In uncertain economic times, some of the services are upping their recruiting goals February 2 Navy recruits wash their hands in preparation for chow on board Fort McCoy, an Army training center in western Wisconsin. (MC3 Nikita Custer/Navy) A down economy is notoriously fertile ground for military recruiting, setting up an opportunity for the services to shore up their end strengths while the civilian job market is in crisis. In the wake of massive unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, recruiters have the opportunity to bring in more high-aptitude recruits, an easier feat when the economy is in a downturn. The Army, Air Force and Marine Corps have all upped their recruiting goals this year, after the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the number of incoming recruits in 2020. The increases coincide with a long-term plan to grow the Army, while the Air Force is overmanned and the Marine Corps is drawing down its manpower.
More Military Recruiters Catching COVID-19 as Pandemic Rages Across the US
Lt. Cdr. Dominique Jackson of Navy Recruiting Command’s Diversity and Outreach department meets with midshipmen from George Washington University’s Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) to give them advice for their first years in the Navy, October 23, 2020. (Zachary S. Eshleman/U.S. Navy)
17 Dec 2020
Service members on recruiting duty one of the military s most public-facing jobs are seeing higher rates of coronavirus infections as the country grapples with record spikes, hospitalizations and deaths.
Military recruiting officials say coronavirus cases in their commands match the country s rising rates. Navy Recruiting Command hit its highest weekly count around Thanksgiving, Rear Adm. Dennis Velez said in early December. Just under 1% of his 7,000-person workforce tested positive the last week of November.