Army recruiting

(Newser) - Seeking to swell enlisted ranks, the Pentagon may let more minor criminals enlist in the military, the AP reports. "I do believe it needs to be done," an Army official said of the proposed plan. "There are really anomalies out there"—like recruits who have youthful...

(Newser) - An understaffed Army is testing out a tidy bonus to entice enlistees who agree to ship out to basic training within 30 days of signing up. The Army will be offering the $20K "Quick Ship" bonus until September to try and reach an increasingly ambitious recruiting goal of 80,...

(Newser) - Despite calls for a draft to "fix"  the ailing US Army, it would be less efficient financially and less effective on the ground than the volunteer Army, a new study concludes. A Congressional Budget Office paper, reported in Time, says draftees make for less well-trained soldiers because they...

(Newser) - The Army is attracting the lowest rate of high-quality recruits in a decade, the Boston Globe reports. Almost 40% of volunteers scored below-average on verbal and math scores in 2006, according to an analysis of Defense Department personnel statistics. Four years ago, that figure was 29%. The number of recruits...