{"id":22948,"date":"2020-09-14T22:43:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T22:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/09\/14\/active-duty-accessions-dropped-by-7000-after-covid-hit-and-closed-schools-could-make-next-year-even-harder\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:39:05","slug":"active-duty-accessions-dropped-by-7000-after-covid-hit-and-closed-schools-could-make-next-year-even-harder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/2020\/09\/14\/active-duty-accessions-dropped-by-7000-after-covid-hit-and-closed-schools-could-make-next-year-even-harder\/","title":{"rendered":"Active-duty accessions dropped by 7,000 after COVID hit \u2014 and closed schools could make next year even harder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force is on track to access as many as 7,000 fewer active-duty airmen in fiscal 2020 than it did last year<\/a>, after the coronavirus upended the Air Force\u2019s personnel plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force accessed 34,660 active-duty officer and enlisted airmen in fiscal 2019. This year, the Air Force Recruiting Service said, the Air Force has a recruiting goal of 27,611 active-duty airmen, including 26,373 active-duty enlisted. It has exceeded that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruiting Service spokeswoman Leslie Brown said Monday that the Air Force revised its recruitment goals after the pandemic hit. The service\u2019s retention rate was much higher than expected, she said, and basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas was sharply curtailed to meet social distancing guidelines, prompting the goal revisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The significant drop in recruiting goals is just one way the Air Force adjusted to deal with the challenges of recruiting new airmen in the COVID-19 era. Since the pandemic began and shuttered schools nationwide, the Recruiting Service has made several changes to shift its operations online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been tough going, but it\u2019s largely worked so far, Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, AFRS commander, told reporters in a roundtable at the Air Force Association\u2019s virtual Air, Space, Cyber conference Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if the pandemic stretches throughout much of this school year and schools remain closed, Thomas said, things are going to get a lot harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air National Guard is also going to fall short of its authorized levels in 2020 due to its extended coronavirus response, Air National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Michael Loh said at another roundtable Monday \u2014 though not as badly as the Guard initially feared. In June, former ANG Director Lt. Gen. Scott Rice said the Guard\u2019s lengthy response was hurting retention, and that it might finish the year about 1,000 airmen short of its authorized manning level of 107,700.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Loh said that the Air National Guard will finish the year at about 107,200. That\u2019s less than originally intended, but still 100 more guardsmen than last year, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic hit at \u201cprobably the worst time you could imagine,\u201d Loh said \u2014 in March, around the time spring break happens. Typically, Loh said, high school students start thinking about their future careers and plans to pay for college after spring break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when Air National Guard recruiters couldn\u2019t return to high schools to meet with those students, Loh said, they had to quickly shift gears to a virtual recruiting platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll probably still fall short, but it could have been way, way worse,\u201d Loh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas said the Air Force has met its recruiting goals for fiscal 2020, and with its reserve of \u201cqualified and waiting\u201d recruits that are awaiting their turn to enlist, is on track to meet its goals for the first quarter of fiscal 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But beyond that, the outlook is less clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf COVID continues the way it has, it will be increasingly difficult \u2026 if we\u2019re not able to get into the public spaces,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cAfter we go through our reserve \u2018qualified and waiting\u2019 [recruits], the trend is in the wrong direction. I\u2019m confident that we\u2019re going to be able to meet our goals in \u201921 with qualified recruits, but it\u2019s going to be harder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t