U.S.

ARMY RECRUITING COMMAND

Katherine Pippin
April 23rd, 2019
U.S. Army Basic Facts
The history of the U.S. Army began in 1775. Since its foundation, the branch has
been the primary land-based portion of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world with 3.2
million employees.

The second-largest employer with over a 1 million soldiers in ranks and more than
400,000 contracted employees and civilians in the Army - Business
Insider/Army.mil
GOAL
Enlist 76,500 recruits in 2018
The Army Recruiting Command fell

6,500 enlistees short of their recruiting goal for 2018

The Problem
Major General Joe Calloway blames the shortfall largely to a strengthening
economy and new generational trends

Only about 30 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds can meet the mandatory

requirements for consideration for military service. (Physical,mental and
background attributes). Only 13 percent of that population is interested in military
service (Pentagon)

** Recruiters must change their methodology of recruitment from ‘cold calls’ and
business cards to personalized two-way dialogue.
 Advanced Communication Operations:
Recruitment for Prospective Students
A three-day program hosted at 4 different bases in different regions of the country

Aims to engage younger generations in high school and community college in a

path to enlistment. Roughly 250 students will be selected for each program.

ACORPS gives students a chance to explore different military occupational

specialties (MOSs) in medicine, engineering, infantry, AI, etc.)

Students will be introduced to cadences, drills and field exercises. They’ll run
obstacle courses, shoot model M-16 and AR-15 Airsoft guns and will explore the
base and apprentice a soldier in a specified MOS the student has shown interest
in.
 Part I

How can the U.S. Army recruiting

command meet or surpass its recruiting
goals by the end of the 2020 fiscal year?

Part 2
Research
Will a program like ACORPS help the
Question(s) U.S. Army maintain its relevance and
stay competitive in an economy where a
civilian market is more appealing to
younger generations?
Methodology
Qualitative Quantitative

Interview active-duty and reserve soldiers, recruiters Polls, data analysis, analytics

Gather Focus Groups once survey has been released Survey - SurveyMonkey: public survey released on all social
media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)
Social Media Analysis - Google Trends, Meltwater, etc.
Demographics
(Q1) Millennial generation made up
76 percent of the survey

Respondents consisted of 57% of the

survey identifying as white (32 being
male, 25 being female)
Latinx made up 22.6%, Asian
respondents made up 8.9% and
African-American respondents made
up 7.3%

(Q2) 62% were currently enrolled in

college, 21% graduated college, 8%
from HS, 3% completed graduate
school, 5% did not graduate HS
Recruiter involvement
The purpose of this question
was to establish if recruiters of
any branch of the military
created a lasting impression on
young adults.

Of those that chose “other” (3),

2 wrote that they dropped out
of high school to join because
of an interaction with a
recruiter
General Feelings
- Recruiters
Majority of the sample agreed that they had
neutral feelings towards recruiters while 30
respondents felt a range of positive to
extremely positive (12/10) about recruiters
while another 17 felt a range of negative to
highly negatively feelings towards recruiters

77 percent of the data agreed that high

schoolers were more likely to enlist after
being approached by a recruiter
Respondents also had the option to anonymously explain why they felt certain feelings towards recruiters
and their interactions between younger people. Majority expressed concern for lower income
communities. Word trends consisted of “trap, scammy, sugarcoat, prey upon..”

Survey takers, however, were also asked “Why do you feel people (your peers, family, friends, etc.) join
the military instead of going to college?

(Q4) When the data was combined, the top three choices were:
1. Benefits (62 clicks )/stable pay (56 clicks)
2. Family honor (42) /respect (48)
3. To travel (32 clicks)/Leave a negative environment (40 clicks)
Branch Familiarity
Questions 5,7 and 8 were aimed to gear respondents towards answering questions pertaining to familiarity with the branches of
military, who is more relevant and what branch is doing the most in terms of advertising.

86 percent of respondents had family that served in the military

35 respondents said the Marines stood out to them while 26 selected Army. Word Associations:

Army: Most of my family served in this branch, common in movies, honor, community, largest branch, flexible, most publicized,
easiest to practice medicine
Marines: Elite, first line, honor and image, discipline, tough

Q8 highlighted that the Navy is the Army’s biggest competitor in terms of advertising, Marines are their biggest competitors by
word-of-mouth
(Q10) How would you suggest the U.S. Army meet
or even surpass their recruiting goal this year? More than 50% of the
respondents to the
survey chose option 2: A
program for high school
students to apprentice
someone working in a
specific MOS.

Most surprising finding

from the survey