Fewer high-quality Army recruits (Boston Globe)

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

Fewer high-quality Army recruits
As war needs rise, exam scores drop

By Bryan Bender and Kevin Baron, Globe Correspondent
| June 1, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The percentage of high-quality recruits
entering the Army is the lowest in 10 years, an indication
that the force is struggling to attract top-grade enlistees
-- and a troubling sign for the Pentagon, which is waging
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and plans to add 90,000
ground troops to its ranks within the next five years.

Over the past decade, the percentage of top-level recruits
who enlisted in the Army was mostly consistent, dipping
slightly at the end of the 1990s before spiking in the wake
of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But since 2003 --
the same year the US invaded Iraq -- the Army has
steadily taken in more recruits that the force itself
considers "non-high quality."

Last year, nearly 40 percent of those who joined the Army
had below-average verbal and math scores on the Armed
Forces Qualification Test, a mandatory exam that helps the
military determine a recruit's aptitude and mental proficiency.
In 2003, the Army accepted only 28.9 percent of the low-
scoring recruits, but that percentage gradually began to rise
in subsequent years, according to Army statistics.

-snip-

The Globe review of Defense Department personnel statistics
from 1996 to 2006, including recruits' education levels and
their scores on the armed forces entry test, show that the
Army is experiencing a downward trend in recruit quality that
military analysts suggest will continue for some time.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/01/fewer_high_quality_army_recruits