{"id":45952,"date":"2020-10-29T18:04:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T18:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/29\/army-seeks-about-3500-more-infantry-recruits-this-year\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:38:00","slug":"army-seeks-about-3500-more-infantry-recruits-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/10\/29\/army-seeks-about-3500-more-infantry-recruits-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Army seeks about 3,500 more infantry recruits this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Army wants to assess roughly 15,000 infantry recruits<\/a> this fiscal year, and will likely continue offering cash incentives to potential soldiers in an effort to meet its goals, according to Army Recruiting Command<\/a> boss Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Army needs just an overabundance of infantrymen to fill its formations,\u201d Vereen said during an Association of the United States Army event Wednesday. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the MOSs that we\u2019ll probably see over the remainder of FY21 [with] incentives attached to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fiscal 2020, the Army assessed 11,352 recruits into the 11X infantry career fields. The service\u2019s target number for those recruits in 2021 is now close to 15,000, an increase of roughly 3,500, officials at Army Recruiting Command said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current maximum incentive for non-prior-service infantry applicants is $25,000, those officials added. But there are other career fields, like cyber and air defense artillery, that are also historically difficult to man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we move into some of the other low population MOSs that may not be filled \u2026 we may have to see incentives come on the back end to be able to support those, as well,\u201d Vereen added during the Wednesday discussion. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the tools that we can use to be able to strike interest and to draw in folks who really want to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army met its active duty end-strength goal for 2020, which stood at 485,000 soldiers, largely thanks to strong retention numbers among soldiers already in the force. Many of those soldiers were likely not eager to enter the current civilian job market, which slumped during the global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\t