The Army projects a decrease in 10,000 to 14,000 recruits across the services this fiscal year as military entrance processing stations shut down one day per week.Beginning in April, civilian military entrance processing stations, or MEPS, employees will be furloughed, said the Army’s deputy chief of staff, G-1, Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg.He explained that the Army is the executive agent for MEPS, which processes entry-level personnel for all the armed forces.Bromberg and the other service chiefs testified recently at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the impact of the continuing resolution and sequestration and how it will affect military personnel, their families and the operations and maintenance budget.Budget shortfalls will also result in fewer Army recruiters, he said, thereby "limiting our ability to penetrate the market."The officer corps will also take a hit, Bromberg said, as scholarships and training are reduced at ROTC units at universities across the country and at the U.S. Military Academy.Another adverse impact on recruiting will be fewer dollars for advertising and marketing campaigns used to attract new soldiers, he said.Recruiting and retention will likely be affected "for years to come due to loss of confidence in the stability of the Army" as money for training and professional military education for officers and noncommissioned officers becomes scarce, he added."Loss of training is not recoverable to untrained soldiers and units," he said, meaning that combat readiness will be reduced well past this fiscal year even if a deal is struck later in the year. Family programs hitFamily programs provide a comprehensive network of resources to help soldiers and their families to successfully navigate their way through Army life and deployments, Bromberg said.The Army will try to keep those programs that deliver the most benefits, but many important programs will, nonetheless, still be cut, he added.Programs which could be impacted include child abuse prevention, family advocacy, programs for children with special needs, resiliency training that assists soldiers and families in building stronger relationships and post recreation programs.Which programs will stay and which will cease will be determined by a comprehensive analysis, he said."We know there are some complementary programs and some that are redundant," he said, providing an example.Adding, "We know Strong Bonds, which works on building family relationships during deployments and other stressors is a very, very popular and important program and that it has reduced domestic violence and divorce rates, but we haven’t done the hard analysis on it yet."