Posted on 02/16/2005 11:52:55 PM PST by neverdem
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - In a sign of continued stress on the armed forces from operations in Iraq, five of the six military reserve components have failed to meet their recruiting goals for the first four months of the current fiscal year, the military's top officer said on Wednesday.
The officer, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee that only the Marine Corps Reserve had achieved its recruiting quota through January.
General Myers said the Army Reserve and the National Guard had been particularly hard hit because the Army was retaining more soldiers on active duty instead of letting them retire and join the reserve.
A spokesman for the Army's Recruiting Command, S. Douglas Smith, said the Army Reserve was increasing the number of recruiters to 1,524 by April, from 981 in January. He also said the Reserve was offering new bonuses of $15,000 for recruits with military experience and $10,000 for those without.
The comments from General Myers came at the first of back-to-back hearings on Wednesday that he and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld attended to defend the Pentagon's request for a $419.3 billion budget for the 2006 fiscal year, as well as a request for $82 billion in additional spending this year, $75 billion of which would go for military operations.
House and Senate Republican leaders said they generally supported the emergency request but would examine it carefully.
"In our initial review of the president's request, we have found some items of foreign aid that probably do not qualify as immediate emergencies," said Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader.
Representative Jerry Lewis, Republican of California and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said, "Our committee will end up being supportive of the commander in chief in this effort, but that doesn't mean we are not going to exercise the responsibility we have to examine carefully and then deal with specific appropriations."
At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, most senators signaled they would support the request for extra spending.
Some Democrats objected.
"The president is asking Congress to continue to shovel money into U.S. military operations in Iraq with no further clarity as to what goals the military is expected to achieve, no hint of a possible timetable and no end to the occupation in sight," said Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the panel's ranking Democrat.
Carl Hulse contributed reporting for this article.
The Marine Corps always meets its quotas.
I wonder if they take into accountability the people that don't enroll during war time aka: The ones that join for "Freebies"- Free Educ/Healthcare/training, etc. without wanting to commitment to military during war
...Wake up liberal people, the military is there for one real purpose only.... and during the time we are not at war, it's ok to get edumacation, but during wartime you better believe your gonna work for those "freebies".... I respect our men and woman that go out there and fight. I'm tired of seeing the news make our guys out to be nobodies... and the people that allow this sort of thing should be hung too.
But .. if the new package goes through for more pay, more insurance, etc. what might that do to improve recruiting?
But when he writes about "insurgents," then he's singing a different tune -- he's always reporting some "sophisticated" or "advanced" new tactic by those giants of the battlefield.
...We have been successful. The active Army and Reserves met their recruiting goals in fiscal year 2003. The Active Army is at 100 percent of its year-to-date fiscal year 2004 mission through January. On 1 October 2003 we began The National Call to Service Program, and 213 recruits have selected this program. The Reserve and National Guard are at 98.7 percent and 94.9 percent of their respective missions. We are recruiting a high-quality force; our high school degree graduates are 96.5 percent of Active Army recruits, 94.0 percent of Reserve recruits, and 84.6 percent of National Guard recruits, year-to-date....
Oh, God NO!!!
What has happened to make the Democrats all of the sudden object to a directive of concern?
Say it isn't so!
This should hit the mainstream press shortly, and when it does this revelation will rock the world!
"It's wrong"!!!! "Wrong"!!!!
It should be "pretty...pretty...pretty...
Is help on the waaaaay? Nooooo!!!!
"The president is asking Congress to continue to shovel money into U.S. military operations in Iraq with no further clarity as to what goals the military is expected to achieve, no hint of a possible timetable and no end to the occupation in sight," said Senator Robert C. Byrd of
As opposed to shoveling money into West Virginia Senator.............
Terrorists around the world are p!ssed because of lack of information as to a timetable.
I can't understand half of what the ex KKK Klagel says, and I doubt that he can understand himself. I wish somebody would swab the spit or whatever it is out of his throat so that he could be understood when he speaks.
I'm a Southerner. Trust me, his slurring and slurpping is NOT a Southern accent. It's probably closer to speech caused by demetia. That's my guess, but what the hell do I know?
I can't understand half of what the ex KKK Klagel says, and I doubt that he can understand himself. I wish somebody would swab the spit or whatever it is out of his throat so that he could be understood when he speaks.
I'm a Southerner. Trust me, his slurring and slurpping is NOT a Southern accent. It's probably closer to speech caused by demetia. That's my guess, but what the hell do I know?
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