Over 300 soldiers were found to have enlisted after either failing a required fitness test, or never taking it at all, according to documents obtained by Army Times.
Editor's Note: This article by Matthew Cox originally appeared on Military.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
FORT KNOX, Kentucky -- U.S. Army recruiters are offering bonuses worth up to $40,000 to new recruits who sign up for the infantry by Sept. 30 as part of an effort to reverse a shortage of grunts for fiscal 2019.
The drastic increase in bonus amounts for recruits in 11X, the infantry military occupational specialty, went into effect in mid-May, according to U.S. Army Recruiting Command officials, who said that the service still needs to fill about 3,300 infantry training seats by Sept. 30.
The Army is looking for new soldiers in 22 cities that have not been traditional hotbeds of recruiting, said Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of Training and Doctrine Command.
U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion photo / Alun Thomas.
The Army has fallen short of its recruiting goal for fiscal 2018, which had already been lowered in April from 80,000 to 76,500 when it became clear that the service would not be able to bring in as many new soldiers this fiscal year as it had initially hoped.
