![\"Army](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/00recruiting-02-superJumbo-e1546455054455.jpg\")
Army recruiters Sgt. Dira An, left, and Sgt. Julio Diaz, manned a table at a job fair in Seattle. Enlistment rates in liberal-leaning cities have tended to be low, especially when jobs are plentiful. C. Bates for The New York Times<\/p>\nArmy recruiters Sgt. Dira An, left, and Sgt. Julio Diaz, manned a table at a job fair in Seattle. Enlistment rates in liberal-leaning cities have tended to be low, especially when jobs are plentiful. C. Bates for The New York Times<\/p>\n
By Dave Philipps
\nSEATTLE \u2014 Army recruiters in Seattle can earn a Friday off for each new soldier they enlist. But in a city with a thriving tech industry and a long history of antiwar protests, the recruiters haven\u2019t gotten many long weekends.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s no secret we\u2019re a little behind,\u201d Sgt. First Class Jeremiah Vargas, who heads the city\u2019s recruiting station, told four recruiters at a recent morning pep talk. With a week left in the month, he wrote the station\u2019s goal \u2014 five recruits \u2014 on a white board, and then the current tally: two.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do we need to make mission?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
One recruiter responded with a shrug, \u201cA miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Army is not quite counting on miracles, but after falling 6,500 soldiers short of its goal nationwide in 2018, it is trying a new strategy that might seem almost as unlikely.<\/p>\n
Rather than focus on more conservative regions of the country that traditionally fill the ranks, the Army plans a big push in 22 left-leaning cities, like Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, where relatively few recruits have signed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to go into Boston, Pittsburgh, Kansas City,\u201d Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, the head of Army Recruiting Command, said. \u201cThese are places with a large number of youth who just don\u2019t know what the military is about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approach may seem like hunting for snow in Miami. But Army leaders say that all they need to attract enlistees in those cities are a surge of recruiters and the right sales pitch.<\/p>\n
The pitch they have used for years, playing down combat and emphasizing job training and education benefits, can work well when civilian opportunities are scarce. But it is a tough sell these days in a place like Seattle, where jobs are plentiful and the local minimum wage of $15 an hour beats the base pay for privates, corporals or specialists.<\/p>\n
Instead, General Muth said, the Army wants to frame enlistment as a patriotic detour for motivated young adults who might otherwise be bound for a corporate cubicle \u2014 a detour that promises a chance for public service, travel and adventure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Hey, it may even work. Read the rest of the article here: NYT Link<\/a><\/p>\n
Tip of the chapeau to Poetrooper for the link. Thanks, buddy- keep ’em coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"