WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army, struggling to sign up new soldiers amid the Iraq war, took a one-day break from recruiting Friday to try to put an end to a spate of incidents of misconduct by its recruiters.

Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, head of the Army Recruiting Command, emphasized the need for integrity and playing by the rules in remarks delivered by video to the Army's 7,500 recruiters at 1,700 recruiting stations nationwide.

The Army is examining allegations its recruiters offered to help people cheat on drug tests or get phony diplomas in order to enlist.

In a recent incident in Texas, a recruiter threatened a 20-year-old man with arrest if he did not get to an interview at a recruiting station by a given time. The recruiter then sought to explain the threat as a "marketing technique."

In his video remarks, Rochelle asked honest recruiters to call attention to any misconduct by colleagues.

Also appearing at a Pentagon briefing, Rochelle told reporters there was no gray area in recruiting techniques.

"There is no relativism there. It's either right or it's wrong," he said.

Rochelle said the Army was making a sacrifice by holding the one-day "stand down," saying as many as 1,000 recruits otherwise would have been expected to enlist Friday in the active-duty Army or part-time Army Reserve. He said he hoped they eventually would sign up anyway.

The Army has said it is probing 480 allegations of improper conduct by recruiters in fiscal 2005, which began Oct. 1.

Recruiters have said potential recruits and their families are wary about volunteering during wartime.

The Army provides the majority of the U.S. ground forces fighting in Iraq. The Pentagon Friday listed 1,623 U.S. military deaths in the 26-month war, with another 12,516 troops wounded in combat.

Recruiters Under Pressure

With the Army in danger of missing an annual recruiting goal for the first time since 1999, recruiters have been under considerable pressure of late.

Aiming to sign 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2005, from Oct. 1, 2004 to Sept. 30, 2005, the Army has missed its goals in three straight months, including falling 42 percent short in April, and is 16 percent behind its year-to-date recruiting target.

Rochelle said the Army will not lower the quota of signing two recruits per month that recruiters must meet. He also said the Army does not plan to lower its standards to allow more people to be eligible to sign up.

To shore up manpower, the Army has increased its financial incentives for enlistment while also sweetening incentives for soldiers already in the military to re-enlist.

The Army in March said it would appeal to the patriotism of young people to try to coax them to sign up. It also recently launched a new television advertising campaign seeking to convince parents and others who have influence over young people of the value of military service.

Rochelle said he had seen no evidence the recent campaign had boosted recruiting, but said it was too early to judge.

"Today's conditions represent the most challenging conditions we have seen in recruiting in my 33 years in this uniform," he said. "We are faced with very low unemployment (and) the first time that the all-volunteer force has been challenged in sustained land combat."

America abolished the draft in 1973 during the Vietnam War era and has since relied on a military made up of volunteers.

Rochelle also said he ordered a one-day suspension of recruiting in December to address "force protection issues" amid threats made against recruiters. "I don't want to go into the details of this, for fear of creating copycats," Rochelle said.