http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1004-01.htmPublished on October 4, 2005 by Knight Ridder
Army Moves to Recruit More High School Dropouts
by Joseph Galloway
WASHINGTON - Army Secretary Noel Harvey and vice chief of staff Gen. Richard Cody said Monday that the Army was using looser Defense Department rules that permitted it to sign up more high school dropouts and people who score lower on mental-qualification tests, but they denied that this meant it was lowering standards.
Until Army recruiters began having trouble signing up enough recruits earlier this year, the Army had set minimum standards that were higher than those of the Defense Department.
The Army has a recruiting shortfall of 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers over the past 12 months. It hasn't fallen so short of its annual goal since 1979, several years after the Vietnam war.
Harvey and Cody addressed the recruiting issue in news conferences during the annual convention of the Association of the U.S. Army.......