quantity and
we intend to continue to do so.
Recruiting for the military is a significant challenge. The Navy is
competing with private sector employers and colleges for the best and
brightest from our Millennial Generation, a generation whose outlook
has been fashioned by dramatically different technology and experiences
than that of previous generations. During childhood, this generation
witnessed acts of terrorism on American soil. Traumatizing events, such
as school shootings, combined with the persistent threat of terrorism,
have stimulated parents' natural instincts to be increasingly
protective of and more involved in their children's lives and decision
making. With the advent of the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, instant
messaging and even more recent developments like interactive social-
networking websites, such as Facebook and MySpace, Millennials
experience the world on a global scale, 24/7. They share their
experiences with, and seek information from others whom they have never
met except through virtual social networks. Their pressure to succeed
is internally focused and they are motivated to take jobs that help
people in need and make a difference to society at large. These young
men and women view education and a civilian job as the way to get
ahead. Military service is typically not on their radar screens. Most
Millennials' influencers have never served in the military and are
generally not informed about the features and many benefits of a
military career. In many cases, influencers today often paint a neutral
or sometimes negative picture of military service adding to the
challenges of recruiting this generation of young Americans. To attract
Millennials to join the Navy, it is vital that we relate to them on
their terms and appeal to their search for something more, their sense
of service, their spirit of volunteerism and their interest in the
world around them.
enlisted recruiting
Despite the many challenges, fiscal year 2007 marked the 9th
consecutive year we achieved overall Active component accession
mission, while surpassing DOD minimum recruit quality standards. In
fiscal year 2007, Navy met 101 percent of Active enlisted accession
goal, with 93 percent High School Diploma Graduates (HSDG) and 73
percent in Test Score Categories (TSC) I-IIIA on the Armed Forces
Qualification Test. So far in fiscal year 2008, we have sustained this
success, achieving 112 percent attainment of first quarter accession
goal with 92 percent HSDG and 75 percent TSC I-IIIA.
Last year, our number one recruiting priority was Naval Special
Warfare and Special Operations (NSW/NSO). These elite programs provide
some of the most demanding training in the world and require
exceptionally bright and physically fit individuals. The health of
these communities is very important to Navy's contributions to our
Nation's successes in the global war on terrorism and demands that we
place special emphasis on recruiting well-qualified applicants with the
aptitude and capacity to successfully complete the extremely arduous
training. To enhance the likelihood of candidates succeeding, we hired
former NSW/NSO personnel to assist in selection, testing, education,
and mentoring new recruits. Since the first hurdle for these recruits
is passing the Physical Screening Test (PST), we require NSW/NSO
recruits to successfully complete the PST with a passing score prior to
accession. These measures dramatically increased PST pass-rates for
recruits at boot camp, increasing from the historic norm of 28 percent
to 78 percent in 2007. The impact of the $40,000 enlistment bonus
cannot be overstated in its contribution to our success in NSW/NSO
recruiting. We would like to thank you for your past and continued
support in improving the incentive packages available to the Navy.
In fiscal year 2007, the Navy achieved 100 percent of the Reserve
component accession goal compared to 87 percent the previous year. Much
of the shortfall for fiscal year 2006 was in those ratings which
directly support the global war on terror. The traditional reliance on
prior service sailors to the meet this mission made it difficult to
meet the requirements. A mismatch exists between the skill sets and
number of personnel transitioning from the Active component to meet
Reserve component requirements. To address this challenge, Navy aligned
the mission mix to accept recruits without prior military service
through the New Accession Training (NAT) program exclusively into
global war on terror ratings. Additionally, Navy has streamlined the
procedures to transition sailors from Active component to Reserve
component. We also implemented an aggressive program that allows
transitioning sailors to receive up to a $20,000 bonus upon completion
of apprenticeship training necessary to convert to global war on terror
ratings. The enlistment incentives you authorized for our Reserve
component have been and continue to be critical to mission attainment.
Our success with the Reserve enlisted mission continues this fiscal
year. For the first quarter, we attained 115 percent of overall
accession goal, while exceeding both prior-service (122 percent) and
NAT (103 percent) goals.
officer recruiting
Fiscal year 2007 produced mixed results in the area of officer
recruiting. We met 19 of 23 Active component officer community goals,
including all unrestricted line, restricted line, and staff corps
community goals. Chaplain Corps, Chaplain Student Program, Naval
Reactors Engineers, and Medical Professions Student Programs were the
only officer communities that did not achieve annual goal. We increased
our attention to officer recruiting across the board and initiated
several programs and incentives to attract applicants in this
competitive market.
We established Medical Officer Recruiting as our number one
priority for fiscal year 2008 and are executing a comprehensive Medical
Recruiting Strategy that we developed last fall to attack shortfalls in
our medical programs. To attract quality medical and dental
professionals, a significant amount of work has been completed to
include incentives in legislation. Many of those incentives were
authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2007 (NDAA 2007), while others are in planned authorizations for 2008
legislation and beyond.
Your continued support in funding incentives that keep us
competitive with the civilian marketplace will move us toward sustained
success in the recruitment of medical professionals. The competitive
nursing market is a good example of the effectiveness of comprehensive
financial incentives for recruiting Health Professionals. The 4-year
active accession bonus was increased from $15,000 in 2005 to $20,000 in
2006 to $25,000 in 2007. Correspondingly, our Active component Nurse
Corps direct accession goal attainment improved from 55 percent to 82
percent to 103 percent in those same years.
To overcome the national nursing shortage and increasing civilian
sector competition, we increased the nurse accession bonus to $30,000
which will help sustain our success. So far in 2008 we are 30 percent
ahead of last year's very successful recruiting season. Initial
indications are that we should see similar results from the authorities
granted in NDAA 2007 to pay up to a $400,000 accession bonus for direct
accessions of medical doctors and dentists, as well as a $20,000
accession bonus for our medical student programs. To date we have
identified 35 percent of our accession goal, compared to 21 percent at
this same time last year--a direct result of accession incentives. We
are seeing similar improvement across the board and are on pace to make
all active officer accession goals in fiscal year 2008.
For Reserve officers, we achieved 52 percent of our overall
accession mission in 2007. Seventy-one percent of our accession
requirement is from communities that require prior-service experience.
That market continues to pose significant challenges since most people
leaving the Active Navy are leaving for reasons that are not relieved
by simply switching components. Recruiters are facing the same
arguments Active-Duty Commanders face when trying to retain personnel.
In fiscal year 2008, we reduced our prior-service Navy requirement to
51 percent of the accession plan, though designators that demand prior
Navy experience will continue to be challenging. Several initiatives
have been put in place to attract prior service sailors to the Reserve
component including a $10,000 affiliation bonus and a 2-year
mobilization deferment. Your continued support of legislation that
provides us with the appropriate Reserve affiliation incentives is
bearing fruit. Already in 2008 we've seen a tremendous turnaround in
Reserve officer recruiting. We have attained 36 percent of non-medical
Reserve officer goal so far in fiscal year 2008 compared to only
attaining 51 percent for the entire fiscal year 2007. Reserve Medical
Recruiting is our greatest success in fiscal year 2008 to date, having
already attained or selected 53 percent of annual goal compared to the
57 percent we accessed in all of 2007. We attribute this success to the
affiliation incentives, restructuring of our accession requirements and
a renewed focus on the officer recruiting mission.
Overall, we are cautiously optimistic that with your continued
support and the dedicated efforts that we have made in officer
recruiting, we will move towards sustainable success.
conclusion
In spite of an extremely challenging recruiting environment, Navy
recruiting is well-positioned to succeed in the upcoming year. We have
a sustainable, agile, and adaptive recruiting force dedicated to
recruiting the very best talent our Nation has to offer. We ask for
your continued support for the many recruiting incentives necessary to
meet mission requirements for our Navy, today, tomorrow, and far into
the future.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Admiral.
General Vautrinot. Am I getting closer?
STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. SUZANNE M. VAUTRINOT, USAF, COMMANDER,
AIR FORCE RECRUITING SERVICE
General Vautrinot. I go by ``V-8'' and you're welcome to
use it. [Laughter.]
Mr. Chairman, honorable members of the subcommittee: Thank
you so much for affording your Air Force the opportunity to
talk about our robust and very experienced recruiting force,
our successes, and our challenges. Mr. Chairman, as you pointed
out, we are in a tough environment and, like all Air Force
missions around the globe, our recruiting resources are
severely constrained. We continue to succeed, but in order to
do so we've had to get leaner and much more efficient.
I'm honored today to represent our Nation's smallest
military recruiting force, all volunteers, men and women like
Master Sergeant Dave White back there, who are working long
hours, each covering thousands of miles, in an environment
that's not always welcoming, with the full support of their
families every step of the way.
Air Force recruiters are creative and enthusiastic. But
more than that, they embrace the Air Force's highest core
value, integrity first. Word of mouth--recruiters telling
others exactly how it's going to be in their basic training, in
their first job; and then those recruits have an extraordinary
experience and they call home and they tell their friends and
they tell their families.
We want their training and their education to match what
their recruiters told them, and we want their positive Air
Force experience to make them want to stay. This is
perpetuation. It's what allows us to recruit and to retain
effectively.
The Air Force attracts recruits with a simple but powerful
message: We're a well-trained, highly technical force, a global
team defending the Nation in the war on terrorism, while
simultaneously executing humanitarian missions around the
globe. Above all, new airmen look forward to doing amazing
things in vital air, space, and cyberspace missions, making a
real difference to the future of their Nation.
The quality of our recruits remains far above DOD
benchmarks. Nearly 80 percent of our recruits scored in the top
half of the ASVAB last year, a number that has remained above
75 percent since 2000. Additionally, every airman enters with a
high school education or equivalent and 91 percent of our new
airmen enter without a waiver. Finally, more than 15 percent of
Air Force enlistees enter with at least a year of college
credits, a clear indicator that we're attracting a mature and
well-educated young American.
Recruiting Service recruits a diverse, high quality
volunteer force to fill jobs that are vital to accomplishing
our Air Force's worldwide mission and despite as high as a
fourfold increase in requirements for Air Force hard-to-fill
categories, such as our Special Operations. Fundamentally,
every single opening for combat controller, pararescue,
survival, evasion, resistance and escape, our explosive
ordnance disposal, our tactical air control parties working
with the Marine Corps and the Army, and our linguists, every
job filled for 7 years.
After all this is accomplished, despite the fact that the
likelihood that Americans will serve their country has dipped
to its lowest point in decades, as General Bostick and Admiral
Kilkenny have pointed out, but also the likelihood that
parents, teachers, coaches, and clergy will recommend military
service has significantly dropped. Moreover, as you mentioned,
nearly three-quarters of America's youth do not meet basic
eligibility standards. Finally, an increasing number of
communities and high schools are less likely to welcome
recruiters. Still, your Air Force recruiters succeed.
We are making adjustments in health professions recruiting
and we expect to be able to hurdle challenges in this area. To
do that, we've carefully looked at where we've been successful
and have adjusted to play to those strengths. First, we've
decided it's more effective to grow our own physicians,
dentists, and nurses, specifically student-based accessions. We
are focusing our recruiters and our core efforts in areas where
colleges and universities feed to medical, dental, and bachelor
of science nursing schools. We will fill both our student-based
and fully qualified health professional accessions using the
incentive programs your committee has so generously supported.
Thank you. The Air Force Chief of Staff has directed that next
year's health professions incentives will reflect this
adjustment.
Moreover, recruiting has teamed with the Air Force's
medical community and now has career field champions--
experienced medical professionals in each one of our core
specialties that pair and partner with recruiters as they go to
conventions and schools. The recruiter is able to talk about
the benefits of the Air Force and the health professional is
able to talk about the specific benefits, the higher education,
the specialized residency, in their medical professions.
These changes are critical to the care and sustainment of
our Nation's military members, highlighted by the fact that
over 8,000 Air Force medical officers have deployed in support
of the global war on terrorism.
Unique to Air Force Reserve component recruiting is the
fact that they're primarily a local force, uniting the civilian
and the military work forces. Their units, many in your
communities, take time to build, and as the Guard and Reserve
respond to the BRAC and the Total Force Initiative and embark
on new highly-skilled missions in intelligence, space,
cyberspace, medical support, and other areas in communities
across the country, it takes time to find the right people to
put in the right place.
Transformation initiatives will be effective in the mid-
April timeframe and this should serve as a positive turning
point in the Air Force's recruiting efforts, particularly
officers.
The bottom line is your Air Force total force recruiting
team continues to bring in quality men and women because it
matters. We recruit to retain, so we recruit the brightest
candidates possible, then provide them with tough, highly
technical training so that they, America's Air Force, can help
secure the future of this great Nation.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of General Vautrinot follows:]
Prepared Statement by Brig. Gen. Suzanne M. Vautrinot, USAF
Mr. Chairman and honorable members of this committee, I want to
thank you for affording the Air Force an opportunity to discuss its
robust recruiting mission. It is with great pride that I represent the
world's finest Air, Space, and Cyberspace Force and all of the airmen
who are engaged every day in the joint fight providing rapid response
during conflicts and humanitarian relief across the world.
As the Air Force transforms to a leaner and more agile force to
meet today's global challenges, our recruiters continue to succeed in
their primary goal of finding the right people with the right skills at
the right time.
active component recruiting
The Air Force exceeded its enlisted recruiting goal in 2007 for the
8th consecutive year, and for the 77th straight month.
Since 2000, the Air Force has enlisted 258,166 airmen against a
goal of 254,753 for 101 percent of mission accomplishment. For 2008,
the active-duty requirement is 27,800 and the Air Force is well on its
way toward meeting its goal for the 9th straight year.
The quality of our recruits remains significantly above Department
of Defense benchmarks in all primary indicators, consistent with the
high Air Force standards of the last two decades. Seventy-nine percent
of our enlistees scored at or above the 50th percentile on the Armed
Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test last year, a number
that has remained above 75 percent since 2000. Additionally, every
single Air Force accession enters the service with at least a high-
school degree or an equivalent education. Furthermore, 91 percent of
our recruits enter without requiring a waiver for moral, drug, or
criminal issues. Finally, more than 15 percent of all Air Force
enlistees entered with more than a year of college credits last year--
nearly a 30-percent increase from 2001.
Recruiting Service continues to recruit a diverse, high-quality
volunteer force to fill jobs vital to the Air Force in accomplishing
its worldwide mission. Our hard-to-fill, critical warfighting career
fields are always at the forefront of this effort. Over the last 7
years, despite increased requirements in all Air Force ``special ops''
categories, every single opening for Combat Controller; Pararescue;
Tactical Air Control Party; Explosive Ordnance Disposal; Survival,
Evasion, Resistance, and Escape; and Linguist has been filled. Congress
has provided assistance to these hard-to-fill positions in the way of
an initial enlistment bonus ranging from $1,500 to $13,000, depending
on the job and length of enlistment. No other job skills enlistment
bonuses are offered.
Officer recruitment programs, with the exception of our medical
career fields, have met with continued mission success. On the medical
side, last year the Air Force recruited just under half of its fully
qualified healthcare target. Broken down by specialty, it amounted to
68 doctors (17.4 percent), 45 dentists (25.5 percent), 222 nurses (62.5
percent), 125 biomedical scientists (62.8 percent), and 34 medical
administrators (97 percent). This need is made all the greater because
the Air Force has deployed over 8,000 medical officers in support of
the global war on terror since 2001.
Air Force Recruiting Service and the Air Force Medical Service have
partnered to reduce the shortfall in medical officer recruiting. At the
forefront of our medical accessions plan is an increase in health
professions scholarships and a realignment of health professions
recruiters to major American medical education centers. As a result,
Recruiting Service has placed more emphasis on bringing in student-
based accessions versus fully qualified professionals. While civilian
medical facilities struggle with the same challenge of maintaining a
viable medical corps, assistance from Congress to support our efforts
has come in the form of authorization of accession bonuses for fully
qualified medical professionals. Similarly, we have significantly
increased available medical scholarship opportunities.
Air Force Recruiting continues to hurdle other challenges,
including the dynamics of the recruiting environment, limited
resources, and the quality of the age-eligible demographic.
The propensity for young Americans to serve their country, coupled
with a drop in key influencers--such as teachers, coaches, and family
members--recommending Service, is at its lowest point in 35 years.
Moreover, nearly three quarters of America's youth do not meet
eligibility standards to serve in our Nation's military, so the Air
Force must compete for qualified candidates not only with the other
Services, but with colleges and industry as well. Making that task even
more difficult is the fact that an increasing number of communities and
high schools are less likely to welcome recruiters.
A reduction in both recruiters and money has made it a tough
playing field, but one on which Air Force recruiters continue to excel.
The Air Force Recruiting Service consistently stays 6 months ahead of
the game in filling its enlistment job contracts (our ``job bank''),
with 70 percent of our flights and 90 percent of our squadrons making
their recruiting goals. This indicates teamwork at ``full production.''
Air Force recruiting efforts have benefited from strong
perpetuation--by our airmen whose positive recruitment experience was
followed by good opportunities in training, education, and duty during
their enlistments, who then spread that message back home. We believe
our success in this regard is strongly tied to the Air Force's core
value of integrity.
The Air Force has also initiated creative approaches in targeted
recruiting, primarily focusing on events that young Americans attend
such as extreme sporting venues like motorbike racing, snowmobile
racing, and surfing.
reserve component recruiting
In addition to our Active Force, our Air Reserve component is
experiencing successful recruiting efforts while facing additional
recruiting challenges.
The Air Force Reserve met its recruiting goals for a 7th
consecutive year. That being said, a 10-percent reduction in personnel
planned over the future years defense program (FYDP), coupled with the
impact of base realignment and closure (BRAC) initiatives, presents
significant future recruiting challenges for the Air Force Reserve.
With the personnel reductions brought about by the realignment and
closure of Reserve installations due to BRAC and Total Force
Integration, approximately 20 percent of the force will be directly
impacted by the planned changes through new and emerging missions, and
mission adjustments to satisfy Air Force requirements. In light of all
these changes, they expect the recruiting environment will be
turbulent, dynamic and challenging.
It's important to remember the Air Force Reserve is a local force
and that growing units will face significant recruiting challenges when
considering the availability of adequately qualified and trained
personnel. As has always been the case, they will focus on maximizing
prior service accessions. Regular Air Force reductions over the FYDP
may prove beneficial to their recruiting efforts, but will not be the
complete answer since only the Regular Air Force critical skills
closely match those in the Reserve. Non-prior service or ``other prior
service'' individuals accessed by the Reserve will inevitably require
extensive retraining which is costly.
The Air National Guard achieved 99.3 percent of its recruiting goal
for fiscal year 2007. 2008 is off to a great start for enlisted
recruiting, but officer recruiting is short, largely due to the issues
associated with BRAC and Total Force Initiatives. Overall, these
initiatives will make tremendous improvements in the integration of the
Active and Reserve components, but these initiatives have caused some
short-term recruiting challenges. The impact of these transformation
initiatives within the Air National Guard cannot be understated, as
many Air National Guard units were faced with challenges regarding
their future mission and personnel requirements, making if difficult to
accomplish the full recruiting mission during that time.
The good news is that all transformation initiatives will be
effective in the April timeframe and this should serve as a positive
turning point in the Air National Guard's recruiting efforts. While
many opportunities still exist in the traditional fighter, air
refueling, airlift and special operations missions, there is an
increasing need for talent in intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance, unmanned aerial systems, space, cyberspace and
expeditionary medical support. The Air National Guard recruiting force
is now engaged in a dramatic effort to attract the nearly 9,000
enlisted personnel and 2,700 officers it will need to perform the Air
National Guard missions of the future.
To ensure separating Active-Duty personnel have every opportunity
to continue service in the Reserve component, we request that any
future legislation enacted to assist Services with drawdown efforts
should encourage or incentivize continued service in the Reserve
component. Retaining our separating Active component members is the
best investment the country can make for our Reserve component because
it ensures a force that is ready and able to go to war at any time.
conclusion
Our Nation is facing challenging times. The Air Force has been in
continual combat operations for the last 17 years. Military operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan have tested our ranks and national polls
indicate that young American's are less likely to consider joining the
military, but well-qualified young men and women keep on serving--a
testament to the tremendous quality of our countrymen, our Air Force,
and our all-volunteer recruiters.
The bottom line is our Total Force--comprised of Active-Duty, Air
Force Reserve, and Air National Guard--continues to bring in quality
men and women because it matters. We recruit to retain, so we recruit
the brightest candidates possible, then provide them with tough,
highly-technical training that gives them the right skills to sustain
the combat capability of America's Air Force.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, General.
General Tryon?
STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. RICHARD T. TRYON, USMC, COMMANDING
GENERAL, MARINE CORPS RECRUITING COMMAND
General Tryon. Good morning, sir. Mr. Chairman,
distinguished members of the subcommittee: Thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today and to provide
information on the state of Marine Corps recruiting.
I'd like to begin first by expressing the Marine Corps'
appreciation for your continued support of our recruiting
effort. Our commitment to you and to the American people is
that we will strive to recruit quality young men and women who
meet the high standards expected of America's marines.
Today's recruiting environment, as you have alluded to
earlier, is both competitive and challenging. It's tough. Our
recruiters, like Staff Sergeant Britton, who has accompanied me
here today, work long hours and experience difficulties in
finding young men and women who are mentally, morally, and
physically qualified with either the inclination or ambition to
serve their country. Additionally, our recruiters find that
they must invest considerable time with parents, teachers,
guidance counselors, and others who influence today's youth as
they consider their post-high school opportunities.
During the past fiscal year, the Marine Corps achieved its
recruiting objectives in both quantity and quality. This was a
result of the hard work performed by marines assigned to
recruiting duty and those committed to accomplishing their
mission. I attribute the success that we achieved this past
year to the strong positive image that the Marine Corps enjoys
with the American public and to a quality recruiting force, one
that is screened, well-trained, and properly resourced for the
mission.
We are currently meeting our objectives for fiscal year
2008 for both officer and enlisted recruiting and, while
recruiting is fraught with uncertainties, I anticipate that we
are on track to achieve our assigned mission for fiscal year
2008.
Thank you again for your support and for the opportunity to
appear before you today.
[The prepared statement of General Tryon follows:]
Prepared Statement by Maj. Gen. Richard T. Tryon, USAF
recruiting
Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and distinguished members of the
subcommittee; I am pleased to report that despite the current
challenges in the recruiting environment, our recruiters continue to
make their recruiting goals in all areas in support of our total force
recruiting mission. This past year, our recruiting mission was
increased as part of a series of milestones to ``grow the force'' and
build an Active component 21st century Marine Corps with an end
strength of 202,000. Fiscal year 2007 was a year of change for the
Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Our focus in fiscal year 2008 is to
continue to recruit quality men and women into our Corps as we expand
our ranks.
Recruiting is the lifeblood of our Corps. The recruiting
environment remains competitive and challenging as we recruit during
sustained combat operations and compete with our sister Services and
the private sector for the best eligible men and women our country has
to offer. We believe that detailed planning, precision execution, and
unwavering commitment to quality by our recruiting force will yield
results. The professional character of our recruiters, exhibiting our
core values of honor, courage, and commitment, must continue to earn
the trust and respect of the public. Leadership and accountability
define our Corps and are essential to preserving the relationship we
have with the American people.
To meet the challenges of the current recruiting environment it is
imperative that we maintain our high standards both for our recruiters
and those who volunteer to serve in our Corps. The Corps must continue
to be comprised of the best and brightest of America's youth. We must
also remain mindful that the Marine Corps needs to reflect the face of
the Nation and be representative of those we serve. Today's youth, now
more than ever, must exhibit the leadership potential, moral character,
native intelligence, and physical attributes in order to succeed in the
Corps. Our image of a smart, tough, elite warrior continues to resonate
with young people seeking to join our Corps. Our ethos that every
marine is a rifleman is inherent in our recruiting themes. Therefore,
it is no surprise that our Marine recruiters receive more requests for
infantry programs from applicants than any other program in our
inventory. Clearly, our enlistees know and fully understand the
magnitude of their decision and that in all likelihood, they will be
called upon to serve on front lines in the war against terrorism.
As alluded to earlier, enlisting quality men and women only
strengthens our Corps as we expand our ranks. Equally important, it
helps to preserve our unique character. There is a direct correlation
between enlisting quality youth today and the long-term effects it has
on reducing attrition at the recruit depots, increasing retention, and
improving readiness in the operating forces. These factors contribute
to ensuring that the Marine Corps remains the Nation's premiere force
in readiness.
Total Force
The Marine Corps is unique in that all recruiting efforts (officer,
enlisted, regular, Reserve, and prior-service) fall under the direction
of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Operationally, this provides us
with flexibility and unity of command in order to annually meet our
objectives. In fiscal year 2007, the Marine Corps achieved 100.1
percent of the enlisted (regular and Reserve) ship mission
(accessions). Over 95 percent of our accessions were Tier 1 high school
diploma graduates and over 66 percent were in the I-IIIA upper mental
group testing categories. In short, we accomplished our recruiting
mission achieving the Commandant's standards and exceeding those of the
Department of Defense (DOD). To meet the Marine Corps' proposed end
strength increase, annual total force accessions missions will steadily
grow from 40,863 in fiscal year 2007 to over 46,000 in fiscal year
2010. Fiscal year 2008 total force accessions mission is 42,202. As of
1 Jan 2008, we shipped (accessed) 8,117 applicants. This represents
103.3 percent of our total force mission fiscal year to date. Although
recruiting is fraught with uncertainties, we expect to meet our annual
recruiting mission to include our quality goals. Additionally, we
continue to achieve our contracting goals for this fiscal year which
ensures we have a population of qualified individuals ready to ship to
recruit training as we enter fiscal year 2009. Our Officer Selection
Teams were also successful in fiscal year 2007, accessing 1,844 second
lieutenants for 101 percent of their assigned mission. In fiscal year
2008, we are continuing efforts to increase the population of officer
candidates and commission second lieutenants commensurate with our
force structure and the growth in end strength. To assist our officer
selection officers in meeting their officer accession missions, we have
implemented new programs such as the College Loan Repayment program in
order to attract prospective candidates and remain competitive in this
difficult recruiting environment.
Reserve Component
For the Reserve component, the Marine Corps achieved its fiscal
year 2007 Reserve enlisted recruiting goals with the accession of 5,287
non-prior service marines and 1,591 prior service marines. As of 1 Jan
2008, we accessed 893 non-prior service and 1,308 prior service
marines, which reflects 21 percent and 29 percent of our annual mission
respectively. Again, we expect to meet our Reserve recruiting and
quality goals this year.
Officer recruiting for our Selected Marine Corps Reserve (SMCR)
units is traditionally one of our greatest challenges. To help address
this issue, we initiated a Reserve officer commissioning program. Under
this program, individuals complete all their initial training and
return to a Reserve unit to serve as a drilling reservist. This past
year the program showed promise by commissioning 48 second lieutenants
directly into the SMCR. To date this fiscal year, we commissioned 27
Reserve Officers and anticipate positive growth in this new initiative
through fiscal year 2008 and beyond.
Accomplishing the Mission
The Marine Corps understands that the `All-Volunteer Force' is in
fact an ``All-Recruited Force'' and that the Marine Corps Recruiting
Command is on the front lines engaged in a mission vital to the long-
term health of our Corps. In order to meet end strength goals, continue
to maintain the high Marine Corps and DOD quality standards, and attain
a diverse entry level population representative of national
demographics, we must be ever vigilant in our focused approach of
enlisting only the best America has to offer.
The success achieved during the past fiscal year is attributed to a
quality recruiting force; one that is screened, well-trained, and
properly resourced to meet mission requirements. Every marine assigned
to recruiting duty is evaluated based on his or her fitness to perform
the demanding duties of a marine recruiter. The Headquarters Marine
Corps Recruiter Screening Team (HRST) conducts annual visits to bases,
stations and installations to interview prospective recruiters.
Additionally, commanding officers must certify a marine's fitness for
independent duty. Once screened, marines attend a 7-week Basic
Recruiter's Course before reporting to their Recruiting Station.
Training continues in the form of Proficiency and Review (PAR) training
during the first 6 months on recruiting duty as a canvassing recruiter
and subsequently as directed by the commanding officer of the
recruiting station. Resourcing the Marine Corps Recruiting Command also
has been a priority of senior marine leadership. During fiscal year
2007, 200 additional recruiters were assigned to recruiting duty.
Another 200 recruiters have been added in fiscal year 2008. The
recruiting force has received the necessary tools in the form of
additional offices, vehicles, computers, telephones, etc., in an effort
to set the conditions for success. These increases have come with
proper funding, increased marketing and advertisement initiatives, and
recruiter performance recognition programs. Collectively, these efforts
produce a quality recruiting force designed to support the projected
increase in the Marine Corps end strength.
A key factor in our mission management is ensuring clear and direct
responsibility and oversight. The Commanding General of Marine Corps
Recruiting Command reports directly to the Commandant of the Marine
Corps. The Commanding Generals of our two Marine Corps Recruit Training
Depots also serve as the Commanding Generals of our Eastern and Western
Recruiting Regions. Having the same individual responsible for quality
recruiting and entry-level basic training is crucial to successfully
recruiting and making marines. Consistent with this, our recruiters'
commitment to recruiting a quality Corps is further reinforced by the
fact that they are held accountable for their recruits' performance
throughout the entire process as they earn the title marine, from the
time they enlist in the delayed entry program until they complete
``boot camp.''
Although marine recruiters need and use tangible incentives (e.g.
bonuses, college funds, etc.), we primarily achieve our success by
emphasizing the Marine Corps first and foremost. We strongly believe
that our core values distinguish us as an elite force and that once you
earn the title marine, you are a marine for life.
We thank Congress for their continued support of legislation that
provides recruiters access to high schools and student directory lists.
This access remains critical to recruiting quality applicants. Without
it, our marine recruiters would lose one of their most efficient and
productive means of conveying the opportunities of military service.
This would have an immediate, adverse impact on our ability to
accomplish our mission. Maintaining access to high schools and student
directories remains a top priority for ensuring continued success.
Further, Congress' continued support in funding for enlistment bonuses
and advertising is appreciated.
The ability to advertise is essential in the era of the All-
Volunteer Force. Raising public awareness and extolling the virtues and
benefits of serving one's country is important in today's society.
In closing, recruiting is the strategic first step in making
marines just as it is the first step in growing the Corps. As we expand
our ranks and increase our officer and enlisted populations, we must
never lose sight that our most effective weapon is the marine
recruiter. In all that we do, we must remain faithful to our promise to
make marines, win our country's battles and return quality citizens
back home: citizens who--once transformed--will be marines for life.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you very much, General.
Senator McCaskill, would you have any opening remarks that
you might like to make before we go to the questions?
Senator McCaskill. Thank you, Senator Nelson.
Just briefly, I hope we can stay long enough to ask a few
questions. All of us are, I know, juggling lots of stuff this
morning. But I did want to just focus on misconduct in the area
of recruiting. I know and am familiar with a problem that we
had in St. Louis where someone actually went in from a news
station posing as a recruit and taped the recruiting session,
and of course then it was shown on the television in St. Louis.
It was ugly. It was disappointing.
Particularly, I know the pressure that's on the Army in
terms of the numbers, and this was, in fact, an Army recruiter.
I want to visit with you, hopefully if I have time, about the
pilot project that is ongoing about cameras in the recruiting
room. I know you've done the buddy system, but cameras and
looking at what the costs of that would be and when the reports
expected on the pilot project.
I think it's really important, with the pressure that is
bringing to bear on recruiting numbers, that we are very, very
careful about how we're handling recruiters who are maybe
saying things that are just frankly not true. This incident,
clearly the impression was being given that if you sign up you
would not have to go to Iraq or that Iraq was safer than
downtown St. Louis. Obviously, that not only I think is a
misstatement, it's clearly offensive to the people of St.
Louis, likening their community to a war zone where very, very
brave men and women have obviously lost their lives because
people want to kill them because of who they represent and what
they're trying to do.
So I am very impressed with all of you and the efforts that
are being made. I have such respect for our military. I
understand these are a few bad apples, a very, very few. But we
have to be careful because, with the pressure that's being
brought to bear, we have to make sure we have a system in place
to ferret out those bad apples and make sure that we get them
out of the recruiting process and appropriate action is taken
in terms of accountability.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator. I would hope that
we would have some time to talk directly to the recruiters so
that you might be able to address the question to them, because
I suspect that they, as truly the boots-on-the-ground in
recruiting, they're certainly going to be aware of what is
going on. Thank you.
I guess this goes to all the witnesses. Everyone's aware
that the President vetoed the National Defense Authorization
Act as passed by Congress last December. Congress quickly
revised the bill to address the President's concerns and
modified it to make sure that the military pay raise and
authority to pay bonuses were retroactive, so no servicemember
would lose pay.
Now the President signed that legislation and did so last
Monday. The question I have is, did the uncertainty created by
this delay in enacting the bill affect recruiting in January,
because of just the uncertainty, is it going to be signed, are
they going to be able to do it, will the pay raise go through,
will it be retroactive, the uncertainty that comes about
without having legislation in place? I just wonder if you had
any experience related to that. I'm not anticipating that it
was significant.
Admiral Kilkenny. Sir, I'll answer for the Navy, sir. We
took precautions when we knew it wasn't going to get passed.
Thank you for your support on making everything retroactive. I
think most of us are coming up at the end of the month, but I
can tell you that it has had no impact on Navy recruiting for
the short speed bump that I say occurred, and we appreciate
your quick addressing of that information.
We all probably feel that if it went longer that it may
have an impact on us. But the brevity of the time, sir, had no
impact on the Navy's perspective.
Senator Ben Nelson. Did anybody else have any reaction to
that, any experience?
General Vautrinot. Sir, we were very pleased with our
recruiters, who were able to work with each of the new
candidates, those that are in our delayed enlistment program
and were going to be coming in after the first of the year.
Every single one of them signed the addendum, recognized what
was going on in Congress, and I'm sure every one of them thanks
you, because they signed that on good faith and based on the
good relationships they had with their recruiters. So making
that possible and making it retroactive was very supportive.
In addition, the language in that bill also helps us in the
health professions recruiting area for continuing the bonus and
the incentive programs.
Senator Ben Nelson. General?
General Tryon. Sir, we did not experience difficulties
associated with the veto. Our recruiters strive first and
foremost to emphasize the value of service to both Corps and
country. We seek youngsters who want to be marines first and we
place a premium on those intangibles that are associated with
service to Corps and country, such as patriotism, pride of
belonging, and the image of a smart, tough, elite warrior.
That said, the 13 skill bonuses that we do have are
certainly useful in filling the low density, high demand
Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) skills that are required
in our Service today.
Senator Ben Nelson. General?
General Bostick. We saw no impact in the Active Duty Army
and the Army Reserve. There was some impact visible in the
reenlistment end of things, and that will pick up, I'm sure,
with the passing of the law.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
The reliance on a high school diploma or its equivalent as
a quality indicator has really been historical for all of the
branches. They've all testified that a high school diploma is a
key quality indicator, and certainly I would not want to
dispute that. But are there other indicators in the absence of
a high school diploma or its equivalent that might lead you to
believe that you wouldn't have to put that as the centerpiece
for recruiting?
General Vautrinot?
General Vautrinot. Sir, we are very proud of the 99 percent
high school graduate and equivalent. I think that OSD has
helped us in defining equivalency. Equivalency is a GED plus 15
successful college credit hours. It is also home school with
specific credentials, numbers of hours of contact in that home
school program, plus a score above 50 on the vocational
aptitude battery, which is equivalent to what your universities
and colleges would accept as a program that was college-bound
or an ability to work in a controlled environment, to learn in
that environment, and be successful.
The correlation we look for in the Air Force is that these
individuals will be successful in their highly technical
training and because they are successful in training be
successful in that first job, and therefore want to stay, be
retained in the United States Air Force. That's why the high
school diploma or equivalent as defined are so important to us.
General Tryon. Sir, I would echo my Air Force counterpart's
comments and say that for Marine Corps recruiting we strongly
emphasize the importance of a high school program and one that
focuses on contact, not only with the students, but also with
the guidance counselors, the teachers, the coaches, the music
instructors. Each year the Marine Corps Recruiting Command
hosts 12 educator workshops on each coast, entertaining
educators from across the country, providing them with a
perspective on what we do and how we do it at our recruit
training, introducing them to the culture that we have in our
Corps. We find that to be particularly useful and more often
than not they return back home to their respective schools and
communities with a very positive message with respect to the
opportunities that await their students after high school.
Senator Ben Nelson. Any other thoughts?
Admiral Kilkenny. Sir, the Navy has been very keen on the
high school diploma. However, we're always looking at
opportunities to open the aperture. I've asked Center for Naval
Analyses to do a study for us on GED grads because I think we
need to look at a big picture of the society that we live in.
Many of the students today work two and three jobs to support
their families. Sometimes they can't go to high school, yet
they get a GED and they score very high on the ASVAB. I think
we need to look at taking some of those folks in.
Sometimes just the education testing doesn't always
determine the heart of the lion and their ability to want to
serve a greater cause. So I think we have to look at every one
of those opportunities.
Senator Ben Nelson. We don't want to miss a standard and we
don't want to misapply a standard to the exclusion of people
who tested otherwise and might demonstrate the skills necessary
to do even greater work than those who come in with the
requisite stamp of approval with a diploma or a GED.
General?
General Bostick. Mr. Chairman, we've looked at this very
closely. We've taken in more of the GEDs and the tier 2 this
past year, with 79 percent high school diploma graduates and
the others filling out in GEDs and other categories. The high
school diploma benchmark was set because of this word
``sticktoitiveness,'' that they would stick to it through basic
training and their first unit of assignment.
One of the things to get at what you're talking about we've
worked out with OSD was the tier 2 attrition study, to give a
test, an additional test, to our GEDs, the assessment of
individual motivation, to measure their motivation to succeed
and to see if that GED would seem like, act like, attrite like
a high school diploma graduate. What we found in the first look
at this is our high school diploma graduates' retention rate
through 12 months is about 89 percent. Those that pass the
Assessment and Individual Motivation (AIM) test, these GEDs,
the tier 2 attrition study, retain at 85 percent. Those that
don't pass retain at 83 percent. So there is something that we
can look at.
I think there are other skill sets within the ASVAB. My dad
was a mechanic in the Army for 26\1/2\ years, master sergeant,
and I don't know what he scored on the test. I never asked him.
But I know he was a darn good mechanic, and I don't know how
his English skills were or his math skills, which are
predominant measurements on that test.
A lot of these kids that we find in the GED program have
gone to vocational schools or otherwise have special talents in
specific areas. What we're doing now is looking downrange and
taking a look at those that have been in the Army with GEDs and
determining, have we impacted negatively the Army in any way by
bringing on a greater number of GEDs. I think the initial
indications from the field is that they're performing very
well.
Senator Ben Nelson. I remember discussing with Admiral
Vernon Clark when a point that he was making about the Navy was
that different skill sets were going to be required as the Navy
progresses forward, and that in order to do that you would have
to have different ways of measuring potential skill
capabilities other than the traditional methods. So I applaud
all the efforts to try to get outside the box and take a look
and make sure that we're not using a test that by itself is--
while I'm certainly not advocating against high school
diplomas--I think they make a great deal of sense, obviously.
But that's not the only test and I'm glad that you're looking
at other ways of doing that, so that we don't miss
opportunities and we don't foreclose opportunities for others
who might want to be part of the military but for lacking this
credential or that credential.
Senator Chambliss, do you have some thoughts that you might
like to share or questions?
Senator Chambliss. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Let me continue down that line of education, because I know
from talking to folks on Active Duty, as well as folks in the
Guard and Reserve, that the desire to obtain money for a
college education has been a key motivator for young men and
women and has been a key in successful recruiting also. The
Services have not only attracted individuals who want to obtain
an education, but have also retained individuals for careers
while enabling them to achieve educational goals.
New proposals regarding the Montgomery GI Bill and other
education benefits have been raised. The President on Monday
night talked specifically about the ability to transfer unused
GI Bill benefits to dependents.
Let me ask you, how important do you view education
benefits in attracting recruits? Do you think that the
combination of educational benefits, including the so-called
kickers or enhancements available, provide a sufficient benefit
in balancing the goals of recruiting and retention? What
changes in education benefits would you recommend? General
Bostick, let me start with you, please, sir.
General Bostick. This is a very, very important area. I was
an instructor or professor up at West Point in engineering. My
wife is a principal at an elementary school. So we talk about
education all the time. But education is very important for the
United States Army and we are working it in several fashions.
I talked about March to Success--that program for the Army
to do something in the area of education. We're doing that from
the testing end. We're also looking at an Army prep school down
at Fort Jackson. This is an opportunity to bring highly
qualified young men and women that don't have an education
credential, to go into Fort Jackson, our prep school which is
going to start in May, and earn their GED. Long-term we want
this to be a high school diploma-producing institution.
We're also working with places like a location, a mall
school in Pittsburgh. At this mall school, what they're able to
do is those that drop out of school go to this mall school and
at the mall school they earn their degree from the high school
that they dropped out of. So we're working with that, that
organization, to try to proliferate that in other locations
throughout the country.
Now, as to college, most youngsters want to go to college
and most parents would like them to go to college. So all of
the college benefits that we have are very helpful for the
United States Army and I think for all of our Services.
Some of the challenges for our soldiers have been,
especially in this high tempo of operations environment, to
continue on with their education and to serve the United States
Army in the way that they've been asked. I was talking to
Command Sergeant Major Sparks who is working at our Training
and Doctrine Command. He's leading an effort to build the
College of the American Soldier, where when you sign up with
the United States Army you're going to sign up for college at
the same time. That's going to be very powerful.
With the advent of the Internet and the many colleges that
are involved in partnering with the Army, to take the work that
they do in basic training, in Advanced Individual Training
(AIT), and credit those as legitimate college credits, whether
they're medics or mechanics or signaleers--we're working with
institutions to ensure that they can earn their college degree;
they can be in the Army at the same time.
So all of these benefits are very, very important to us.
Senator Ben Nelson. In that regard, I just wanted to ask
one question. Do you find that retention improves once you have
a career established for them, where they get their education,
they get to be in a field that they're interested in? Does that
positively effect, as I would hope that it would, retention?
General Bostick. We think it's very important. I don't have
the correlations directly to retention, but I can give you--for
example, we had about 260,000 soldiers taking tuition
assistance courses last year. So while they're in the Army,
some of them in Iraq and Afghanistan, 260,000 soldiers. We
spent about $140 million on tuition assistance.
So education is very important. We talk to the soldiers
about it. We encourage them to do it while they're in their
careers in the Army. Now, some take this on after they leave
the Service. In working with the Veterans Department, we've had
over $1 billion that has been spent on regular Army veterans to
earn their education. So whether they do it inside the Army or
post their Army career, that's up to them. But we're trying to
build a pathway throughout their career where they can earn it
from day 1, and whether they end up with a bachelor's degree or
a master's degree or a Ph.D., that's really up to how hard they
would like to work in their career.
Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Chambliss?
Senator Chambliss. While we are talking about the issue
relative to primarily Army soldiers serving in Iraq while
taking college courses over the Internet, I was amazed,
general, at the number of young folks who I have talked to on
every visit I have had over there that are doing exactly that.
That was one reason for my question.
While it may have seemed that I was honing in on Montgomery
GI Bill benefits, I am particularly interested in Active Duty
benefits that you are giving to these young folks and the
opportunities that you are giving them also. I should know the
answer to this, but I don't, but I'm assuming that is
independent of Montgomery GI Bill benefits; is that correct?
General Bostick. The tuition assistance?
Senator Chambliss. Yes.
General Bostick. Yes.
Senator Chambliss. Okay.
Admiral Kilkenny. Sir, we completely value education in the
Navy. What we attempted to do this past year was look at where
we think there's some interest, particularly in the community
college market. We think it's very big. We started a program
called Accelerate to Excellence, where we will pay for two
semesters of community college while in the Delayed Entry
Program (DEP). The recruit will then attend boot camp, an
additional semester of college and A school in the United
States Navy. Upon completion of A school, the recruit will have
earned the required credits for completion of an associates
degree.
Last year we did it with aviation ratings down in the
Pensacola area. We partnered with the junior colleges to allow
them to get credit on their associate's degree for some of the
courses they're taking and their skill sets in the Navy. We're
finding that there's an active interest in that program. Again,
this year we want to collect some data to determine how much of
a market there is. But there's a lot of folks who can't afford
to go to 4-year colleges who go to community colleges for the
reasons I alluded to earlier. They're staying around to help
mom and dad, earn a little bit of money. I think there's an
opportunity.
But clearly, every brief we get on the young generations of
today, the millennials, education is talked about from the time
they're about 4 years old. So it's clearly very important in
their world, and it's very important for us to find ways to get
an education prior to them coming in, when they're coming in,
and when they decide to leave. It's very important.
Senator Chambliss. General?
General Vautrinot. Sir, let me point out first that
recruiting falls under the Air Education and Training Command,
all working together. Air University has had some great, great
success in both the efforts that we have for recruiting and the
retention that Senator Nelson mentioned.
First let me talk about Community College of the Air Force.
In 1972 it was started. We've graduated over 320,000 young
airmen with associate degrees, over 17,000 last year alone.
That is a fully accredited associate degree. More importantly,
the Air University has just started a program called the
Associate Baccalaureate Cooperative, over 25 universities with
45 majors that provide the opportunity for each airman with a
Community College of the Air Force degree, an associate degree.
Twelve clicks on your computer and you are a junior in college,
every one of your associate degree credits toward your
bachelor's degree.
It is entirely portable. As you point out, all our airmen
in the field, all those that are deployed, have the opportunity
to continue their education toward that baccalaureate with
every single one of those credits counting. That program is in
addition to tuition assistance.
I want to thank you also, sir, for your work on military
health care and for the Montgomery GI Bill, which helps them if
they decide to leave the Air Force. This program helps us to
retain them and have them better educated to meet the new
mission.
Senator Chambliss. General Tryon?
General Tryon. Sir, our emphasis on education begins with
attracting the quality youngsters from high schools and
bringing them into the Marine Corps. We, like the other
Services, have a raft of programs which permits our youngsters
to continue, our marines to continue on with their education in
a variety of areas.
The online education we find these days is incredibly
advantageous to our forces, particularly given the fact that so
many marines are deployed in an expeditionary profile. Being
able to get online and to access through tuition assistance
programs or other programs on advanced education is very, very
useful for us.
As a discrete incentive for recruiting, again we
concentrate on attracting those youngsters who want to be
marines first and foremost, not specifically for the purpose of
continuing a college education. However when they come to us,
96 percent of them are high school graduates. They've been
raised in an environment and a culture where they prize the
value of an education. So we are in a position with the
benefits that have been provided by this committee to help them
achieve their goals.
Senator Chambliss. Very good.
This subcommittee recognized shortfalls in medical
professionals back in 2006 and responded with enhancement of
bonus authorities and stipends for medical and dental corps
officers in both Active and Reserve components. I have two
questions for you on this.
Number one, are the expanded authorities being utilized and
funded by the Services? Second, is money enough? In other
words, based on your experience with recruiting in the medical
field, are there other non-monetary incentives that either the
Services by policy or Congress should adopt to improve our
recruiting successes?
Again, General Bostick, let's start with you.
General Bostick. First, I'd like to thank you for the
language that included and focused on the medical
professionals. This has been a very challenging area for us.
We've worked it very hard. Last year there was a good
improvement in our nurse corps. We're still challenged in our
dental corps and we're challenged in our medical corps,
especially in the 4-year scholarship, the health professional
scholarship program. So this is very important.
The bonus that you approved for the critical skills bonus
that is available to those that I just talked about, it is very
important to them. Also important in this language is the
mandatory service obligation, the reduced mandatory service
obligation, particularly for our Army Reserve medical
professionals.
Also important in this language is that we have a 2K
referral program. It doesn't seem like much maybe in the
medical profession, but a lot of them, they know friends, they
know other associates that might want to join, and word of
mouth really helps us in recruiting, and having that 2K
referral--just like we have for the enlisted--on the officer
medical side is going to make a difference. It may be something
we want to look at increasing in the future if this works out
well for us.
But this is a challenging area. We continue to work it very
hard, but we appreciate the support that you've provided to us.
Senator Chambliss. Admiral Kilkenny?
Admiral Kilkenny. Sir, absolutely your support of us and
these initiatives has been very beneficial. I alluded to in my
statement that in the last 3 years, based on your authority
given to us to increase nurse bonuses, we succeeded in mission
last year. Every year that we increase the stipend, we've
increased our numbers. We're happy to report that this year,
based on the initiatives that you've authorized us, we've seen
an increased activity that we haven't seen in the past,
particularly in the Health Profession Scholarship Program for
the medical students.
Right now we're anxiously awaiting the February to March
timeframe--when most of the medical schools make a
determination on the students that they are going to accept.
But we've seen an increase in activity and interest in the
Navy's medical program based on what you've given us, and we're
very appreciative of that.
General Vautrinot. Let me begin with scholarships. We have
been very successful in the Grow Your Own program I discussed
and in scholarships. We've been able to meet 100 percent of
those scholarships, and this year it looks like we're going to
increase those as well. The Air Force did support the increase
in scholarships and intends to do so next year as well. So
thank you for your support and your help.
In addition, particularly with our medical professionals,
there are different areas that they like to see supported.
We've seen success in the financial assistance program for
physicians. That's the combined 42,000 a year. We had 22 of the
33 available used last year.
With regard to the accession bonuses for dentists, in the
previous year we filled all of those slots for dentists. While
there is no accession bonus this year, the loan repayment is
working very well. Then of course, as my compatriots have
pointed out, we've done very well in the nursing programs.
We find also that the ability to more rapidly bring those
folks into the United States military is very important. The
processing for medical professionals is somewhat long and tends
to be very serial. So anything that you could do on your
committee that could either put legislation for parallel
processing or could perhaps put some words in the policy that
allow our general counsels to bring those folks through a
little more quickly would be very much appreciated. So we are
continuing to expand that and we thank you for your support.
General Tryon. Sir, I defer to Admiral Kilkenny with
respect to the medical recruiting. I applaud his great efforts.
I would also just pass along that the quality of the
doctors and the corpsmen that work with and serve along side
marines is absolutely superb. We thank the Navy for that.
Senator Chambliss. General Vautrinot?
General Vautrinot. If you could think of the engine instead
of tomato juice, sir. [Laughter.]
Senator Chambliss. There you go.
It is interesting you make that comment about speeding up
the process. That is something surely, Mr. Chairman, that we
ought to be able to work on. I just tell staff, let's be sure
we look closely at this and work with all of you with respect
to seeing how we can make sure that whatever paperwork or
whatever holdups in the bureaucracy can be eliminated, not
circumvented by any means, so that we do everything we can to
try to speed that process up. That should be easy for us.
General Vautrinot. Thank you.
Senator Chambliss. So thank you very much for that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
Senator McCaskill.
Senator McCaskill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I will begin with General Bostick. Tell me what recruiters
get in terms of compensation or possibilities for advancement
or promotion, in terms of how well they do at recruiting? What
incentives are there for recruiters in terms of how they
produce?
General Bostick. There are a number of incentives that we
have, everything from coins and hats and jackets and medallions
to financial incentives that they can earn as a successful
recruiter. Each year we recognize those soldiers at an annual
training conference. One of the awards that they all strive to
achieve is the Morrell Award. They also have rings that they
earn.
Each of these are earned based on points that they achieve
based on the numbers of recruits that they bring in. There are
also financial payments that are made, recruiter incentive pay
that you authorized in one of our initiatives that we've been
trying. That recruiter incentive pay is for those that go above
and beyond the call of duty, the average rate that's expected
for those in Recruiting Command. Those that do above that can
earn financial incentives.
There are also meritorious promotions.
Senator McCaskill. Could you go into detail about the
financial incentives? What kind of money are we talking about
for a recruiter if they meet a certain quota or go above a
certain quota?
General Bostick. It's not significant initially. It's about
$100 a month if you go over your required write rate for the
command. So if the write rate for the command is 1.7 and you're
doing 2 or more, then you could earn $100 or so that month. If
you do it consistently, it can go up to $300 for a quarter,
$300 to $600 for a quarter, and the maximum for a year would be
up to about $5,000. Those are for recruiters that are the very
best recruiters that are performing out there.
We're still studying this program to see if it's adding the
kind of lift. The whole idea was to move the mass middle of
U.S. Army Recruiting Command and right now we're not sure that
that part is happening. Part of that is because of the
environment that we face, but we find that the great soldiers
that recruit would recruit without any coins, hats, jackets, or
financial incentives. Folks like Sergeant First Class Webb are
going to recruit like a hero every day of the week all year
long. We're working to still move the mass middle.
Some of that is due to training. We have a very intense
training program that's ongoing throughout the command. We're
using the Internet and a virtual classroom trainer that we're
able to train and get all of the recruiters up on the net in
training with our schoolhouse from Fort Jackson or from the
headquarters of the battalion.
There are meritorious promotions that are available for
recruiters that elect to stay within the recruiting command and
convert to 79 Romeo and do well in the recruiting and they can
be promoted. Then of course, the different leadership positions
that they could move up in are very competitive for our best
recruiters.
Senator McCaskill. The young man who engaged in
inappropriate recruiting tactics that were exposed in the news
report in St. Louis, what happened to him, do you know?
General Bostick. I can't say what happened to him
specifically. I can follow up with you and get the details. I
can tell you that we investigate every allegation, and it
doesn't matter if it's an anonymous allegation, or if it's an
allegation we hear about on CNN. But if there is an allegation
against one of our recruiters, we will investigate it.
We have about 8,000 recruiters and on any given year we
have about 15 percent that will receive allegations. Two to 3
percent of those allegations, something under 200, are
substantiated and we take the appropriate actions that are
necessary based on the inappropriate actions that were taken.
The other thing we do is we talk about our Army values and
our warrior ethos every day. There is not a setting ever where
recruiters and leaders come together where we don't talk about
the importance of our values and integrity. We realize that we
are ambassadors for the Army. We're on the front lines. We
represent the Army to America.
Senator McCaskill. It's heartbreaking. I know it's
certainly heartbreaking to all of you because of your
dedication to what you do and literally the tens upon thousands
of men and women in uniform whom I admire so greatly. But
clearly we have had some heartbreaking incidents, whether it's
the active military that have been caught actually stealing
around contracting in Iraq or whether it's some of these
recruiters.
I hate it for the military because when those news stories
aired in St. Louis the disservice they did was to you and to
the men and women who carry out what they do so well for our
country and that we're all so proud of. So I want to make sure
that when that happens that not only are there consequences to
that recruiter, but that there is something that happens
throughout the military to say: No matter how badly we need
people to enter into the military, we should never ever do
this.
The problem, of course, is that the substantiation up until
very recently--I know you have instituted a buddy system, but
it's my understanding there are still recruiters that are one-
on-one with potential recruits.
General Bostick. You can be one-on-one with a potential
recruit, but not of the opposite sex. There is a buddy system
that we have employed that if you're with the opposite sex you
must be with a buddy, male or female. Then we have a buddy
system for other reasons, for safety. A lot of our soldiers are
coming out of a combat environment. They're coming in here to
recruit. They have a lot of different stresses and things that
are on their mind in the families and what they're remembering
from Iraq or Afghanistan.
It's important that we're in touch with those soldiers. So
we have a buddy system for that reason as well.
The other thing that we do, whenever an incident happens is
publicize generically each month what happened and what the
punishment was for that activity, and we reinforce that and get
it out to the entire command, to every soldier, so they have
the opportunity to see what soldiers are doing and what the
consequences of those actions are.
Senator McCaskill. That's terrific. I think that the
substantiation, though--as an old prosecutor, there is always a
disagreement when you have two people who were in a
conversation. The person that is accused of wrongdoing
generally says: ``That's not what I said.'' The person who is
accusing says: ``No, it is; that's what they said.'' That's why
I think the cameras are such a good idea.
Obviously, I think just the presence of the camera makes
sure that we are--it's great that you can review for training
purposes. How is the pilot project going and when will we see
results from the pilot program?
General Bostick. It's a bit early to tell. We started this
last year in New York City, and we spent about $200,000 and we
put cameras in about 38 of our different stations. We had 15
recruiter impropriety allegations, of which all except for one
was unsubstantiated.
Senator McCaskill. By looking at the camera?
General Bostick. None of the events happened in the
station.
Senator McCaskill. I see.
General Bostick. So it was very difficult. We still have
the buddy system, we have the camera there. We're looking at
other options that we can provide. But right now I think it's
too early to tell. But the incidents that you bring up, a
couple of them have happened in the station. We have great
turnover of soldiers. So if it's going to happen, then we'll
pick that up. But we're still taking a look to see if this is
something that we need to spread further.
But we think the buddy system has really helped us,
especially from the emotional standpoint of soldiers taking
care of each other.
Senator McCaskill. I applaud what you're trying to do. I
know you all are trying to do your best and I just wanted to
make sure we're paying attention, because with the pressure and
with the incentives I know that it's possible that someone's
going to shade what they say in order to get someone to sign
the dotted line. Frankly, that may be more problematic with
some of our recruits than the issues that have been talked
about by some of the other Senators this morning.
Thank you all very much for being here.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator.
I want to thank the panel as well. Initially, I knew that
reports were going to be very positive as to the success of the
recruiting. That's in large part due to your commitment and
continuing to adjust the system and question what you've been
doing based on what you now know or what you're projecting the
needs are for the future, because that is essential.
So I congratulate you and your commands for what you've
done and challenge you to keep doing it, and let us know, as
you have today, what we can do to adjust the law, bring in new
incentives, or whatever would be required, that will make it
more likely that you'll be able to continue to achieve those
successes in the future, because that's what it's obviously all
about.
So thank you very much.
Now I'm very anxious to have the next panel come in and
talk to some of the recruiters and hear the story that they
have to tell. Thank you very much. If we can have the other
panel.
Do any of you have any prepared remarks or are you
expecting most of the discussion and dialogue to be responding
to the questions that we might ask? Any prepared remarks?
Sergeant Britton: Yes, sir.
Senator Ben Nelson. Okay. Starting at this end, Sergeant
Britton, do you have any prepared remarks?
STATEMENT OF SSGT JAMES M. BRITTON, USMC, ACTIVE DUTY RECRUITER
Sergeant Britton. Sir, I would just like to take the
opportunity to thank you for allowing me to be here today to
speak in front of you. I also thank you for the continued
support that you've given the Marine Corps and will continue to
do in the future. I appreciate it.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
Sergeant White.
STATEMENT OF MSGT DAVID B. WHITE, USAF, ACTIVE DUTY RECRUITER
Sergeant White. Sir, I'd like to thank you as well, you and
the committee. It's an honor to be here today to represent the
Air Force and the men and women of the Air Force Recruiting
Service.
Senator Ben Nelson. It's an honor for us to have all of you
here, too.
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer.
STATEMENT OF MCPO TRAVIS P. BRUMMER, USN, ACTIVE DUTY RECRUITER
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Mr. Chairman, good
morning, and distinguished guests. Thank you very much, and I'm
here to say thank you very much and represent the United States
Navy.
Senator Ben Nelson. Sergeant Webb.
STATEMENT OF SFC RICKY LEE WEBB, USA, ACTIVE DUTY RECRUITER
Sergeant Webb. Good morning, sir. Mr. Chairman and other
distinguished guests: My name is Sergeant First Class Rick Webb
and I'm an Army recruiter. I've had an awesome opportunity to
serve in my hometown of Charleston, WV, where I've been in the
Recruiting Command since 2003. I've also been blessed with the
experience of being an Army drill sergeant and I was an
instructor for basic combat training at Fort Jackson, SC.
Having a working knowledge of basic training has allowed me to
overcome or to address some of the fears that today's youth
might have about going into training.
Recruiting America's youth to become today's future
soldiers has been a unique experience and has offered many
challenges. I've seen many changes in my short time as a
recruiter and will probably see many more. Recruiting is not
business as usual.
The leadership in my time has changed tremendously. The
organization has changed from a sales type organization to more
of a leadership-focused organization. Recruiters are engaged
daily in a fight that requires them to be mentors, coaches, and
even guidance counselors.
I am thrilled and I am humbled. I'm from West Virginia. I
have been out of the woods. This is my first time to
Washington, DC, so I'm very humbled at this opportunity to talk
to you about the challenges of recruiting.
I am eager to answer any of your questions.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you. Thank you all.
You listened to the generals and admirals about what they
have attempted to do and what we've done working together to
make the military as an All-Volunteer Force, one that is
competitive with the rest of the world. Obviously--it's obvious
we have to be competitive if we want to be able to attract
quality recruits. Maybe you can give me some idea and the
committee some idea of the kinds of things that when you're on
the ground recruiting seem to be the best tools, the best
incentives, and in some cases among the best reasons why a
recruit will sign up, in addition to your strong sales pitch,
I'm sure. But what are the tools and the available incentives
that work best when you're trying to recruit somebody to your
branch?
We'll start with you, Sergeant Britton.
Sergeant Britton. Sir, just like General Tryon said
earlier, the Marine Corps attracts a certain----
Senator Ben Nelson. If you want to be a marine first, I
understand that. [Laughter.]
Sergeant Britton.--type of individual, sir, yes. The way I
always explain to the future marines is you have to--certain
people join. People that join the Marine Corps want a
challenge. They want to be the best. The jobs, bonuses, all
those things are talked about after the fact is established
that they want to become a marine. I think that is probably our
most successful tool that we have.
You see the commercials that the Marine Corps has. It talks
about honor, country, duty, not so much the monetary value. I
think that's why the Marine Corps has been such a great force
over all the past years and will continue to be later on down
the road.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
Sergeant White.
Sergeant White. Yes, sir. I believe people join the Air
Force for a variety of reasons. Number one, as General
Vautrinot pointed out, the quality of life. The Air Force
quality of life has been superior to me, to my family, and to
those I know in the Air Force. I believe it's that word of
mouth, that perpetuation, as she stated, that brings people to
the Air Force.
Education is also a very important tool. In the Air Force
you're either going to college or you're graduated; it's that
simple. You're automatically enrolled in the Community College
of the Air Force and you're taking classes and you're pursuing
that associate degree from the Community College of the Air
Force or you're pursuing a bachelors, masters, or Ph.D.
Those are the main reasons people join the Air Force.
Senator Ben Nelson. In that regard, let me just follow up
with a question. Now moving to Cyber Command as part of the Air
Force's continuing mission, you're going to be looking at
people with computer capabilities. Obviously, you ought to
start with them when they're about 5 years old because they all
top the rest of us. But as you're looking at these recruits and
you know which you're going for, what are you able to offer
somebody that has that strong interest in the technology and
the increases in technology that are simply going to be part of
the future of the Air Force and the future of all forces as we
work together, seeing how Cyber Command intersects with every
branch of the military?
How do you approach that? Is that a specific area you look
for or is that something that's developed as a result of the
education?
Sergeant White. Sir, cyberspace is new to us. Our
recruiting efforts haven't changed. We recruit those that
qualify for highly technical career fields and we continue to
do that and place them into cyberspace as they come in. So at
this time, to my knowledge we do not have a system to test
specifically for cyberspace, but as a recruiting command we set
our standards and we bring them in and place them to the needs
of the Air Force.
Senator Ben Nelson. Okay.
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Mr. Chairman, the
United States Navy--the sailors out there who are representing
us as recruiters, they're doing an awesome job. You have to
walk the walk. Every one of these servicemen in front of you
today meet young men and women who want to be like them. I have
found that as a sailor you have to go out there and tell your
story of what you did.
As a young man growing up in southwest Iowa and being able
to be stationed in many different places around the world and
be on cruises, when I came back to recruiting duty to Hometown
USA, there's many people in Omaha and Council Bluffs that have
no idea what a Navy guy does. It's been an awesome opportunity.
With the education side, I was able to go to the University
of Bellevue, and you meet other students and you meet other
service men and women. I tell you, the young men and women out
there, they see us as recruiters with our laptops, our
cellphones, our text messaging, and they're interested. It
really is about an interaction between two individuals and
parents and grandparents and influencers. Millennials want to
serve. These young men and women that we talk to today, they're
excited, and we have a great story to tell. It's been an
awesome opportunity.
Senator Ben Nelson. Obviously you've been affected by the
influence of Nebraska right across the border.
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Yes, sir.
Senator Ben Nelson. I certainly appreciate that. [Laugher.]
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Just moved from Omaha,
sir. [Laughter.]
Senator Ben Nelson. Sergeant Webb?
Sergeant Webb. Sir, I have to go back to another story.
Senator Ben Nelson. All right.
Sergeant Webb. In 2003, I went on my very first interview.
In recruiter school they taught us how to be salesmen, taught
us how to use a program, at that time Army Sales 7.0. You type
in the applicant's name, it would play the patriotic music. I
was sitting there with a young lady from my high school and the
father was sitting directly to my right on the sofa. I was very
nervous. I took a deep breath, closed my laptop, shoved it away
from me.
He said: Sergeant Webb, is there a problem?
I said: Yes, sir, there is.
He said: Well, do you mind explaining the problem?
I said: Well, I'm having a hard time using this program.
I'm not a salesman, but do you mind if I talk to you folks?
They both smiled and said: Well, that's what we would much
rather prefer.
I went on telling my Army story. Now, I'm from a small town
outside of Charleston, WV, called Allen Creek. I used to carry
rain water in 5-gallon buckets to do my laundry. I used to take
baths in a creek. I went to a rich school, a rich high school
in Charleston, and they didn't treat us like they did the other
kids. We were just treated differently.
The Army has allowed me to achieve so many of my goals. I
saw an Army recruiter in my hallway in my school and I swelled
up. I was 128 pounds soaking wet. I went down the hall and
talked to the Army recruiter. The way that he recruited me,
they way that he showed me--and he wasn't completely honest
about everything. So I use that to my advantage now. I know the
way he talked to me about things, it wasn't exactly the truth
once I became a soldier and knew the way of the Army. So I use
that technique.
I do talk about some of the incentives, but I establish
that later, like someone else on the panel alluded to. But it's
primarily serving the country, serving my country. I was a
State trooper in West Virginia; I have an education--things I
would never have been able to achieve without the United States
Army. I know you can get that with the other branches of the
Service, too. So it's about pride and serving my country. The
things I've been able to do, regardless of where I came from;
when I tell that and they see the flash in my face--and I hope
the panel can see that--that's what I do. That's my Army story.
I tell my Army story. It's about guiding, leading, mentoring.
All the incentives are secondary to serving my country.
Senator Ben Nelson. Very good.
Senator McCaskill asks that I ask you the following
question, to all of you, obviously following up on her concerns
and all of our concerns and your concerns about the
improprieties. She said: ``Can you discuss your views on
improprieties by recruiters? How prevalent are they? What are
the biggest causes? What more do you think can be done to
prevent them, or are we already doing enough?''
Anybody, just jump in as you feel motivated.
Sergeant Britton. Sir, for the Marine Corps, I feel that
these are very isolated incidents. This doesn't reflect the
conduct of Marine Corps recruiters at large. As far as measures
to keep this from happening, at least from our standpoint I
don't think there's anything other than the positive Marine
Corps leadership that we are taught as senior marines.
Senator Ben Nelson. Ethos and values of the individual
doing the recruiting in the first place.
Sergeant Britton. Yes, sir. It's our senior leaders' job to
watch over us. It's a continued education of the leadership.
Leadership through training, and that's worked for us and I
think that's going to continue to work for us in the future,
sir.
Senator Ben Nelson. Sergeant?
Sergeant White. Sir, the Air Force has zero tolerance
relating to misconduct. It starts with our chief of staff and
filters on down into the recruiting command. The Air Force
has--it's a .05 percent of misconduct. Although one is too
many, it's a very low percentage.
As a supervisor of 16 officer sections and recruiters that
recruit health professionals, I don't tolerate it. I know
General Vautrinot doesn't tolerate it and it's just not
accepted in the Air Force or the recruiting service.
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Mr. Chairman, for the
United States Navy, we're very fortunate. Admiral Kilkenny,
once taking command, greets every sailor who goes into
recruiting duty at the schoolhouse where we get trained to be
recruiters. He first talks to every sailor, officer and
enlisted, and explains his expectations. At the end of the
conversation in the room, he stands at the door, shakes our
hand, and issues a small little card to remind them of his
expectations: honor, courage, and commitment.
At the end of that, he doesn't just stop there. Most
recently around Christmas time, he put out a video, a podcast,
to remind all the sailors of his expectations.
It starts with leadership. You're absolutely right, there
is zero tolerance. One is too many. As a leader, that's what
Admiral Kilkenny has done.
Senator Ben Nelson. It's amazing how in politics if you get
introduced at a sporting event as a senator or governor, it's
amazing how one boo can drown out 100,000 cheers. It's sort of
the situation here. One bad situation can gain so much
attention, and it's because we accept zero tolerance. We don't
think it ought to happen. But that doesn't mean it's prevalent.
I think that's the point you're making.
Sergeant Webb, you may have another story to tell us.
Sergeant Webb. Sir, since I've been recruiting in my
company of 25 to 30 recruiters I have not seen one single
recruiting investigation of impropriety. We have watched the
video in our office. We get it sent down to each office and we
sit down as a station and we watch the video, and it is an
embarrassment. But as far as my knowledge, I haven't seen it.
We've come along with great strides with the buddy program and
I think the cameras in the stations would be a great idea.
Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Chambliss?
Senator Chambliss. There is a lot of pressure on you,
obviously, to meet goals. There are incentives out there.
Obviously, I know you have to watch that very close.
One issue that we have as a general population issue in
America is the issue of obesity. When you have a potential
recruit coming in to see you, sometimes I know you can tell
that they have some physical issues and sometimes probably you
don't even know that they do. But we've heard from some of the
trainers, sergeants around the country from each branch of the
military, that they're getting some kids in in greater numbers
now that don't have the physical qualities that they need to
have or that they expect.
From a recruiting standpoint, what do you tell your
recruiters? What do you tell them to look for? Are they aware
of these issues? What are you telling potential recruits or
what are your folks telling those potential recruits about what
kind of shape they need to be in to be a marine? Or what is the
lay of the land out there with respect to this issue in each
Service?
Sergeant Britton. With the Marine Corps, sir, these
individuals understand that they need to be in a certain
physical shape, not in peak physical shape to begin recruit
training, because that is what Marine Corps recruit training is
for. Before they get there, to start the process, it is our job
as recruiters to get them to that appropriate first level.
I know in our offices we have a meeting once a month on a
Saturday and each week on every Tuesday and Thursday where our
future marines come in. They'll run with the marines at the
office, go to the gym, anything to get them in shape and get
them prepared for recruit training.
As far as running into a lot of problems with people coming
in, the obesity issue, the way we address that, if they are
grossly overweight we kind of put it on them. We invite them to
come work out with us. That's showing dedication to a goal that
they want to achieve if they're serious about it. If indeed
they are serious, they will lose the weight and ultimately
begin their journey to become a U.S. marine.
Senator Chambliss. No way a fat guy like me can scale that
mountain in your ad on TV. [Laughter.]
Sergeant White?
Sergeant White. Sir, like the other branches, we have
height and weight standards that we must abide by. When we sit
down with an applicant, we go over that. On the initial visit,
we'll take an estimated height and weight from the applicant.
Really, that's our starting point with them, to determine
whether we should go on with the process or not.
It's really on the applicant to lose the weight. However, I
don't know of a recruiter out there that's not willing to go
out there and run with them. I've had physician recruiters go
out and run with doctors to lose the weight so that they could
enter the Air Force. It happens, and that's what recruiters do.
They're willing to go the extra mile, but the applicant has to
meet us halfway, so that they can in fact meet those standards
and begin the processing.
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Sir, for the United
States Navy, as Admiral Kilkenny mentioned earlier, we have
implemented numerous different projects in the delayed entry
program, with YMCA passes to help work out. Young men and women
who join the United States Navy, they don't want to go to boot
camp to fail. So we do our best as possible to encourage young
men and women to work out. Our sailors out there who request
recruiters, they're leading the charge, and we've also had some
retired or prior service SEALs that help mentor. So it's about
lead, mentor, and train, and we're making sure that the
recruiters are out there equipped, and it's been a great
opportunity. They know exactly what's expected of them.
Sergeant Webb. Sir, the height and weight standard is the
height and weight standard. However, I'm one of those few that
would like to see it changed a little bit. It's changed since
2003, but the standard I think was set many, many years ago.
Unfortunately, we have a McDonald's and Burger King on every
corner and the generation that we're dealing with every day,
they're more involved with their computer and their
Playstation, their XBox, so they stay inside the house. They
don't get out and run the hills of West Virginia, like I did,
and stay mean and lean.
But we encourage recruiters to get out there and help the
kids. Got to go to a story again. I went to a Wal-Mart and I
had to get tires on my vehicle. While I was waiting to get my
tires done I walked down the gaming aisle. I wanted to waste
some time while I was getting tires on my vehicle. I saw a guy
who was working in the tire area and he was playing Tiger
Woods. I'm a big golfer. So he said: Do you want to play a
hole? I said: I'll play a hole. So we switched back and forth
playing Tiger Woods on the Playstation. I never said a word
about the Army, and I'm in uniform.
Well, the second day I showed up because I had to get tires
on the back. They didn't have them in stock. After a little bit
of playing the game, he said: You know, you've been here 2 days
and you've not once mentioned the Army to me. I see your
recruiter patch; I know you're a recruiter.
I said: Well, Steve--name tag--I said: The way I see it, if
you're interested in the Army, you will talk to me about the
Army. He said: Well, I've been told all my life that I'm a fat
boy. This guy was 5 foot 9, 269 pounds, so he was obviously
over the standard.
So I talked to Steve at length about, you take 2 weeks of
your own time and you show some progress and I'll be glad to
work with you. In 2 weeks this guy lost 15 pounds on his own
time. I took the next 3 months working every morning with this
guy. I would meet him at 6 o'clock in the morning, 2 hours
before I even had to be at work, just because he had a desire,
a strong desire. He did 4 years of JROTC in high school and he
just had a strong desire to serve his country, and I took the
time out to help him out.
But we have the ARMS test that even allows recruits to--and
the general alluded to what the acronym stands for--Assessment
of Recruiter Motivation and Strength--meet the physical
endurance along with cardio endurance. It's able to measure
that. But I would like to see it changed even more so than what
it has.
Senator Ben Nelson. Did he make it?
Sergeant Webb. Absolutely, he made it. He's been to Iraq
two tours. He's already a staff sergeant. He threatens to pass
my rank up.
Senator Chambliss. I'm betting on you, sergeant.
We are constantly looking for policy changes that we need
to make your life better, to make it easier, as well as to make
the life of our men and women in uniform better. Do any of you
have any suggestions of any additional tools that we need to
give you to make sure that you're able to do your job in a very
professional way?
Sergeant Britton?
Sergeant Britton. Sir, I feel one of the difficult things
that we experience in our area sometimes involves obtaining a
list of names of seniors from some of the local schools. A lot
of times what happens, even though the lists are supposed to be
released, they're giving out forms for the parents to sign so
their names won't be on the list that we receive from the
school, if we even get the list from the school.
The reason those lists are so important--obviously, not
everyone in that senior class is going to join the Marine Corps
or any branch of the military. But it's our job as recruiters
to go out there and contact as many of these young individuals
as we can, to hopefully have an impact on somebody's life. Even
if it's not joining the Marine Corps or one of the other
branches, it at least--sometimes I've talked to young men
before that weren't going to join the Marine Corps, but at the
same time they didn't know what they were going to do. After we
were finished talking, the guy ends up starting college.
It works out better for everybody that way. That way, not
only do we help that young man or woman to become successful
and start their journey, it allows us to do our job and better
contribute to the community in really returning the citizens,
well-trained citizens, back to the community where we took them
from once they decide to get out of the Marine Corps. It starts
right there.
That's probably the biggest thing that I would change if I
had to do it, sir--better obtaining lists from the schools and
a little bit more cooperation, not in all cases though.
Obviously that's not happening, but there's some cases out
there where I think they may be trying to find a loophole in
the law that was passed, and I think that's something that
should be addressed, sir.
Sergeant White. Sir, as General Vautrinot pointed out, our
scroll process is getting health professionals approved through
this office. As you stated, you were willing to look into that,
and we thank you for that. That would be a tremendous asset in
expediting some of our health professionals on Active Duty.
The other thing would be the increase in bonuses for health
professionals. Again we thank you for the funding. However,
some of that funding doesn't necessarily filter down through
each branch equally. There are different incentives in
different programs. As we see it from the Air Force, we're now
competing against our brothers and sisters in arms in a very
competitive market for these health professionals.
What I would ask is that we do some equal approval on
bonuses for health professions, as I believe all branches are
hurting in that field.
Master Chief Petty Officer Brummer. Sir, for the United
States Navy I would say that we really appreciate the
continuing support on the bonuses. It's allowed us as
recruiters to focus on the needs of the Navy and be flexible on
the different communities, such as medical and for the Navy
SEAL and the global war on terrorism ratings. Again, I thank
you for that support and that's the continued support that
every recruiter out there enjoys from some of these tough to
fill ratings during this time of need.
Sergeant Webb. In my area of Charleston, WV, sir, the
education system seems to be failing. I don't know the way
they're even teaching math. When I was in school we didn't have
a calculator. The generation now, they get taught math with a
calculator. I think one tool that would be helpful to all the
branches is maybe allowing a calculator with this new
millennium to take the ASVAB test.
I don't know--if you just ask around the room, you'll
probably find, what's your worst subject in school, a lot of
the people in here are going to say math. I mean, they can't
even carry the one, if you will. So maybe if it was implemented
that they could use a calculator on taking the ASVAB we'd
probably see a spike in the mathematics section of the ASVAB.
The measurement--the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT)
is the score, the entry level score, and that AFQT score comes
from math knowledge, arithmetic reasoning, paragraph
comprehension, and reading--word knowledge, rather. I think the
biggest problem is they can't pass the math because they're so
used to using that calculator. So that would be the one thing I
would like to change.
Senator Chambliss. That's a good point.
Please know that we all do this, but I make it a particular
point to visit with enlisted personnel whether I'm on a base in
the continental United States or overseas. Visiting with
enlisted personnel over the last 13 years, I am so impressed
with the quality of young men and women that you are recruiting
in every branch. We thank you for the great job you're doing.
We thank you for your commitment to freedom, and we thank you
for your sacrifice that you're making on behalf of all
Americans. Thanks for being here today.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator, and I want to add
my appreciation to those remarks as well.
Obviously, the challenges are out there with an evolving
military, with new commands, Cyber Command, new challenges that
will have to be met with recruiting and retention. I hope that
as you encounter those challenges and you see where we could be
helpful, as you just suggested with lists and perhaps other
areas as well in the professional field, that you'll go through
your command or directly, will make us aware, because we want
to be a partner with you in this recruiting that you're doing
and a partner with retention, which is also extremely
important.
We end up with an awful lot invested in a soldier and we
don't want that investment to end. If we can keep the
recruitment of a family to begin with, a parent, the parents
and their son or daughter, and then at the retention level it's
another family--now it's a husband-wife, wife-husband,
children. So everything that we can do to make the military
more attractive is not only in our best interest, it's the
right thing to do for the men and women in an All-Volunteer
Force.
So I thank you for what you continue to do and we want this
partnership to continue, and that's extended, of course, to
Admiral Kilkenny and to the generals as well.
So thank you very much. With that, Senator Chambliss, this
hearing is adjourned.
[Questions for the record with answers supplied follow:]
Questions Submitted by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
recruiting and retention
1. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, what is the Army Active Duty
end strength as of the end of the January 2008?
General Bostick. 523,512.
2. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, what is the Army projection
for Active Duty end strength as of September 30, 2008, and September
30, 2009?
General Bostick. The Army projection for Active Duty end strength
as of September 30, 2008, is 534,900. The Army projection for Active
Duty end strength as of September 30, 2009, is 542,700.
3. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, are there internal Army
recruiting goals in relation to ``Grow the Army'', aside from the
published 80,000 recruits per year? If so, what are they, and why are
they not formalized?
General Bostick. No--there are no internal recruiting goals in
relation to ``Grow the Army'' above the published 80,000 mission.
4. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, can you provide annual
recruiting, retention, and end strength goals through the completion of
``Grow the Army''?
General Bostick. Recruiting, retention, and end strength goals for
2008 are 81,600, 65,000, and 534,900 respectively. Recruiting,
retention, and end strength goals for 2009 are 80,000, 66,300, and
542,700 respectively. Recruiting, retention, and end strength goals for
2010 are 75,800, 67,600, and 547,400 respectively.
5. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, what is the basis of the
goal of 90 percent of recruits having a high school diploma as opposed
to a General Equivalency Degree (GED) or other equivalent?
General Bostick. The Department of Defense (DOD) established the
goal of 90 percent High School Diploma Graduates (HSDG) based upon
attrition analysis that showed non-HSDG soldiers attrit at a higher
rate. The goal was a means to ensure cost-effectiveness associated with
the enlistment and training expenses that are expended when soldiers
fail to complete their first term of enlistment. The Tier Two Attrition
Study (TTAS) is a study to allow better identification of non-HSDG
future soldiers that will attrit more like HSDG soldiers.
6. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, do studies show a relation
between this achievement and the propensity to complete a first term of
service?
General Bostick. More than 40 years of research indicates that
enlistees who are high school graduates are much more likely to
complete their first term of enlistment than non-graduates (80 percent
versus 50 percent). In 1987, the DOD implemented a three-tier system to
classify education credentials. DOD developed the system after research
indicated a strong relationship between level of education and
successful completion of the first term of military service (Laurence,
1997; U.S. Department of Defense, 1996). Tier 1 includes regular HSDGs,
adult diploma holders, non-graduates with at least 15 hours of college
credit, and homeschool graduates who score in Test Score Categories I-
IIIA (the top half of the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT)). Tier
2 comprises alternative credential holders such as those with GED
diplomas, or certificates of completion or attendance, and Tier 3 is
composed of non-high school graduates.
Two sources available on this topic are:
Laurence, J.H., Ramsberger, P.F., and Arabian, J.M.,
Education Credential Tier Evaluation (Alexandria, VA: Human
Resources Research Organization, 1996); and
Laurence, J.H., Does Education Credential Still Predict
Attrition?, paper presented as part of Symposium, Everything
Old is New Again--Current Research Issues in Accession Policy,
at the 105th Annual Convention of the American Psychological
Association, Chicago, August 1997.
7. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, can you explain the initial
statistics from the Assessment of Individual Motivation (AIM) that you
alluded to?
General Bostick. The AIM test is given to applicants as part of the
TTAS. The intent of the TTAS study is to identify criteria other than
education credentials that predict an applicant's risk of attrition.
The current cutoff score to meet the TTAS standard is 102, which
represents the 50th percentile of all applicants taking the test. Early
indications show promise that the TTAS can be used to reduce the risk
of attrition, particularly before the 18-month mark. According to the
latest report from the Army Research Institute, those who pass the TTAS
screen, scoring 102 or higher, had lower attrition rates than those who
scored below 102 (8.3 percent vs. 12.1 percent at 6 months, 15.2
percent vs. 19.7 percent at 12 months, 20.9 percent vs. 26.8 percent at
18 months, and 24.7 percent vs. 31.4 percent at 24 months). Although
the TTAS study shows improvement, Tier Ones continue to have the lowest
attrition rates. Currently, the Army is exploring ways to improve the
TTAS metrics and increase its reliability in predicting attrition.
8. Senator Lieberman. General Bostick, do Army studies show a
significant performance difference in relation to success on the Armed
Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)? While certain low scoring
recruits go on to perform very successfully, I would like to know the
impact across the force, not anecdotal information. Please provide any
relevant studies.
General Bostick. The ASVAB measures an applicant's aptitude in a
wide range of skills (mechanical, technical, electronic, clerical,
etc.). For each of these skills, the applicant receives a line score.
Each military occupational specialty (MOS) has a set of minimum line
scores which applicants must meet to qualify for that MOS.
Historically, these line scores have been good predictors of success in
the training base. The Army Research Institute recently conducted a
study to determine the optimal line score cutoffs. This study, along
with other resources, is currently being used to validate or refine
current line score cutoffs. Additionally, the ASVAB is used as part of
the AFQT which predicts an applicant's trainability. The DOD
established Test Score Categories to predict the trainability of
applicants. Statistics have shown that soldiers who score in the top
half of the AFQT are more likely to complete training and perform well
at his/her MOS. It is not a predictor of intangible traits such as
leadership, motivation, character, etc. which also determine long-term
success in the military.
There are several studies that have drawn a correlation between the
AFQT and job performance. Two examples are listed below:
Bruce R. Orvis, Michael Childress, J. Michael Polich, Effect
of Personnel Quality on the Performance of Patriot Air Defense
System Operators (RAND Corporation, 1989); and
John D. Winkler, Judith C. Fernandez, J. Michael Polich,
Effect of Aptitude on the Performance of Army Communications
Operators (RAND Corporation, 1992).
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Claire McCaskill
recruiter incentives; impropriety; and recruitment of ethnic minorities
9. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, I am concerned about what sort of
incentives we provide recruiters for enlisting new recruits.
Overzealous incentives could lead to overzealous, even improper
recruiting. Can you clarify what incentives your Service offers
recruiters for enlisting recruits?
General Bostick. Recruiters are recognized for achievement and over
achievement of their mission primarily through two programs. The United
States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) Recruiter Incentive Award
Program allows a recruiter to earn points for their enlistments,
recruiting support and retention efforts which are applied toward the
award of various recognition items. A recruiter progresses through
several levels of incentive awards that are easily recognized by their
peers, encouraging camaraderie and pride in their accomplishments while
assigned to a challenging and unfamiliar environment.
An additional incentive, Recruiter Incentive Pay was created as one
of four pilot programs under the 2006 National Defense Authorization
Act's Recruiting Pilot Program legislation. It was implemented in June
2006. This program awards a set dollar amount for achieving mission and
overproducing on 1-month, 3-month cycles, and 12-month/annual cycles.
USAREC has not identified increases in improprieties attributed to the
ability to earn an additional monetary incentive under this pilot
program.
Admiral Kilkenny. The Navy has established awards and incentives to
enhance morale, encourage friendly competition, and recognize superior
performance of both teams and individuals for their contributions
toward accomplishing the Navy's recruiting mission. Commander, Navy
Recruiting Command establishes requirements for national-level
production awards, while the subordinate commands manage their local
award programs. The incentives available are generally designed to
bolster the recruiters' sense of pride in a job well-done as opposed to
a monetary award, although a recruiter may earn meritorious advancement
for exceptional performance. Awards range from trinkets such as coffee
mugs and plaques to letters of commendation and Navy medals.
The recurring recognition item for enlisted recruiters is
the Gold Wreath, earned for achieving five new contracts or
Reserve gains in a 3-month period.
The Recruiting ``R'' is awarded to Navy Recruiting Districts
that meet established criteria for the fiscal year. The top
districts are recognized as the Recruiting Districts of the
year.
Recruiter of the Year nominees are identified by each
district using a point-based recruiter incentive system that
awards credit for each net contract and adds bonus points for
meeting recruiting priorities, quality standards and diversity.
A national awards board selects the Recruiters of the Year, who
receive a Navy Commendation Medal.
The Recruiting Command Advancement Program provides
increased meritorious promotion opportunities for recruiters
working outside their rate and under stressful situations.
Other awards for specific production achievements include:
Admiral's Accelerator Award - a personal letter from
the Admiral and command coin for significant
achievement in production of critical ratings;
Admiral's Five Star Award and Best Station in the
Nation - recognition in Navy Recruiter Magazine;
Centurion Award - a Navy sword and display stand for
recruiters who achieve 100 net new contracts during a
tour; and
Summer Heroes/Early Bird Award - Chief of Naval
Personnel (CNP) coin and letter of commendation
presented at a dinner with CNP for exceptional
production during the fiscal quarter.
The Navy monitors both the local and national awards programs
closely to ensure both fairness and equitability and no improper
practices occur.
General Vautrinot. The Air Force offers non-monetary incentives
through an annual peer competition program which provides the complete
foundation for recruiter initiative, enthusiasm, and esprit de corps.
The purpose of our competition program is to motivate recruiters to
meet or exceed the personal production goals which are set for them.
This in turn enables their squadron to meet or exceed squadron
production goals as it competes against other squadrons command-wide.
We also include Air Force Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS)
liaisons in their own separate competition category. The individual and
squadron top performers for each fiscal year are recognized at a formal
awards banquet each October, where gold badges and silver badges are
presented by the group commanders and the AFRS Commander. These badges
may be worn on the recruiter's uniform as a reflection of their
accomplishments, and they are highly coveted.
Additionally, the 12 top recruiters in the command each year are
designated ``Blue Suit'' winners. They and their spouses are the
official guests of the AFRS Commander, Randolph Air Force Base, and the
City of San Antonio for a week in March, where numerous local community
organizations thank, honor, and entertain them.
The annual production competition has proved to be an outstanding
motivational incentive for Air Force recruiting. It has been
instrumental to our longstanding success in achieving our accession
requirements because it provides analytical indicators that allow
commanders to identify and address production shortfalls, and it allows
them to recognize recruiters that excel.
General Tryon. The Marine Corps does not offer or provide direct
incentives to our recruiters for enlisting applicants. While superior
recruiting performance may be recognized through the presentation of
awards, such as Navy and Marine Corps Achievement and Commendation
Medals, or through meritorious promotions, they are tied to all aspects
of recruiting or military service.
10. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, can you please provide the number of
incidents of alleged recruiter impropriety in the past recruiting year
and how many allegations were substantiated?
General Bostick. In fiscal year 2007, our recruiting force of
approximately 8,200 recruiters had roughly 6.9 million contacts with
the public. There were 863 recruiting impropriety allegations made
against recruiters assigned to U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) in
fiscal year 2007. 121 of the 863 allegations were substantiated. There
are 88 investigations still open, pending completion of the
investigation or a substantiation determination.
Admiral Kilkenny. In fiscal year 2007, 191 allegations of
impropriety were made against Navy recruiters. This is compared against
nearly 4,900 Total Force recruiters who accessed over 50,000 officers
and enlisted personnel into the Active and Reserve components. The 191
allegations comprise 51 instances of Misconduct (criminal misconduct,
sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and fraternization) and 140
instances of Irregularities (efforts to conceal information, testing
irregularities, false promises and quality control lapses).
For fiscal year 2007 cases, 17 investigations have been completed,
adjudicated and/or final reviewed. Nine of the 17 allegations were
substantiated.
General Vautrinot. The Air Force Recruiting Service has a zero-
tolerance policy and does not accept inappropriate conduct period. We
are very proud of all of our Air Force recruiters but especially those
who, during several television news hidden camera stories, were
completely honest with reporters and provided accurate, forthright
information.
The Air Force has taken several recent measures to ensure its
recruiters understand the seriousness of misconduct. Among these
actions are memorandums from the Air Force Chief of Staff and the
commander of Air Education and Training Commander, a 5-minute video
from the AFRS commander discussing the effects, a ``Recruiter Pledge''
that each recruiter signs and displays in his/her work area, initial
misconduct training that each recruiter receives at the Air Force
Recruiter Course, and then annual training each receives during their
squadron conference each fall.
During fiscal year 2007, the Air Force investigated 40 recruiters
for misconduct. Of those 40 cases, 17 were substantiated, including 6
for unauthorized relationships with applicants (Note: Even consensual
is not allowed per Air Force instruction). Other misconduct was for
concealment or falsification of information or false promise/coercion.
General Tryon. In fiscal year 2007, there were 212 applicant-
related alleged recruiter misconduct cases. Of those cases, 91 were
substantiated, 59 were unsubstantiated, and 62 cases are still under
investigation from fiscal year 2007.
11. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, how were the recruiters who committed the
substantiated incidents of misconduct disciplined?
General Bostick. In fiscal year 2007, 185 of the approximately
8,200 on-production (uniformed) recruiters (2.3 percent) and 11
civilian contract recruiters were involved in the 121 substantiated
allegations. Disciplinary actions taken in these cases break out in the
following manner from least severe to most severe:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recruiters
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Military recruiters:
No Action Taken........................................... 6
Verbal Reprimand/Counseling............................... 2
Battalion (BN) Level Written Reprimand/Counseling......... 46
Brigade (BDE) Level Written Reprimand/Counseling.......... 56
General Officer Level Written Reprimand................... 13
Relief from Recruiting Duty............................... 24
Non-Judicial Punishment (BN or BDE level)................. 36
Discharge in Lieu of Court-Martial........................ 1
Trial by Court-Martial.................................... 1
Contract recruiters:
No Action Taken........................................... 6
Corporate Reprimand....................................... 4
Termination of Employment................................. 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In those cases where ``No Action Taken,'' the individual either
departed the Army, departed the command on permanent change of station
orders, or voluntarily left the employment of the parent corporation
prior to or at the time of the substantiation decision.
Admiral Kilkenny. In substantiated incidents of misconduct,
offenders are dealt with through a variety of punitive, non-punitive,
and administrative measures 22 percent of the time. These measures
include adverse administrative actions (e.g., removal from recruiting
duty and reassignment); non-judicial punishment (includes punishments
such as fines, restriction, and reduction in grade); and courts-
martial. Other administrative actions (letters of instruction or extra
military instruction) are used as corrective measures in the remaining
78 percent of such incidents.
General Vautrinot. Discipline/response incidents in 2007 included:
Courts-martial Punishment (incarceration, Bad Conduct
Discharge from the Air Force);
Non-judicial Punishment (reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay,
additional duty);
Administrative Action (administrative discharge from the Air
Force, Letter of Reprimand); and
Removal from recruiting duty.
General Tryon. Of the 91 substantiated applicant-related alleged
recruiter misconduct cases, 56 marines were removed from the recruiting
environment or discharged from the Marine Corps. In 35 cases, the
marines were disciplined administratively and remained on recruiting
duty.
12. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, further, can you discuss the locations of
the instances of alleged misconduct?
General Bostick. USAREC has a very robust recruiting impropriety
database that includes numerous data points, but it does not track the
location of allegations. However, USAREC is able to state that
recruiting improprieties occur in the recruiting stations, in
government owned vehicles, in recruits' homes, and at Military Entrance
Processing Stations.
Admiral Kilkenny. There was no concentration of misconduct
allegations in any single geographical area covering 1,300 recruiting
stations and 26 Navy recruiting districts.
General Vautrinot. Incidents occurred in a variety of locations to
include Government-owned vehicle, restaurant, park, residence, and a
recruiting office. However, there were no trends noted.
General Tryon. Recruiter Irregularities are categorized into
malpractice and misconduct. Malpractice consists of concealment, fraud,
cheating on the ASVAB test, and making false promises. Misconduct
infractions include criminal misconduct, sexual misconduct, or other
such violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Generally
speaking, we have found that most malpractice cases and allegations
involve actual paperwork and enlistment processing and, therefore,
happen at the recruiting station. However, misconduct cases occur
predominantly outside the workplace and outside normal business hours
in public places, private residences, private or government vehicles,
or even via text messages, email, or other electronic means.
13. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, do allegations derive primarily from
recruiting station engagements or elsewhere?
General Bostick. Without additional time to review all 121
substantiated investigations, we are unable to completely discuss the
locations of the instances of the alleged misconduct or answer whether
the allegations derive primarily from recruiting station engagements.
However, USAREC is able to state that recruiting improprieties occur in
the recruiting stations, in Government-owned vehicles, in recruits'
homes, and at Military Entrance Processing Stations.
Admiral Kilkenny. Most alleged instances of impropriety are
reported to have occurred at locations other than Recruiting Stations.
Commonly cited locations include the recruiter's vehicle, the MEPS, the
recruit's residence, and public sites such as malls, streets, or
shopping areas.
General Vautrinot. The vast majority are ``paperwork'' related and
therefore occurred at recruiting offices or on government computers.
General Tryon. As previously stated, over half applicant-related
alleged cases are classified as malpractice which primarily occur at
the recruiting station between the recruiter and applicant. The
remaining misconduct cases occur in various locations through various
means outside of the recruiting station (email text messages, driving
in a vehicle, etc).
14. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, I have heard some anecdotal evidence that
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had a particular impact on
minority recruiting. That is, some believe that minority propensity for
service has reduced more substantially than overall propensity for
service. Can you discuss how your minority recruiting is progressing,
including a discussion of minority recruiting into combat arms and
special operations specialties, and what you are doing to increase
minority recruiting?
General Bostick. The Army's goal is to be representative of the
population from which we recruit. The Army has been very successful in
this goal for the past few years with respect to the race/ethnic
representation in our accessions cohorts. If we were to experience
decreases in minority recruiting such that we were no longer
representative of our market population, that would indicate the need
for further action above our current efforts. The Army continuously
monitors the race/ethnic makeup of our future soldiers at all levels of
the recruiting command and takes action where necessary to assist
subordinate units in their efforts to be representative of their
markets. Often these actions are in the form of partnerships and
outreach programs to minority organizations at the local, regional,
and/or national levels.
Minority enlistments continue to reflect the population. With
African Americans composing approximately 14.6 percent of the qualified
military youth, their enlistments accounted for just over 15.5 percent
of the Army in 2007. Likewise, Hispanic youth comprise 12.7 percent of
the eligible population and 12.4 percent of the enlistments.
Comparatively, Caucasians comprise 67.1 percent of the eligible
population and 67.1 percent of the enlistments.
Within the Combat Support career division, the ethnic composition
is balanced. It is within the Combat Arms, however, that minorities are
less represented with a composition of 6 percent African American and
10 percent Hispanic enlistments compared to 79 percent Caucasian
(2007). However, within the Combat Service Support career division,
minorities are over represented with 24 percent African American, 15
percent Hispanic, and 56 percent Caucasian proportion of enlistments.
This general representation has been relatively consistent for the past
5 years.
The imbalance within the aforementioned career divisions is
pronounced within the special operations specialties of the Special
Forces (Career Management Field 18) and the Ranger enlistment option.
Minorities are under-represented; Caucasians account for roughly 88
percent of the enlistments into these specialty fields.
Admiral Kilkenny. Results from the latest youth poll from the Joint
Advertising Market Research and Studies (JAMRS) indicate that
propensity for serving in the Active Duty military significantly
declined in 2006 and has remained unchanged in 2007. While the largest
declines in propensity were seen for Hispanic and African American
youth, the composite propensity for Active Duty is still significantly
greater among these groups than it is among caucasian youth.
Navy enlisted recruiting has been successful in reaching the
diversity markets. Overall for fiscal year 2007, the diversity
representation for Navy accessions was 21 percent African American, 21
percent Asian, Pacific Islander, or Native American (API/NATAM), and 20
percent Hispanic. This compares favorably to the demographic benchmark
for the recruitable market (16 percent African American, 3 percent API/
NATAM, and 12 percent Hispanic). In the Navy Special Operations and
Navy Special Warfare accessions (Navy Diver, Explosive Ordnance
Disposal, Special Warfare Boat Operator, and Special Warfare Operator),
African Americans (at 6 percent) were underrepresented, but API/NATAM
(19 percent) and Hispanics (15 percent) were close to the overall
representation.
Officer Accessions for minorities have historically been more
difficult to achieve than enlisted contracts. We continue to address
that through a variety of actions to include closer engagement with
affinity groups; partnering with the Naval Academy and other colleges/
universities, especially those with Naval Reserve Officers Training
Corps programs; and closely monitoring and adjusting our marketing and
advertising programs focused on Diversity Officer recruiting. However,
there is no evidence to suggest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are
having any additional measurable effect on Diversity Officer recruiting
outside the normal historical challenges.
General Vautrinot. Consistent with Headquarters Air Force-directed
fiscal year 2007/2008 budget and manpower reductions, diversity
marketing and outreach programs (i.e. civilian colleges) for line
officer recruiting were curtailed in favor of meeting minimum enlisted
accession and health professions requirements.
- Air Force remains #1 among minorities as ``Service of
Choice,'' including African American
- Air Force minority enlisted recruiting statistics remains
strong (see enclosed BBP)
- Likelihood that African American youth (17-24 year olds)
want to serve is at decades low
- The proportion of hispanics (69 percent) who report being
less likely to join the military because of the war on
terrorism has increased significantly in the past 6 months
- An overwhelming 87 percent of black youth report being less
likely to join the military as a result of the war on terrorism
- Likelihood that African American influencers (parents,
teachers, clergy, coaches, et cetera) would recommend military
service is at decades low
- 73 percent of all youth (including minorities) are NOT
qualified to serve in military
- Per national polls: military service is #1 ``trusted''
profession and military officer is #4 respected professional
(The Harris Poll #77, August 1, 2007) . . . yet JAMRS polls
indicate African Americans value military service less than any
baseline or minority counterparts and have higher disagreement
with troops in Iraq (``proportion of white (50 percent) and
black (22 percent) youth who support Troops being in Iraq has
significantly decreased since June 2006'').
General Tryon. During fiscal year 2007, the Marine Corps accessed
9.1 percent African-Americans and 17.1 percent Hispanics of our total
force enlistments which was up from 8 percent and 15.7 percent
respectively in fiscal year 2006. In fiscal year 2008 (through 22 Feb
2008) we have accessed 9.8 percent African Americans and 16.7 percent
Hispanics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the overall African
American population in the United States is 12.4 percent and the
overall Hispanic population in the United States is 14.8 percent. In
regards to recruiting minority applicants into combat arms and special
operations occupational fields, during fiscal year 2007 the Marine
Corps assessed 4.0 percent African Americans and 13.1 percent Hispanic
into Infantry and Reconnaissance Programs. Fiscal year-to-date we have
assessed 5.0 percent African American and 14.2 percent Hispanic into
those programs. Minority recruiting overall and within the Infantry and
Reconnaissance Programs is showing improvement over last year's
results. This trend is expected to continue. The Marine Corps continues
to make greater inroads into the minority population through focused
marketing and advertising efforts. This will be enhanced through
increased awareness activities in television advertising, print
advertising, and national event partnerships geared towards various
minority populations. Examples of these events are major sporting
events involving Historically Black Colleges and Universities, national
leadership conferences, and diversity job fairs. The goal of this
advertising and participation in these events is to increase awareness
within the minority population of the benefits available to all young
men and women through service in the Marine Corps.
army accessions organizations
15. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, I have become aware of a
discussion within the Army about how it organizes its various
accessions organizations. The Government Accountability Office, in a
January 2007 report, found that the Army lacked a strategic plan for
officer accessions and, further, that officer accessions programs are
suffering from decentralization in organization and management. Your
command is paired with the ROTC Cadet Command in the Army's Accessions
Command. When the Army created Accessions Command, it is my
understanding that it paired ROTC with Recruiting Command to create
synergies between enlisted recruiting and ROTC officer recruiting, such
as perhaps enabling ROTC to pass program drop-outs to Recruiting
Command for potential enlistment. Please discuss how you have partnered
with Cadet Command to achieve any such synergies and how many recruits
have come to Recruiting Command from Cadet Command (please both discuss
and provide specific numbers).
General Bostick. The partnership between USAREC and U.S. Army Cadet
Command to share referrals began in March 2001. Initially, this was a
manual process where USAREC shared information with individual schools
for ROTC referrals and Cadet Command shared information with local
recruiting units when an individual either stopped out or dropped out
of school. This process has now been automated. Since fiscal year 2006,
over 24,000 leads have been shared between the 2 commands.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leads Shared
Fiscal Year ---------------------------------
USAREC Cadet Command
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006.................................. 7,148 4,956
2007.................................. 5,341 3,470
2008.................................. 2,175 1,339
------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, do you believe there are
natural synergies between enlisted recruiting and ROTC officer
recruiting or do these two missions differ substantially?
General Bostick. There are synergies shared by all recruiting
efforts. However, the focus and qualifications for the individual being
recruited are generally different in the enlisted and officer
specialties. USAREC focuses its effort on the men and women seeking to
join the Army's enlisted ranks within the next 12 months. The United
States Army Cadet Command places emphasis on those seeking to join the
Army's officer ranks in the next 2 to 4 years. There are synergies,
areas where we are able to work together for the benefit of both
commands, but the missions are substantially different.
17. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, in your personal and
professional view, would moving Cadet Command out of Accessions Command
have any negative impact on Recruiting Command? If so, what would that
impact be?
General Bostick. The potential impacts of any reorganization are
unclear. There are a number of ongoing studies and reviews of the
Army's organizational structure. The Army will be in a better position
to determine the most effective organizational structure to accomplish
its recruiting and accession missions guided by the results of these
reviews.
waivers and officer candidate school
18. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, in recent years, the Army
has issued an increasing number of moral waivers to recruits. Can you
please provide by month how many waivers were granted in the 2006,
2007, and so far in the 2008 recruiting years?
General Bostick. Please see the chart below for monthly waiver data
for regular Army Non-Prior Service recruits. Note: Prior to fiscal year
2007, we have limited ability to differentiate between Misdemeanors and
Serious Misdemeanors.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2005 2006
Fiscal Year 2006 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Total
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misdemeanor................... 416 533 5 619 535 465 518 486 574 514 814 615 6,095
Felony........................ 49 81 1 109 89 75 96 96 146 87 167 102 1,098
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006 2006
Fiscal Year 2007 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Total
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misdemeanor................... 517 669 1 966 697 618 589 547 486 672 702 802 7,266
Felony........................ 103 113 0 229 118 141 120 139 149 151 152 162 1,582
Serious Misdemeanor........... 0 0 0 1 18 26 17 19 14 12 29 29 165
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007 2008
Fiscal Year 2008 ------------------------- Total
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misdemeanor......................... 453 518 3 895 1,869
Felony.............................. 74 102 1 142 319
Serious Misdemeanor................. 22 22 0 47 91
------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, in your opinion, how do
recruits who are granted these waivers compare to those who do not
require them?
General Bostick. Recent Army analysis of the fiscal year 2003-
fiscal year 2006 cohorts has shown that soldiers granted conduct
waivers performed comparable to, and in some cases better, than those
soldiers who enlisted without waivers. In this particular study they
reenlisted at a higher rate and received valorous awards at a higher
rate than those soldiers who did not receive conduct waivers.
Additionally, for infantry soldiers, it showed that soldiers who
received conduct waivers were promoted to sergeant approximately 4
months sooner. In general, these soldiers have higher test scores on
the ASVAB and higher high school graduation rates. Those granted
conduct waivers did have slightly higher adverse loss and misconduct
rates. There are ongoing studies to access the long-term performance of
soldiers requiring a conduct waiver.
20. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, I am aware that Recruiting
Command has accessed an increasing number of candidates into Officer
Candidate School (OCS). OCS accessions have increased from 9 percent of
officer accessions in 1995 to 40 percent of accessions in 2008. In
2002, OCS accessions had increased to 20 percent of total officer
accessions. This indicates that the drastic increase in OCS accessions
cannot be written off to requirements associated with the increase in
size of the Army. Further, it is my understanding that nearly half of
the 40 percent of OCS officer accessions are attributable to the
enlistment option. Please indicate how many enlistment option OCS
candidates the Army Recruiting Command has enlisted in each year since
2000?
General Bostick. Since fiscal year 2000 to today, the USAREC has
enlisted 5,555 OCS candidates.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year OCS Candidates
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2000.................................................. 230
2001.................................................. 366
2002.................................................. 655
2003.................................................. 625
2004.................................................. 350
2005.................................................. 685
2006.................................................. 1,092
2007.................................................. 1,185
2008 YTD.............................................. 367
------------------------------------------------------------------------
21. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, how has the increasing
number of enlistment option candidates affected the quality of the
overall enlisted recruiting pool?
General Bostick. OCS candidates increase the overall quality of the
enlisted recruiting pool. Regular Army soldiers enlisting for OCS
require a Bachelor's Degree. Those Army Reserve soldiers enlisting for
OCS must be in their senior year of college. These men and women
undergo a competitive selection board process to determine whether or
not they will be allowed to enter the Army under the OCS enlistment
option.
22. Senator McCaskill. General Bostick, what sort of burden has
this placed on recruiters to recruit more soldiers who will remain
enlisted?
General Bostick. USAREC is given requirements for OCS candidates by
the Department of the Army based on the Army's needs. There is no
additional burden on recruiters as these soldiers are counted against
our regular Army annual mission of 80,000 and Army Reserve annual
mission of 26,500.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Lindsey O. Graham
recruiting mental health professionals
23. Senator Graham. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, the DOD Task Force on Mental Health, as
well as the Army's studies of mental health needs of soldiers deployed
to Iraq, all found evidence that embedding mental health providers
within units is crucial to the psychological health of servicemembers.
Coupled with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury,
and the needs of family members under stress, the need for mental
health professionals to support the military has increased
significantly.
Recognizing that the military competes with a limited supply of
qualified mental health care professionals in the country today, have
the military departments developed incentives to recruit and train
mental health professionals in uniform?
General Bostick. Yes, the Army offers several programs to recruit
and train mental health professionals in uniform. The Clinical
Psychology Internship Program is a post-doctorate program available for
30 interns per year and is required for State licensure. Participants
are on Active Duty during this program and incur an additional Active
Duty service obligation. The Health Professions Scholarship Program is
available for students pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology in
exchange for an Active Duty service obligation. This scholarship
program pays an additional stipend of $1,605/month. The Masters of
Social Work program is a newly established program at the U.S. Army
Medical Department's (AMEDD) Center and School in affiliation with
Fayetteville State University. This program will accommodate up to 25
students per year starting in academic year 2008. The Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences offers a Clinical Psychology
Training Program and has introduced a new Adult Psychiatric Mental
Health Nurse Practitioner Program (PMH-NP). PHM-NP is a 24-month, full-
time program beginning in academic year 2008; Army allocations are
still to be determined. Participants are on Active Duty during these
programs and incur additional Active Duty service obligations.
Admiral Kilkenny. The Navy does offer incentives to recruit mental
health care professionals, both as direct accessions and to train them
in student programs. The incentives vary based on the mental health
specialty.
Psychiatrists are now eligible to receive a $175,000 accession
bonus and may participate in the Health Professions Loan Repayment
Program (HPLRP). They also may be eligible for certain specialty pays
while on Active Duty. Civilian Psychiatric residents are eligible to
participate in the Financial Assistance Plan, where they receive a
monthly stipend--currently $1,605 and growing to $1,907 later this
year--and an annual grant up to $28,454 currently, but scheduled to
increase to $45,000 on July 1, 2008. The minimum Active Duty obligation
for participating in Financial Assistance Plan is 3 years.
Mental Health Nurses are eligible for up to a $30,000 accession
bonus depending on the length of their commitment, may participate in
the HPLRP, and are eligible to receive Board Certification Pay. Once on
Active Duty, nurses are eligible to be sent to a civilian Master's
program for Mental Health Nurse Practitioners or Clinical Nurse
Specialists in the Duty Under Instruction program.
Psychologists and Social Workers are not authorized an accession
bonus, but may participate in the HPLRP and receive Board Certification
Pay.
The Navy has both a military psychiatrist residency and a clinical
psychologist internship training program.
General Vautrinot. The Air Force has established recruitment and
retention bonuses for many career fields including mental health
professionals. Additionally, we have submitted several proposals for
our most difficult-to-fill requirements. While full funding of
recruitment and retention programs would help us retain the right mix
and number of providers and technicians, we continue to compete with
our DOD sister Services, other government health agencies, and private
sector counterparts for very limited national pool of highly-trained
health care personnel resources.
Section 335 of U.S.C. 37, chapter 5, is a revision per National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2008 and may authorize
the additional pay required to recruit and retain qualified mental
health professionals. Supplemental authorities like the Critical Skills
Accession Bonus (CSAB) for psychiatrists and the Critical Skills
Retention Bonus (CSRB) for clinical psychologists do exist but the
absence of supplemental funding makes them difficult to implement. The
Air Force fully supports, as funding allows, all available special and
incentive pays currently authorized. In order to implement new pay
authorities and provide increases in special pay where necessary, we
have garnered an additional $65 million in fiscal year 2009 and across
the Future Years Defense Plan through the Air Force Chief of Staff
Initiative.
Below is a summary regarding each of the primary mental health care
professional career fields in the Air Force.
Clinical Psychologists
Licensed clinical psychologist recruiting and retention remains
extremely difficult. The Psychology Residency Accession Program is the
primary means of recruiting, but only 11 of 23 psychology residency
quotas for academic year 2007-2008 were filled. We anticipate a
``bathtub'' effect in the future since the residency training pipeline
and licensure process takes a minimum of 2 years. Fully qualified
psychologists' recruiting is even more difficult. In the past 5 years,
only seven fully qualified psychologists were accessed into the Air
Force. Clearly, psychologists require monetary recruitment and
retention incentives.
Recruitment incentives for psychologists are moderate with a
limited number of Accession HPLRP quotas available to fully licensed
psychologists, and a limited number of Health Professions Scholarship
Program quotas for students pursuing studies in clinical psychology. To
increase the recruitment of fully qualified personnel, an accession
bonus for clinical psychologists is recommended.
Currently, a CSRB of $30,000 is offered to psychologists in the 4-
6-year time in commissioned service group for a 3-year commitment. Take
rates for the CSRB are high, but the monetary amount may be too small
and the number of personnel in the appropriate year group may be too
limited to have a significant retention impact.
Social Workers
The Air Force Chief Consultant for Social Work has initiated a
direct working relationship with Recruiting Services and manning has
improved significantly from 75 percent in summer 2006 to 101 percent
currently. Although current manning is good, it may be beneficial to
obtain authorization for special and incentive pays for social workers
due to the increasing demands on Mental Health providers, Mental Health
Nurses, and Mental Health Nurse Practitioners.
All nurses are currently authorized incentive special pay (ISP) by
law, although in fiscal year 2008 funding constraints did not allow the
Air Force to initiate this special pay. Adequate funding is anticipated
to support the nurse ISP in fiscal year 2009, and the Air Force intends
to start the ISP for nurses in beginning in fiscal year 2009.
Psychiatry
The current number of AD psychiatrists closely matches the number
of authorized billets but the demand for psychiatric services both at
home and in the deployed environment is increasing. Total psychiatry
manning is 98 percent. Current manning of fully qualified psychiatrists
is at 64 percent with 48 psychiatry residents in training at this time.
The Multi-Year Special Pay amounts were increased this year to a
maximum of $75,000 in conjunction with the Tri-Service Health
Professions Incentive Working Group. Although authorized, the Air Force
was unable to offer the CSAB to Psychiatrists in fiscal year 2008 due
to funding limitations.
General Tryon. Question not applicable to the Marine Corps.
24. Senator Graham. General Bostick, Admiral Kilkenny, General
Vautrinot, and General Tryon, are incentives that are specific to
mental health professionals needed? If so, what are the monetary as
well as non-monetary incentives that are needed?
General Bostick. The military competes within a market that suffers
from shortages of qualified mental health professionals. Incentives
specific to mental health are needed to recruit and retain these
professionals in the Army. Licensed Clinical Psychologists are offered
the CSRB at a rate of $13,000/year for 2 years or $25,000/year for 3
years. The HPLRP is available for the accessions of 5 clinical
psychologists and the retention of 20 clinical psychologists at the
rate of $38,437/year. The Health Professions Scholarship Program is
available to students pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology in
exchange for an Active Duty service obligation. Social Workers in the
rank of Captain are offered the Army CSRB at the rate of $25,000 for a
3-year Active Duty service obligation. The HPLRP is available for the
accessions of 5 social workers and the retention of 20 clinical
psychologists at the rate of $38,437/year. A Masters of Social Work
program has been established at the AMEDD Center and School in
affiliation with Fayetteville State University. The program will
accommodate up to 25 students per year starting in academic year 2008.
Psychiatric Nurses and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners are authorized
to receive Registered Nurse Incentive Special Pay at a rate of $5,000/
year for 1 year, $10,000/year for 2 years, $15,000/year for 3 years,
and $20,000/year for 4 years. The Uniformed Services University of
Health Sciences has introduced a new Adult PMH-NP. PHM-NP is a 24-
month, full time program beginning in Academic Year 2008; Army
allocations are still to be determined. Psychiatrists who execute a
multi-year special pay contract (extending their Active Duty service
obligation) are paid at the rates of $17,000/year for a 2-year
contract, $25,000/year for a 3-year contract, and $33,000/year for a 4-
year contract. The Critical Wartime Skills Accession Bonus is approved
(pending funding) as a lump sum bonus of $175,000 for 10 psychiatrists
in return for a 4-year Active Duty service obligation.
Admiral Kilkenny. The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2008 provided authority
to pay a bonus to members for referring recruits who enter Navy health
professions. We are hopeful that this type of incentive will increase
the number of leads for these programs and improve our recruiting
success.
Because of the limited supply of qualified mental health care
professionals, specific incentives are needed to get them to choose the
Navy. The Navy's Clinical Psychologists community is in a challenging
situation, with current manning at only 79 percent and retention rates
falling due to high deployment during the global war on terrorism.
Section 604 of the National Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal
Year 2009 would authorize an accession bonus up to $70,000 for fully
trained and licensed psychologists. This is necessary to meet the near-
term billet growth, replace losses, and supplement the Internship
Program. Your support for this authority will be a key contribution to
our future success.
The current authority for accession and retention incentives for
Psychiatrists is adequate. The Psychiatry multi-year special pay has
increased $8,000 each of the past 2 fiscal years and will be evaluated
again for fiscal year 2009 by OSD/HA. NDAA 2007 authorized a Critical
Wartime Skills Accession Bonus (CWSAB). The fiscal year 2008 CWSAB for
Psychiatrists is $175,000 for a 4-year commitment. This rate will be
revaluated for fiscal year 2009 by OSD/HA.
We will continue to evaluate areas where we need help meeting the
increasing demand for mental health professionals. As we identify new
tools and incentives we will include them in future authorization
requests.
General Vautrinot. Yes, incentives are needed to effectively
recruit all health professionals. Certainly with the types of mental
health diagnoses resulting from current combat operations, the Air
Force Medical Service's manning requirements for mental health
professionals is very likely to increase. There are a number of
monetary and non-monetary incentives that would assist these recruiting
efforts. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists have concerns about
military providers making significantly less than their civilian
counterparts. We need a ``Critical Wartime Skills'' accession bonus not
only for psychiatrists, but for all types of mental health providers;
and in order for this bonus to be most effective, we need legislation
that allows the bonus to be offered concurrently with multi-year
specialty pay. Additionally, the closing and realigning of major
medical facilities and the condition of current facilities has raised
questions about the future and stability of the military medical
system. Legislation that authorizes and appropriates funds to secure,
stabilize, and upgrade military mental health treatment facilities will
ease potential applicant's fears concerning the military work
environment.
With respect to non-monetary incentives, we need congressional help
for relief concerning the time delay between application and accession;
we lose a number of qualified applicants during this period because
they get ``turned off'' to the seemingly endless military bureaucracy.
They are motivated and excited to enter the Air Force and understand
that we need and want their skills, but then it takes several months to
get them through the Regular Officer Appointment Scroll approval
process, and they become disenchanted. Per SAF/GCM, a 2005 Department
of Justice ruling stipulated that direct appointment of regular field
grade officers cannot be delegated lower than Department Secretaries.
However, Congress has yet to take advantage of this ruling, and field
grade approval still resides with the President, followed by Senate
confirmation. Congress could greatly assist recruiting by enacting
legislation to delegate scroll approval authority from the Senate to
the Secretary of Defense for Health Professions regular officer
candidates seeking the rank of Major and Lieutenant Colonel (O-4 and O-
5). Delegation of this authority alone would reduce the process by 2 to
3 months. Of note, appointment scrolls for regular company grade
officers as well as all Reserve officers through the grade of O-5 are
currently approved at the Secretary of Defense level.
General Tryon. Question not applicable to the Marine Corps.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Saxby Chambliss
viability of the all-volunteer force
25. Senator Chambliss. General Bostick and Sergeant Webb, it is my
understanding that the Army has established several recruiting and
marketing programs to ensure the viability of the All-Volunteer Force.
One such program--The Sky Soldier Air Show Recruiting Program--is a
program that produces leads for recruiters while leveraging industry
and veteran organizations. Based on the desire to preserve the All-
Volunteer Force, I would appreciate your views on what are the benefits
of such programs?
General Bostick and Sergeant Webb. The value varies by program.
Those that perform the best place the Army and its soldiers front and
center with the prospects and influencers that attend the various
venues we choose to participate in. We do this through the use of
experiential displays that provide the opportunity for interaction with
high-tech savvy soldiers roughly the same age as those men and women in
our target market as well as those that influence them on a daily basis
(parents, friends, et cetera). These face-to-face interactions not only
provide leads for recruiters to contact, but also increased
information/knowledge about what the Army has to offer as a viable
option for their future.
26. Senator Graham. General Bostick and Sergeant Webb, how does the
Army specifically address the viability of such programs, in
consultation with management teams of these organizations, to verify
information related to the return on investment of these programs with
respect to market penetration, accrual of leads, cost, the impact on
propensity of attendees, and the immediate or long-term impact on
prospects and influencers?
General Bostick and Sergeant Webb. The Army addresses these topics/
items of information through our advertising agency (McCann Erickson)
and its event marketing agency (Momentum). Each program is a
subcontractor with the event marketing agency. The viability of each
program is reviewed on a regular basis over the course of the period of
execution through after action reviews upon the completion of each
event. Copies are provided to various levels of the Army marketing
organization for review and comment as well as to management within the
specific program. At the end of each program's execution for the year a
full after action review is conducted to review the program in its
entirety.
27. Senator Graham. General Bostick and Sergeant Webb, what
procedures are in place for the Army to notify companies in the event
the Army chooses to cancel or reduce funding for these types of
programs?
General Bostick and Sergeant Webb. Upon the completion of a program
the Army and its event marketing agency conduct an assessment of the
performance of program. That assessment is briefed to the appropriate
level of Army leadership where a decision is made to continue, cancel,
or reduce funding in these programs. Upon that decision being made a
telephonic notification is executed with the program's management which
is then followed up with written notification within 48-72 hours. That
notification is executed by the event marketing agency as they are the
organization with which the program is contracted with.
[Whereupon, at 11:14 a.m., the subcommittee adjourned.]