Navy recruiting rebounds, but it will miss its target to get sailors through boot camp
The Navy will meet its goal to sign up 40,600 recruits by the end of September thanks to several new recruiting programs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy will meet its goal to sign up 40,600 recruits by the end of September thanks to several new recruiting programs, but the crush of last-minute enlistments means it won't be able to get them all through boot camp by next month.
Navy Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman said the service will fall about 5,000 sailors short of its target to get all of the recruits into the 10-week training course at Great Lakes, Illinois, by the end of the fiscal year. While they have signed initial contracts, many are months away from getting into boot camp or into the fleet.
The Navy hasn't been able to hit its total recruiting goal now for two years in a row. And those gaps are hurting its ability to fully staff its warships. The Navy is short about 22,000 sailors to fill billets on ships, and the vast majority of those — about 20,000 — are in the lowest ranks.
“We have not gotten to the point where we can’t do things — I want to make sure that’s clear,” Cheeseman said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’re all working together to make sure our ships are ready to do the things we ask them to do.”
