{"id":80043,"date":"2024-01-31T19:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/01\/31\/lawmakers-question-sma-on-army-recruiting-progress-as-reforms-unfold\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:26:02","slug":"lawmakers-question-sma-on-army-recruiting-progress-as-reforms-unfold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2024\/01\/31\/lawmakers-question-sma-on-army-recruiting-progress-as-reforms-unfold\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers question SMA on Army recruiting progress as reforms unfold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer told Congress that Army recruiting\u2019s fiscal year 2024 performance is \u201cup a little bit, but they\u2019re not where they need to be.\u201d That was incorrect. Weimer was responding to a question about fiscal year 2023 numbers.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Army feverishly works to implement a raft of recruiting reforms, the service\u2019s top noncommissioned officer testified before lawmakers Wednesday on the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer, who spoke before a House panel focused on service member quality of life issues, touted the success of some of the service\u2019s interim efforts, such as the Future Soldier Prep Course. The pre-training camp is designed to help hopeful soldiers improve their test scores or physical fitness so they can qualify for enlistment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Weimer\u2019s written testimony<\/a>, the prep course graduated nearly 13,000 soldiers in fiscal year 2023. The Army will conduct long-term studies on career outcomes for its graduates, who have a slightly higher basic training completion rate than their peers, according to Weimer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite the prep course\u2019s success and other efforts like the Soldier Referral Program, the service has been unable to decisively turn around its recruiting slump, having missed its recruiting targets in both fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Army leaders previously stated that overhauling Recruiting Command is a long-term project<\/a> that cannot solve the recruiting crisis overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\t