MEPCOM struggles with staffing shortages that threaten its ability to process military recruits effectively. The command is experiencing increased work volume while contending with a federal hiring freeze, exacerbating the challenge of hiring enough civilian workers for medical exam facilities. Senior officials have warned that a slow pace of hiring will lead to a critical staff shortfall in the coming months. Currently, many processing stations have had to reduce their capacity to manage the backlog of applicants, signaling a potential crisis for military recruitment efforts in the near future.
Military Entrance Processing Command, known as MEPCOM, is the medical and testing screening authority for the tens of thousands of people who enter the military each year.
Four MEPCOM officials with direct knowledge of staffing levels told Business Insider that unless it can ramp up civilian hiring soon, some locations could fail to meet goals for processing new military recruits over the next year.
The command can get by with current staffing levels, they said, but the 'lethargically slow' pace of hiring risks a critical shortfall of recruit processing staff within five or six months.
Twenty of the military command's 65 stations have been forced to 'reduce capacity,' the number of total applicants they can process weekly, due to staff shortages.
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