Tuesday, September 13, 2005

August Army Recruiting

woohoo - the recruiting numbers are out

* " (Reuters) - The Army posted its best recruiting month in four years in August, but will still miss its annual recruiting goal for the first time since 1999, officials said Monday." (link)

* "The Guard missed its recruiting goal by 18 percent in August and was 12,683, or 22 percent, behind its year-to-date goal.
The Army Reserve, which last missed an annual goal in 1999, was short of its August target by 9 percent and was 19 percent behind its year-to-date target."

* here is the DoD press release, and here are the DoD's actual numbers

as usual, there are a couple of oddities - none of them particularly interesting, but here goes:

1. the AP doesnt seem to have put a story on the wires - that seems odd. (i cant find it anyway)

2. the Army's 'best month' is in absolute terms - they actually only beat their target by 2%. You'll remember that they beat their July numbers by 32% - which i'd argue means that was a 'better' month

3. the reuters report doesnt mention the number of army recruits, or the target, or the premium over the target (in absolute or % terms)

4. here is a screengrab from news.google

it shows that the DoD changed the numbers in their press release (i just fluked noticing). in the first release, they said:
" the Army Reserve met 89 percent of its August goal"
and then an hour later they said:
" the Army Reserve met 91 percent of its August goal"
they have since pulled the first release. i dont expect it was anything more than a fuckup - but given their history, there isnt anything i'd put past them - and if its just a fuckup, its reassuring that the DoD is so undisciplined. its not like they are planning to nuke countries pre-emptively or anything.

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