Numbers Challenge (Military recruitment is down)

[NNN0LHI]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/military_recruitment_040602.html

U.S. Military Struggles to Maintain Adequate Troop Levels

June 2, 2004— The U.S. Army issued orders today that will keep thousands of soldiers in the military longer than they may have planned, in an effort to ensure there are enough combat-ready, fresh forces to continue serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon is facing another challenge to manpower: Recruitment is down.

The most alarming recruiting decline is in the Air National Guard. Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel today that recruiting is off by 23 percent.

"I'm not satisfied with what these numbers portend," Pace said. "We need to be very attentive to the way we are using especially our Guard and Reserve."

Recruitment overall in the National Guard and the reserves is down several percentage points.

more

[placton]

1. Gee, what can the explanation be?

[Claire Beth]

11. yeah, really!!! n/t

[saigon68]

19. THEY WILL DIE LIKE DOGS

FOR NO GOOD REASON EXCEPT TO IMPROVE THE PROFITS OF CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES LIKE HALLIBURTON

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. gee

but I thought the military was seeing record enlistment numbers. At least, that's what they told me on the tv. :eyes:

[Insider]

3. twisting figures

need to do some research, but if i remember correctly they were saying things like "105% of target recruiting numbers". and of course they can set targets anywhere. and when i read those articles a couple of months ago, they did not quote numbers, just "percent of targets".

will do some checking today tho.

[Maeve]

8. I remember something similar

All those folks joining up, sounded like there was a rush to arms. Hmmmm...now, you don't suppose..could it have been ANOTHER misrepresentation, misunderstanding, misdirection (read:LIE)???

[sangh0]

14. What I remember

was that before 9/11, recruiting fulfilled their quotas (which are set according to the needs of the military to maintain a legislatively set size, and not by political demands) while turning away a significant number of qualified candidates.

After 9/11, and up until now, I remember reading reports that while the #'s hadn't risen as a result of a surge of patriotism, they hadn't gone down either. IOW, they were still turning qualified applicants away.

This is the first report I've read of the numbers actually dropping.

[trogdor]

15. They can also move the targets around.

It just gets easier with stop-loss.

[Don_G]

4. If 25 Percent Of The US Population

Has been diagnosed with psychological disorders then it stands to reason that the other 75% doesn't want anybody shooting at their ass.

[Philostopher]

13. The old, familiar

Catch-22. If you're not afraid of dying, you're crazy and valuable to the military, even though insanity is the only out; if you're afraid of dying, you're sane and can't get out of serving, because not wanting to die is a sane response to war. These kids are getting Heller via osmosis, I guess.

[nodictators]

5. The Army calls it "Stop-Loss" Orders

Sounds like they view their soldiers as commodities.

Actually, this is bad news for Bush. The Powers That Be expect the WH resident to rally the American People to their causes. like PNAC.

It seems that Bush does NOT inspire confidence in potential enlistees. And the "Stop-Loss" orders will surely scare away more enlistees. "You're in the Army, Now and Forever" isn't a good way to attract enlistees.

[John_H]

6. That's why Hackworth told Franken there WILL be a draft starting this Dec.

[teryang]

7. It is heartening to see and hear young people

...particularly the best and brightest, expressing their suspicion that the government is plotting to draft them for Iraq, their opposition to that conflict, and their resentment of the military recruitment presence in their high schools and mailboxes.

[HawkerHurricane]

9. Little Known facts about Stop-Loss

Well, first a well known fact: Calling it Stop Loss was a stupid idea.

When you enlist in the military on your first enlistment, you don't enlist for 4 years. You enlist for 8 years. The usual (peacetime) pattern is 4 years active duty, and 4 years inactive reserve (non-drilling reservist). During your inactive time, you are subject to recall 'for national emergencies'. What they are doing is forcing these kids to stay past the 4 year active, ie activating their inactive reserve time, so they can send them/keep them in Iraq.

Funny thing is that the Navy is offering early outs to young sailors... rather than keep them the full 4 years, they're giving them honorable discharges at 3.5 years to save money. And old pharts like me, the navy is kicking out at 20, rather than honoring our contracts (mine was to 2006), retiring us rather than paying us for the remaining years.

Navy doesn't want them, Army can't get them to re-up... and they're playing number games to hide the facts ("recruitment is at 105% of quota... but the quota is down 25% from last year!").

[trogdor]

17. AGAIN, stop loss affects more than first-term enlistees.

It affects 20-year men, too. They aren't "activating" shit. Sure, the extra time you serve counts toward whatever service-remaining obligation you might have otherwise served in the IRR, but if you have more than eight years in, you're still stuck.

[HawkerHurricane]

20. So you're telling me...

a man with, say, 12 years of service, reaches the end of his enlistment, says 'screw this, I ain't re upping for this', and THEY DON'T RELEASE HIM? His flippin' contract is up, what are they going to do, arrest him for not signing on?

Sorry, doesn't compute.

[NNN0LHI]

10. I don't think the Chimp will be able to wait until next year for a draft

This is getting serious.

Don

[Neshanic]

12. Yoo Hoo, all Freepers with kids. Taking them down to join up?

Put your money where Halliburton's mouth is.

[daa]

16. Sounds like the Army of One

will be one soon - chimpy.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

18. Doing my best Al Franken impersonation...

LIARS! They've been saying for the past year that the military is meeting all of the recruitment quotas. Some rightwing news sources have suggested that there's actually been an increase in enlistment.

LIARS!! Despite the much ballyhooed decline in educational achievement among American youth, they're still smart enough to know a raw deal when the see one.