US Army Recruitment Slumps

The biggest slump in recruiting figures for a quarter of a century has thrown the US army's plans for expansion into doubt, it was claimed today.

The US army is expected to have enlisted 73,000 personnel in the 12 months to the end of September, well short of its 80,000 target. Although the figures have yet to be confirmed officially, the expected 7,000 shortfall would be the largest - in absolute number as well as in percentage terms - since 1979, according to army records.

The slump comes at a time where there is a growing belief among some US politicians that the million-strong army needs to get bigger -by an estimated 50,000 soldiers-to meet its many overseas commitments.

However, the frequent deaths of US soldiers in Iraq, combined with low domestic unemployment has dented enthusiasm to join up.

"The bad news is that any shortfall shows how hard it would be to increase the army's size by 50,000 or more as many of us think appropriate," said Michael O'Hanlon, a defence analyst at Brookings think-tank. "We appear to have waited too long to try."

The army is campaigning to add 30,000 soldiers, but even that will be hard to achieve if recruiters cannot persuade more to join the service, he added.

The army national guard and the army reserve, which are smaller than the regular army, are likely to have suffered even worse results.

In an attempt to entice people into the service, the army has boosted advertising and vastly increased the number of recruiters on the street, offered bigger signup bonuses and. Many recruiters tour shopping malls hoping to interview.

Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said that the army would attract more recruits if it could offer shorter enlistments than the current three-year requirement.

"The future looks even grimmer. Recruiting is going to get harder and harder," Mr Moskos said.