Posted on 12/09/2004 9:17:03 AM PST by Fighting Irish
Retired Col. David H. Hackworth, still shooting from the sidelines at Soldiers for the Truth, says the recruiting numbers are far worse than anyone is hearing. Hack's talking to the recruiters first-hand and the problem, no surprise, is in all branches of the military -- Regular Army, Reserves and Guard.
Recruiting is at half of expectations. They've lowered standards for recruits and have resulted to throwing LAN parties to garner interest from potential recruits.
Hack says a draft is imminent, as there is no way to replace the estimated 50,000 KIA, WIA and non-battle casualties from Iraq that have been sent back to the States.
We'll soon have 150,000 U.S. troops stuck in the ever-expanding Iraqi quagmire, a number that will probably grow even larger before Iraq holds elections presently scheduled for the end of January '05.
...The job of finding fresh bodies to keep our units topped off falls mainly to the Army Recruiting Command. But the "making-quota" jazz put out by the Recruiting Command and the Pentagon to hype their billion-dollar recruiting effort, with its huge TV expenditure and big expansion of recruiters during the past year, is pure unadulterated spin. Not that this is anything new. The Command has a sorry reputation for using smoke and mirrors to cover up poor performance.
"Hack, here's a snapshot of how little of our 1st Quarter mission has been achieved," says an Army recruiter. "Look at it from a perspective of a business releasing quarterly earnings information. To keep unit manning levels up out in the field, especially in Iraq, there's no question our recruiting mission is in serious trouble."
"These are totals for the 41 USAREC (Recruiting Command) Battalions, so these stats represent the USAREC mission accomplishment:
Regular Army Volume (all RA contracts): Mission: 25,322 Achieved: 12,703 (50.17 percent)
Army Reserve Volume: Mission: 7,373 Achieved: 3,206 (43.48 percent)."
The Army National Guard is faring no better. A Guard retention NCO says: "The word is out on the streets of Washington, D.C. `Do not join the Guard.' I see these words echoing right across the U.S.A."
By the end of this recruiting year, the Regular Army, Reserves and Guard could fall short more than 50 percent of its projected requirement, or about 60,000 new soldiers. And according to many recruiters, quality recruits are giving way to mental midgets who have a hard time telling their left foot from their right.
Shades of our last years in Vietnam.
...Moms and dads are outraged about desperate Army recruiters on a relentless campaign to sign up their teenagers. High-school kids are actually running away from recruiters like they were George Romero's living dead.
"Recruiters have called my son a minimum of 20 times in the two years since he finished high school," a dad reports. "The phone calls usually come in clusters. I answered five calls in a two- or three-week span. Each time a recruiter calls, he receives the same polite, respectful response from me or my son ... no interest, and please take the name off the list. When asked why the name hasn't been removed, excuses are made. While recruiters are brief with me, when my son is on the phone, the sales tactics are clever, prolonged and very high-pressure."
...Unless a miracle happens and the new Iraqi security force decides to stop running and start fighting, we'll be in Iraq for a long time. Most likely with a draftee force.
I respect Hack for his service but the guy is off his rocker. LOL
We learned from Nam that draftees were not the answer and unless there is an all out WWIII there won't be another draft.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
MODs.....this came off a commie blog today that FR won't allow(The Daily Kos). I changed the URL for informational purposes only.
Stories like this need to be shown so the rest of the civilized world sees what the lefties are up to with their bassakwards thinking.
If I've ventured into no-no land then nuke it.....but I throw myself at the mercy of the court.
50,000 casualties from Iraq??
Come now, we have about 1000 KIA and about 250 dead from other causes in Iraq. The ratio of Wounded to KIA is about 9:1. Looks to me that the number is more like 10,000.
Alternative way of looking at the picture, 50,000 casualties would be a very substantial portion of the strength of the Army and the Marine Corps, the organizations which are taking the vast majority of the casualties. If they had lost 50,000 casualties, they would be rendered completely ineffective, given their other committments.
Hackworth is off his rocker.
Thats funny, they are looking for any excuse to get rid of us in flight school because the Navy has too many people. I'm afraid to even get a speeding ticket.
This whole article is hot steaming BS.
I'm an Army National Guard Recruiter, and this writer never asked me a thing. I sure as hell don't know where these numbers are coming from. Except fantasy.
"50,000 KIA, WIA"? Gee, that's sounds like Vietnam-era numbers. I've not seen ANY stats reflecting anywhere NEAR that level.
Nor is a single name mentioned. I question whether this is even a Hackworth article, and not some Leftist screed with Hackworth's name for dressing.
Hackworth may be off his rocker but give me your thoughts on this.
The Air Force and the Navy are detaching security forces to run with the Army and the Marines in Iraq.
The Military is not tapping Air Force and Navy people because there is an over abundance of Army and Marine personel.
To send untrained Air Force and Navy Military Police into a combat zone is pure BS from my perspective. These kids are not trained anything like their Army or Marine hosts.
Draftees may not be popular but when you are at war they are sometimes required.
If they are not required now then why are we sending untrained Air Force and Navy people in to supplement the Army and Marine mission work?
You can read it also on Hackworthless' site:
http://www.hackworth.com/
It probably is Hackworth. Hack has become, well, a hack recently. He seems to have become bitter for some reason, and has resorted to taking potshots at the war. My personal opinion is that the successes of GWI and GWII, particularly the actions of the soldiers which are no longer hidden in the shadows (the way his actions were) are making him jealous, both that he was never lionized the way these new soldiers are, and that his exploits are no longer the benchmark. IOW he is afraid of sinking into irrelevancy, forced to subsist on dry military history book sales. IMHO, it won't be much longer before SOF drops him as a columnist for someone younger and more in-touch with the current military.
Thanks Flashbunny......as always I'm late to the dance.
I agree that we should not be sending untrained personnel to Iraq.
I think we could, as we have already starting doing, send troops from Germany and Korea to Iraq.
And put the National Guard and Reserve units on OUR borders.
It wasn't and isn't a matter of "popularity" as far as draftees go, it's the mere fact that we had verrrrry bad luck with draftees in Nam and anyone who was there will tell you that we would be better off without them...
I'd take one Marine who enlisted over a whole company of draftees any day.
There is zero chance of a draft short of a cataclysmic event in this country, but volunteers would be lining up in that case anyway. It may mean paying our military personnel more for the security they afford this country. If a guy can make millions by dunking a ball through a hoop, why can't we provide more for the service person and his or her family? I will also mention that we need to get the hell out of Germany and some of the other EU countries that don't support us. A realignment of our resources is in order. If we must have a military presence in Europe, why not move our operations to East European countries that have supported us with words and by deeds?
Those are interesting observations:
As the new generation of warriors steps up, he'll fade away.
We can only hope.
NC National Guard recruiting missed its target of 1700 new enlistees by 300 this past year. But I am not too sympathetic, as I was disqualified from enlisting with the Guard just last week (based on a minor condition which I listed on my medical pre-screen....I didn't even make it to MEPS). And I currently exceed all the physical requirements to graduate boot camp, plus I run 3-4 miles daily. Go figure!
There is no way the military can continue performing unless it receives a massive injection of "citizen Soldiers.!
I was drafted and gladly served my country: however, I believe that every young American MAN should serve a minimum of 2 years of active duty with NO EXEMPTIONS!
I managed, over many years, to earn my doctorate (back when that truly meant something significant) and serve my country.
We can't leave it up to the professional soldiers to do the soldiering!
P.S.: Is Osama Barak bin Laden (New senator from ILLinois) of drafable age>
There IS no draft. There is no PLAN for a draft. There will be no CALL for a draft.
There is one chief reason for recruiting numbers being off (and they are, I'll admit), and that's Stop-Loss. The Guard's biggest source of enlistments have always been transition from Big Army to the Guard/Reserve. When Big Army put the Stop-Loss in place, it meant that guys who were going to trade over, stayed where they were. So, they didn't join the Guard, and the enlistment numbers dipped.
And as to USAF/USN security types? NO ONE goes in theater unless they're qualified to do their job. Period. No appeal. My unit is spinning up right now for a 4-month mobilization, and it's all for training and proficiency with the new toys we're getting. What better way to get these AF/Navy troops the experience and dirt-under-their-nails knowledge of their jobs, than to have them serve in theater? It spares line units from pulling these missions, and they're now available for direct-fire, in their turn.
But, this is not what The Left, and their useful idiot Hackworth, want you to hear. Doom-and-gloom is all we're expecting from The Left, and they seldom fail to deliver, don't they?
"It may mean paying our military personnel more"
hmmmm, in it for the money? mercenaries...
agree
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