There are reports that the Navy may soon curb the number of new recruits who would enter boot camp – as well as the recruiters who will be responsible for bringing them in.

While it has not been revealed exactly by how much the Navy intends to slim down the number of recruits, it is expected that by 2015, the Navy is drawing down to a force of 319,000. Steeper budget cuts in the 2013 budget are also expected, and officials are trying to look into how to reduce manpower; it is therefore inevitable that recruiting goals are slashed, and a reduction in recruiting goals also consequently means a reduction in the number of recruiters.

Rear Adm. Donald Quinn, then commander of Navy Personnel Command, however, indicated during the annual symposium of the Navy Counselors Association in June that the Navy may now be able to further lower its accessions without possibly putting its future at risk.

Rear Adm. Quinn said: “I think we’re at the lowest accession number we’ve been at certainly since Vietnam and maybe even before that… We don’t want to go any lower in the accessions piece, because that’s our future.”

The Navy had its lowest annual total accession since 1980 last year, where only 34,180 recruits entered the service. This number has showed a gradual drop since the year 2000, which was the last year where the number of recruits that entered the Navy – 55,147 recruits – were more than the number that entered the previous year.