Army Pauses New Recruits, Helps Current Soldiers at Risk for Unemployment
The Army announced Monday that it would pause sending new recruits to basic training, although current recruits will continue their training. The announcement comes at the same time as Army representatives told Federal News Network that they are increasing re-enlistment opportunities for current soldiers to prevent them from slipping into unemployment when they return home.
In the announcement that Army leaders announced they are pausing the shipment of new recruits to basic combat training due to the growth of the coronavirus pandemic around the country. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, commander of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, explained at the press briefing that the pause will last two weeks and then be reassessed.
Gen. Funk noted that current recruits will continue to practice social distancing and receive medical screenings as they complete their training.
According to reports from Army Times, there have been about 100 total coronavirus cases across the Army’s training bases so far; however, the pause was not sparked by an outbreak at any specific training site. Gen. Funk instead described this as an opportune time to take a “tactical pause.”
“April and May are our lowest shipping months anyway,” said Funk. “We’re in a good spot in the Army in terms of getting the conditions set to be ready for the summer surge.”
Meanwhile, Sgt. Maj. Stuart C. Morgan, the Army’s senior career counselor, told Federal News Network this week that the Army is offering nearly 9,000 enlisted soldiers an opportunity to stay in the Army for short-term reenlistments of three to 11 months.
“With the recent onset of COVID-19, some of our soldiers have now been faced with the reality that some opportunities are no longer available to them,” Sgt. Maj. Morgan said. “We have an employment gap. We have multiple reenlistment options that can offer the soldier a new assignment or some type of training and also stabilization options.”
Previously, the Army did not offer reenlistments of less than a year. Sgt. Maj. Morgan said the purpose of the short-term reenlistments is to give soldiers financial stability during the uncertainty of the current crisis.
