Army Having Difficulty Meeting Goals In Recruiting

[Moloch]

The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers .

For the first time since 2001, the Army began the fiscal year in October with only 18.4 percent of the year's target of 80,000 active-duty recruits already in the pipeline. That amounts to less than half of last year's figure and falls well below the Army's goal of 25 percent.

Meanwhile, the Army is rushing incoming recruits into training as quickly as it can. Compared with last year, it has cut by 50 percent the average number of days between the time a recruit signs up and enters boot camp. It is adding more than 800 active-duty recruiters to the 5,201 who were on the job last year, as attracting each enlistee requires more effort and monetary incentives.

Driving the manpower crunch is the Army's goal of boosting the number of combat brigades needed to rotate into Iraq (news - web sites) and handle other global contingencies. Yet Army officials see worrisome signs that young American men and women -- and their parents -- are growing wary of military service, largely because of the Iraq conflict.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=1&u=/washpost/20050221/ts_washpost/a40469_2005feb20

[MSgt213]

1. Really!! I thought people would be signing up in droves since they are

giving away free roadside bombs and all.

[lebkuchen]

2. Many of those that are "over the hump" will tough it out

But if you ain't in yet, why bother, is the general impression.

[liberal N proud]

3. I think they have it!

"...young American men and women -- and their parents -- are growing wary of military service, largely because of the Iraq conflict."

What ever would make them think things like that?
Maybe if there wasn't an imbecile in the white house, people would not be so fearful.

[Scooter24]

4. I've always wanted

to organize a drive to mail or email Military duty solicitations to Republicans, particularly College Republicans. I think now would be a good time to get this project rolling.

[yorkiemommie1]

32. yah, you know...

i was drowned out while at happy hour one night debating the start of this horrible adventure in iraq. drowned out by parents of strapping teenage boys. i should send the recruiters over to their house. Not one, not ONE of the kids of any bushies i know have enlisted.

i have written ltte's to my papers too, asking them to publish the addresses of the recruiting stations so the bushies can find their way to them.

where can we get copies of forms?

[lyonn]

46. Enlistment forms in all churches

This should have been done before the pres. election. Wish I had thought of it. Imagine getting a stack of forms and slipping into churches on Sundays and leaving them, or, putting them on their windshields in the parking lot. Since I live in Okla. they no doubt would arrest this old lady or anyone else for littering. Another thing, instead of joining the army just get one of those high paying civilian jobs protecting and driving over there. (Edit) I've heard halliburton has nice new well armoured tanker trucks for their drivers. What an idea.

[happyslug]

49. Get one from the net:

Here is the DD4, the "Enlistment form":
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/forms/eforms/dd0004.pdf

The web site for DD4 forms (Including PDF and other forms):
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/forms/forminfo/forminfopage1.html

List of ALL military forms:
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/forms/ddforms1-499.htm

[livvy]

5. Sounds like it's time for another recruiting event.

Wasn't there an increase in recruits after 9/11? Nothing like defending your country to bring out the patriots. I'm not suggesting it's wrong to want to defend your country, and I respect our troops 100%. I just don't think it's correct to mislead good people into doing something that affects their lives so completely unless the need is truly there.
I don't trust our current misadministration on any issues. I think they will do anything to keep their agenda on track, including sacrificing the lives of the people of this country and other countries as well.

[kris10ep]

13. What's so horrible about it

is that they won't focus on the defend your country part. They'll seek out those whose only means for a college education is through the compensation the military provides.

I am lucky enough to have loans to pay off for the rest of my life, but there are those whose only real hope for college is through military service.

This is where I really favored John Kerry. His idea for provide education funds, similar to the way the military does, for committments to service within the community. Some of us wimpy girls aren't army material.

[reprobate]

25. Hey, there's an idea! Posthumous college degrees!

[MADem]

6. If this keeps up, stand by!!!

After they've raped the Army, active, guard and reserve, and stretched the USMC past the breaking point, it would not surprise me at all if they start assigning Navy master-at-arms and Air Force physical security types to do "policework" and patrols in Iraq to bump up the numbers for the short term. These two skillsets might appear to have the talents needed, but they will need some substantial training to come up to par sufficiently to be able to survive in that environment. Although they walk around guarding stuff, they don't have a combat focus, and they will be easy pickings for insurgents. And once they start with those guys, then they can scrape off all of the nonrated/undesignated personnel in paygrades E-3 and below to further fill out the ranks. I really don't think, over the long haul, that there are any "safe" branches of service anymore.

Failing that, and assuming that BushCo ain't gonna stop doing what they are doing, it is time for a draft. The Congress is already calling for an increase in end strength, but it is all very well and good to have a target number, you run into problems when you can't even meet the lower existing number.

I have an uneasy sense that something bad is going to happen in another country in the ME/SWA region, which will "require" us to "expand the war" and "necessitate" a draft. Of course, no nation in their right mind would do that, given the loose cannon in the WH...but let's all go back in time to the Gulf of Tonkin...it's happened before. Remember the Maine!!!

[atreides1]

18. Article in the Air Force Times

Just caught a glimpse of an article in the current AF Times.

The story was about using USAF personnel for "grunt" work. The US Army is already conducting a training program to teach USAFR personnel how to drive for convoy duty.

It's already started, so I guess all the Navy personnel not currently stationed on board ships will be the next manpower pool
that the US military will hit for more "boots on the ground".

[Misunderestimator]

48. And I know someone in the USAF who has just been told he will be

deployed to China... he has a desk job right now, and has never seen combat... His current job will probably be filled by a civilian. I'm sure that China is just going to be a positioning thing... for further war-mongering.

[thedude]

24. they are actually doing this now (sort of)

My brother is a master at arms in the navy. He is currently stationed in Hawaii, but he is being set to Guantanamo Bay to replace the Marines down there so that they can go to Iraq.

He says this is happening all over the world in our bases: replacing army and marine guards with navy so they can increase the manpower in Iraq.

It probably is only a matter of time before they go a step further and start sending navy personel to fight in Iraq.

[MADem]

35. And we know who will replace your brother in Gitmo....

should he be called to Iraq...it'll be big ole fat guys who work for private security systems firms. They'll civilianize to the extent that they can. They'll bring back the land mines in a big way. It's a bad scene.

Already, we have a load of SEABEES over there. You have to wonder how those kids are doing in the up-armor and body armor departments.

[Dulcinea]

7. Big freakin' DUH!

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of young kids really want to get their asses shot off for oil.

They're not as dumb as you think, Boy George.

[BiggJawn]

8. Damn! You mean the Sheeple aren't TOTAL morans?

Duh!

Well, nice try folks, iffn y'don't go down to the recuiter and let the used car salesman there sell you on the idea of going some place cool like Ramstein, then Ol' Dumbya will jist send ya a letter that starts out "Howdy! Yer ass belongs to Rummy, now..."

Close the window, I feel a DRAFT....

[durablend]

15. That or they're going to SHAME them into enlisting...

"Just remember...by not serving your country, you're turning your back on it and shaming yourself and everyone around you. How would you feel if your loved ones knew that you're shirking your civic duty to your country? Before that happens, take time out NOW and visit your local recruiter and sign up!"

[Cooley Hurd]

9. Those who might've joined for the college benefits...

...are no longer considering this an option. College is a moot point if you're going to be killed by an IED before you even get there.

I imagine the only ones signing up are goofy kids who actually believe this war is somehow just.

[bleedingheart]

10. How can this be?? Where are the Freepers...are there so few?

I thought they would be lining up...

[Earth_First]

11. FREEPER LURKERS:

Support YOUR man-date: www.dior.whs.mil/forms/DD0004.pdf

[LibDemAlways]

19. DUers should all do their part by running copies

of those and putting them under the windshield of every vehicle with a "support our troops" magnet, along with a little post-it note that says "Talk is cheap."

[d.l.Green]

23. Great idea!! eom

[DS1]

28. Better yet - stick it ~under~ their magnet

:D

[RamboLiberal]

29. Not all with yellow magnets are Repukes

Some are DU'ers like me. And some actually have people serving.

Put this article under the windshields of those with W04 or Bush/Cheney stickers on their cars/SUVs.

[Damien]

33. good idea

i think i will, though i'll need a lot of copies here in northern colorado

[yorkiemommie1]

37. leave them

in shopping carts at the market after your unload your groceries. you can fold it . leave them in fitting rooms. leave them in public restrooms. leave them on benches in malls, wherever you go. i'm going to write " did you vote for bush? then, this is for you and your teens ". or. ... ' a gift for you from the president'.

i leave my little ' bush is a liar' post its all over the place.

[reprobate]

27. I saw one of those once. But we couldn't agree on re-up bonus.

I demanded Brigadeer for reenlistment, but they said the best they could do for an E-3 was Lt. Col. so I said shove it and returned to my real rank- PFC-Private Freaking Civilian.

[yorkiemommie1]

38. thanks!!!!!!!!

n/t

[fasttense]

12. Where are all those Repukes who put those cheap little yellow

ribbons on their SUVs? I thought they supported the war. Why aren't their sons and daughters signing up to be killed for b*sh? Doesn't it guarantee them 30 virgins in heaven, oh, wait, that's Muslims, never mind.

But if the religious right started to push something like that they could get all those religious kids to sign up to die for b*sh. You know the pastors could say something like "Give your life for b*sh and guarantee your place in heaven." You know like the indulgences Martin Luther fought against with the Catholic Church.

Repukes need to get the religious right working on this recruiting thing.

[AndyTiedye]

21. And Bush** Should Lead Them Into Battle Personally

That was how the Dark Ages finally ended so we could have the Renaissance.
The religious nutbars all went off to the Crusades and didn't come back :-)

[mahina]

41. Oh my God that is just so beautiful.

Thanks for the context. You made me smile.

[CanOfWhoopAss]

31. Yep 30 virgins for the Christo-Facist Zombie Brigade

But remember you still have to practice abstinance. And not the abstinance that Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Baker practice.

[yorkiemommie1]

39. where are they?

searching cartoons for signs of gay characters.

[K8-EEE]

43. They Are COWARDS And Have "Other Priorities" Like Cheney

Limbaugh and all the other GOPs who are gung ho for war as long as THEY don't have to pay for it, in blood or money. Evil bastards all.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. The war in Iraq may have helped recruit people for the the opposition

However, it's having the opposite effect on our Country. When you're fighting for a cause that your people believe in they will support you until the death. When you're fighting for a cause that's just killing and getting people killed for nefarious reasons you have to draft to make your quota. Guess which scenario this is?

[liberalmike27]

16. Volunteers

Well, I think this all volunteer Army has bred a lot of indifference into our country.

Personally, any Democrat worth their stuff would make sure their kids, or grandkids didn't participate in this unjust war.

This is probably a unique opinion, but I think of the military as just another job. Yes, like many American jobs it is risky, probably one of the riskiest, along with being a convenience store clerk on the midnight shift in a bad part of town. Still, these days people volunteer, and hopefully all the Homer Simpson types who are mindlessly supporting this war, will send their kids. Darwinism can take over, and we'll lose a lot of the right-wingers. But the military to guys like Bush is just a tool to make money for his daddy's friends, or to gain oil for our country. I don't "revere" it as some do, it is a choice made by people, a totally voluntary choice. Much of the hype about "serving" is just BS, to dupe people into some glory-dream of coming home the hero, and it usually works only on the most simplistic. I'd suspect many who've been in the service would recognize that as true, but later, as they mature.

Truly, it is hard to see the glory in this war. I don't mean to malign the soldier, but this hyping up the warrior is just part of the game, to sell people into going over to some foreign country to risk their lives in some rich-guys game. But soldiers are victims of all this hype, especially in these regional, avoidable conflicts.

Vietnam was a classic example, all we did was kill about 3 million regionals there, and nearly 60,000 of our own boys and girls, we left chemical pollution there to this day that causes birth defects in children, and all of this is not to mention the injuries and destruction of a generation of children.

People are so led around by their noses, and some media rhetoric and hype. Don't join, don't let your kids join. We haven't had a real need for war since WW II, and we still don't.

[Toots]

17. Our forefathers were quite clear in that they didn't want a military

They felt that if we were attacked enough people wopuld volunteer to defend their country and when the war was over those people would go back home. In fact I believe it is written into the Constitution that there be no standing military. :shrug:

[Ezlivin]

22. Not heroes

Much of the hype about "serving" is just BS, to dupe people into some glory-dream of coming home the hero, and it usually works only on the most simplistic. I'd suspect many who've been in the service would recognize that as true, but later, as they mature.

I joined to "see the world" and to get a better education. My wife joined for the same reason. I never met another sailor who had joined to "serve his country." That was not how it was sold to us, so those words were not on our lips.

When I joined the Navy they advertised: Join the Navy and See the World!

And we can't forget this ditty (immortalized in "Stripes" by Bill Murray and crew):

Pick up service,
Pick up challenge.
Set yourself apart!
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines,
What a great place to start!

[AndyTiedye]

20. IT'S GETTIN' DRAFTY! CLOSE THE WAR!

[tom_paine]

26. That's what the coming economic catastrophe is for

Plenty of Fodder Units (as Jeb Bush calls us0 wil be willing to convert to Armored Units after THAT.

And it's coming...

[RedSock]

30. Moron got (about) 60,000,000 votes

... even if only 10% of these patriots do their duty, that ought to satisfy the need for troops.

[despairing optimist]

34. Babs and Jenna, front 'n' centa!

[Supersedeas]

36. Nothing like a War based on a Lie to take the wind out of moral service

[alfredo]

40. This makes me think that the anti war activist

might hit fertile ground this summer.

[mahina]

42. They might want to change that "Army of One" slogan.,

just sayin.

[Supersedeas]

51. some are getting a clue that honorable service is not = to * war lies

[NickB79]

52. Oh come on, it's still a great slogan

Especially to discribe all the mangled kids coming back from Shrub's war on Iraq: An Army of One (one arm, one leg, one eye, one testicle, etc....)

Now THAT should be their slogan!

[Shananigans]

44. Gee, I'm shocked! ;)

Seriously? Do they really think this Iraq-crap is going to make people want to join? If I had EVER thought about fighting in the military those thoughts are now buried under a mass of reality.

[Dr Fate]

45. Where are all those college aged patriots???

They cheerleaded for this stupid war- where are they???

[buddysmellgood]

47. Oh, don't worry. People will line up over night after we attack Iran.

Who could resist?

[readmoreoften]

50. Well, first you gotta let or make that terrorist event happen

before you convince the US to go to Iran.

[buddysmellgood]

53. The terrorists are working on destroying social security right now.