The Army's answer to a lack of recruits is a prep course to boost low scores. It's working
The Future Soldier Prep Course was started as a trial program two years ago to provide additional instruction for recruits who couldn’t meet the Army’s physical and academic test standards
FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — Index cards taped to a large board on the wall at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, reveal the sometimes blunt and gritty reasons that new recruits took a chance at a last-ditch program to get into the Army.
“Eviction notices motivate me,” one said. Others talked about getting free college, a good job and a way to better themselves.
Known as the “Why Wall,” the board is meant as an inspiration for the recruits who could not meet the Army's physical and academic test standards, so they went into the Future Soldier Prep Course. It provides weeks of instruction to help them bring up their scores.
Started as a trial program two years ago to help boost dismal recruiting numbers, the prep course is fueling the Army’s enlistment comeback. Recruiting has suffered for all the military branches in recent years coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid low unemployment and stiff competition from private companies able to pay more and provide similar or better benefits.
