{"id":16075,"date":"2019-11-07T18:53:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T18:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/07\/how-increased-footprint-in-high-schools-may-help-army-fix-recruiting-shortfall\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:49:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:49:38","slug":"how-increased-footprint-in-high-schools-may-help-army-fix-recruiting-shortfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/11\/07\/how-increased-footprint-in-high-schools-may-help-army-fix-recruiting-shortfall\/","title":{"rendered":"Army leaders weigh expanding JROTC in high schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the Army\u2019s biggest strategic challenges over the next few decades will be continuing to staff its all-volunteer force amid a shrinking population of capable <\/a>and interested <\/a>youth \u2014 but high school JROTC units could be part of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has been \u201ctearing apart\u201d its recruitment data to figure out how to boost its accessions in an increasingly competitive job market. One of the solutions potentially on the horizon involves more focus on the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps<\/a> at high schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service, which is trying to grow to 500,000 active-duty soldiers by 2028<\/a>, has found that Americans at high schools with JROTC programs are more than twice as likely to enlist after graduation, according to Maj. Gen. John R. Evans, Jr., who helms Army Cadet Command<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to even participate in the program,” Evans told a crowd at an Association of the U.S. Army forum Wednesday. \u201cThe mere presence of the program at your high school has at least a corollary effect on your desire or your willingness or your propensity to serve your nation. So, pretty powerful data point there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArmy senior leaders are currently looking very hard at what we\u2019re doing with Junior ROTC and trying to decide if we\u2019ve got it right or if perhaps we need some more of this,” Evans added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are always problems with expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJunior ROTC, and the senior programs to a little bit less of a degree, can be political footballs,” Evans said. “Once you plant a Junior ROTC program somewhere, if it does not attrit of its own volition, you\u2019re very unlikely to be able to shut it down, so it\u2019s a sunk cost. So senior leaders want to be very deliberate about expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t