Navy recruiting rebounds, but it will miss its target to get sailors through boot camp

Associated Press

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 the service won’t be able to get them all through boot camp by next month, falling 5,000 sailors short of its target. The gaps are hurting the Navy’s ability to fully staff its warships. Navy Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman tells The Associated Press that the Navy has “not gotten to the point where we can’t do things.” All of the military services have struggled in the past several years to attract recruits in a tight job market.