The ANC had a shortage of nurses, and Operation Nightingale was aimed at recruiting 2,000 employees.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962 army hospitals struggled to find enough nurses and in the decades prior the ANC had failed to grow in proportion with the size of the greater United States Army.
[3] Recruiters "lecturing at high schools, universities, and career fairs, placing advertisements in stores, making radio announcements and TV commercials, and at times enlisting celebrity endorsements."
They said that “women would experience an equality with men that they would not find in the civilian world.”[4] The operation included an 'Army Student Nurse Program', which offered to help a nurse pay for their education in return for service in the corps.
While the ANC did gain some nurses through these efforts, they were hindered by the time it took to train students, often several years.