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News Release

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

No. 615-97
November 14, 1997

FISCAL YEAR 1997 RECRUITING MEETS OR EXCEEDS ALL OBJECTIVES

Announcing the results today of Fiscal Year 1997 recruiting efforts, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy Fred Pang stated, "To support today's high-tech, volunteer force, we must recruit the best, most capable young men and women. The armed forces have again enlisted the right quantity and quality of new recruits from throughout American society to meet personnel requirements." He singled out Service recruiters for special praise. "The Services established tough recruiting goals and our recruiting commands and our recruiters came through."

In FY 1997, the Services recruited a total of 188,609 first-time enlistees while exceeding recruit quality benchmarks. In addition, 8,472 individuals with previous military experience reentered service for a total of 197,081 enlistees. Quality benchmarks require that 90 percent of recruits graduate from high school and 60 percent have above average scores on the enlistment test. Fiscal Year 1997 recruits for each Service exceeded both standards. Defense Department-wide, 94 percent of FY 1997 recruits without prior military service were high school diploma graduates, and 69 percent scored above average on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). Virtually all prior service recruits were high school diploma graduates with above average aptitude.

New recruit demographics show diverse representation. The proportion of Black recruits increased one percentage point to 20 percent Department-wide. Representation of Hispanic recruits also increased one percentage point to 10 percent. The percentage of women recruits in FY 1997 was 19 percent, identical to last year.

"Recruiting has been challenging over the past several years," said Pang. "With the Defense Department drawdown, there was a corresponding drop in recruiting resources. Money for advertising, educational benefits, and enlistment bonuses declined, and the number of recruiters declined. Youth interest in the military dropped as the faulty perception grew that we

were no longer hiring. Fortunately, Congress provided the necessary resources for increased advertising, and we were able to counter those perceptions and improve youth awareness about the opportunities and benefits of military service."

Pang concluded, "The Department will continue to emphasize recruiting top quality men and women into the force, keeping them ready by providing rigorous, realistic training and retaining them, and by making sure that the benefits of service are commensurate with the sacrifices that our military personnel make."

Statistical summaries are attached.

FACT SHEET a/

MILITARY PERSONNEL RECRUITING STATISTICS FOR FY 1997

ACTIVE COMPONENT ENLISTED ACCESSIONS BY SERVICE

Total Number (Thousands)


									FY 1996																											FY 1997
					Non-Prior Service										Prior			Total					Non-Prior Service								Prior						Total
Service		Male				Female					Total			Service			Gains			Male				Female					Total		Service						Gains

Army				56.1			14.3					70.4				3.1			73.4		59.7					15.3				75.0			7.1							82.1
Navy				39.1				6.9				46.0				2.2			48.2		42.3						7.0			49.2				.9						50.1
Marine Corps			30.9					2.2					33.1			0.4			33.5		31.8						2.4			34.2				.3					34.5
Air Force			22.7					8.0				30.7				0.2			30.9			21.7					8.5			30.2					.1				30.3
DoD Total	148.8						31.4			180.2						5.8	186.0			155.4					33.2			188.6				8.5						197.0

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Recruiting Objectives (Thousands)


									FY 1996																										FY 1997
					Non-Prior Service									Prior				Total					Non-Prior Service								Prior					Total
Service	Male					Female					Total		Service				Gains			Male				Female					Total		Service					Gains

Army			56.1				13.4					69.4			4.0				73.4		60.0				15.0					75.0		7.0						82.0
Navy			39.1					6.9				46.0			2.2				48.2		42.3					6.9				49.2			.9						50.1
Marine Corps		30.9						2.2				33.2				.3			33.5		31.8					2.4				34.2			.3					34.5
Air Force				**					**			30.7				.2			30.9			**					**			30.2				.1				30.3
DoD Total				**					**	179.2					6.7		186.0					**					**	188.6				8.3					197.0

Percent of Objective


								FY 1996																						FY 1997
				Non-Prior Service									Prior				Total					Non-Prior Service							Prior				Total
Service	Male				Female				Total			Service				Gains			Male				Female			Total		Service				Gains

Army		100				107					101				77			100		100				102			100				101			100
Navy		100				100				100				100				100		100				100			100			100				100
Marine Corps		100				105				100				110				100		100				100			100			100				100
Air Force			**				**			100				100				100			**				**		100			100				100
DoD Total			**				**				101				87			100			**				**		100				101			100

a/ Numbers in all tables may not add due to rounding.

* Less than 100.

** Air Force (FYs 1996 and 1997) recruiting on gender-neutral basis; no longer set recruiting objectives by

gender. Cannot compute DoD totals without Air Force data.

HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA GRADUATE (HSDG) ACCESSIONS

(Non-Prior Service)

Total Number (Thousands)


			FY 1996										FY 1997
Service	Male			Female			Total			Male				Female			Total

Army		53.1			13.9			67.0			53.2				14.3			67.5
Navy		36.9				6.8		43.7			39.9					6.9		46.8
Marine Corps		26.9				2.2		31.8			30.4					2.4		32.8
Air Force		22.5				8.0		30.4				21.5				8.4		29.9
DoD Total	142.1				30.8		172.9		144.9						32.1		177.0

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Percentage


				FY 1996								FY 1997
	Service	Male			Female			Total		Male			Female		Total

Army			95				97		95		89			94		90
Navy			95				98		95		94			99		95
Marine Corps			96				98		96		96			98		96
Air Force			99			100			99		99			99		99
DoD Total			96				98		96		93			97		94

ARMED FORCES QUALIFICATION TEST (AFQT) CATEGORY I-III ACCESSIONS (Non-Prior Service)

Total Number (Thousands)


					FY 1996										FY 1997
Service		Male				Female				Total			Male			Female				Total

Army			55.3				14.2				69.5			58.3			15.2				73.5
Navy				39.1				6.9			46.0			42.3				7.0			49.2
Marine Corps			30.8					2.3				33.1		31.6				2.5				34.1
Air Force			22.6					8.0			30.6			21.7				8.5				30.1
DoD Total	147.8						31.4		179.2				153.9				33.1		187.0

Percentage


				FY 1996										FY 1997
Service	Male				Female			Total			Male				Female		Total

Army			99			100				99			98			100			98
Navy		100				100			100			100				100		100
Marine Corps		100					105		100			100				100		100
Air Force		100				100			100			100				100		100
DoD Total			99			100			100				99			100			99

AFQT CATEGORY I-IIIA ACCESSIONS

(Non-Prior Service)

Total Number (Thousands)


				FY 1996										FY 1997
Service		Male			Female					Total		Male			Female					Total

Army			37.8				9.6				47.4		39.7			11.3						51.0
Navy			25.8				4.4				30.2		27.8				4.7				32.6
Marine Corps			20.1					1.5			21.6		20.4					1.7				22.1
Air Force			18.9				6.4				25.3		17.6				6.3				23.9
DoD Total	102.6					21.9			124.6			105.4				24.1			129.6

Percentage


			FY 1996								FY 1997
Service	Male			Female		Total		Male				Female			Total

Army		67			67		67		66				74			68
Navy		66			64		66		66				68			66
Marine Corps		65			70		65		64					71		65
Air Force		83			80		83			81			75			79
DoD Total		69			70		69		68				73			69

"HIGH QUALITY" RECRUIT (HSDG/AFQT I-IIIA) ACCESSIONS (Non-Prior Service)

Total Number (Thousands)


			FY 1996										FY 1997
Service	Male			Female				Total			Male			Female				Total

Army		34.8				9.2			44.0			32.9			10.3				43.3
Navy		23.7				4.3			27.9			25.5				4.7			30.1
Marine Corps		19.2					1.5		20.7			19.4					1.7		21.2
Air Force		18.7				6.3				25.1		17.3				6.3			23.6
DoD Total		96.4			21.4			117.7				95.2			23.0			118.2

Percentage


				FY 1996								FY 1997
Service	Male				Female		Total			Male			Female		Total

Army		62				65		63			55			68		58
Navy			61			62			61		60			67			61
Marine Corps		62				69		63			61			69		62
Air Force		82				79		82			80			74		78
DoD Total		65				68		65			61			69		63

RACIAL DISTRIBUTION OF ACTIVE ENLISTED ACCESSIONS 1/

(Non-Prior Service)

Total Number (Thousands)


								FY 1996																FY 1997

Service	White			Black					Hispanic			Other			Total			White			Black				Hispanic			Other					Total

Army			44.7			16.5					6.2		3.0			70.4				46.7		17.6					7.2			3.6				75.0
Navy			27.5				9.5				6.1		3.0			46.0				28.8			9.7				6.5			4.2				49.2
Marine Corps			23.2				4.5				4.0		1.4				33.1			23.9			4.7				3.9				1.7			34.2
Air Force			23.0				4.5				1.8		1.4			30.7				21.8			5.0				2.0			1.4				30.2
DoD Total		118.4			34.9					18.1			8.8	180.2					121.1			37.1				19.6			10.7			188.6

Percentage


							FY 1996													FY 1997

Service	White			Black				Hispanic			Other		Total		White		Black				Hispanic			Other			Total

Army		64			23					9		4		100		62		23				10				5		100
Navy		60				21			13			7		100		58		20				13			8			100
Marine Corps		70				14			12			4		100		70			14			12				5		100
Air Force			75			15				6		5		100		72			17				7			5		100
DoD Total		66				19				9		5		100		64		20				10			6			100
18-24 year- old youth		68				14			13			5		100		67			14			14				5		100

1/ Racial definitions are consistent with Office of Management & Budget (OMB) guidelines. "Other represents Native American,

Asian and Pacific Islanders.

GENDER DISTRIBUTION OF ACTIVE ENLISTED ACCESSIONS (Non-Prior Service)

Total Number (Thousands)


					FY 1996										FY 1997
Service		Male				Female				Total			Male			Female				Total

Army				56.1			14.3				70.4			59.7			15.3				75.0
Navy				39.1				6.9			46.0			42.3				7.0			49.2
Marine Corps			30.9					2.2				33.1		31.8				2.5			34.2
Air Force			22.7					8.0			30.7			21.7				8.5			30.2
DoD Total	148.8						31.4		180.2				155.4				33.2		188.6