U.S. Army, Mankato Public Safety face recruiting challenges

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) — Like a vast majority of companies across America, the U.S. Army and Mankato Public Safety are facing recruiting challenges.

”It has gotten a little tougher with everything that is going on in the past couple of years. I think for the most part it comes down to a lot of people aren’t educated on what we do and what we offer,” stated Cmdr. Thomas Bluestone, from the U.S. Army Recruiting Company of Southern Minnesota.

“With the lack of awareness, historically one out of every third potential recruit is eligible for enlistment with the United States Army. Today, those numbers are getting closer to one out of every four also reducing the population,” 1st Sgt. Judson Ellenburg added.

That’s why the U.S. Army is offering up to $50,000 in enlistment incentives, which is the largest bonus ever for new recruits. In the past, enlistment for full-time soldiers could not exceed $40,000, but that has since changed.

“The enlistment incentive is capped out at $40,000 to remain competitive with the private market, [but] we have increased that by 10. There are several ways to get there, it’s really a package of smaller incentives to equate to $50,000,” Bluestone stated.

Mankato Public Safety is seeing a similar trend as they try to recruit the next generation of officers.

“Like other agencies, we are struggling with numbers. The numbers graduating from skills programs or the associate programs are down considerably, which means less people are going into law enforcement,” Mankato Public Safety Director Amy Vokal said.

The process for finding police officers in the past has been a multiple-step operation.

“Have to have a minimum of an associate’s degree, and then they apply to different agencies after they take their post-test. The post-test is what gives them all a license and then when they get hired by an agency they become active [and] the license becomes active,” Vokal explained.

Now the department is trying to adapt.

“The traditional ways where you used to be able to post it and just put it on the post board website. If you go look now, you will find times over 50 different postings. So we have to be more targeted in our approach,” Vokal stated.

Mankato Public Safety is swearing in nine new officers on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center at 3 p.m.

If you’re interested in getting involved in the U.S. Army, then head over to 1850 Adams St Suite 703 or contact them at (507) 625-4847.

Copyright 2022 KEYC. All rights reserved.