[xzins]

Right now retention rates of active duty soldiers is UP. It's a real wacko thing....they get psyched up, pumped up about doing something meaningful with their lives...things that will change the world.

The 82d Airborne has already MET its FY04 recruiting goal and they're only in the 3rd quarter and most of the year was spent overseas in Iraq fighting bad guys.

The NG might be a different story. They've got those anachronistic promotion rules that drag down the morale of their younger troops.

[dwilli]

The National Guard and Reserve units are being used to fill billets they are not in shape, physical or training-wise, to fill. Many are older folks going from desk or management jobs to combat areas. They are beginning to
seem as they are considered fodder in a sense.

The Iraqi Invasion is not the heart-winning operation
it began as 12 months ago. That is true stateside or
combat zone.