Posted on 03/03/2005 10:31:20 AM PST by Righty_McRight
Yeah, your question (about money) makes sense. And I agree with you that for most people, money is a relatively small part of the motivation -- the kind of folks who are qualified for military service are the same folks who can make a very nice living for themselves in other ways also.
It can't possibly have anything to do with the threat of prosecution for shooting a terrorist or making him wear panties on his head, can it?
If the MSM broadcasting this kind of information doesn't meet the definition of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, I don't know what does. It baffles me why we haven't cracked down on these traitors.
A couple of years ago Rumsfeld decided to reduce the Air Force and Navy in order to prop up the the Army and Marines. When they do that 40,000 Sailors and Marines don't just show up for work the next day as Sailors and Marines. Budgets have to be adjusted and the recruiting and training pipes need to get ready for the flood. It would seem to me that this is about the time that they have the go ahead to start recruiting those new troops.
I hope thats the case anyway.
Oops
"When they do that 40,000 Sailors and Marines don't just show up for work the next day as Sailors and Marines.
Translation: When they do that 40,000 Airman and Sailors don't show up to work the next day as Soldiers and Marines.
As one poster said above - we can do what we can to counteract the negativity of the MSM by trying to persuade kids in our families and communities that now is the time to step up to the plate and enlist.
Seemed like a simple enough question.
There are lots of ways to draw people in: Extra recruiters; extra advertising; extra pay; extra bonuses; extra education assistance; upgraded living standards at military bases; more flexibility with medical standards, legal standards, intelligence/educational standards, and physical strength standards; more flexibility for prior service folks who want to re-join, etc, etc.
And there are also a bunch of ways to help retain the people we already have -- good retention can help counter-balance soft recruiting results.
I wouldn't say "people aren't volunteering." Even with our extremely tough entrance requirements, the Navy and Air Force are at or over 100%, while the Army and USMC are still recruiting between 80% and 100% of their goal. And there are a hundred ways to open the spigot a little wider if we want to.
A common denominator among my fellow Marines was poor economic conditions at home. None of us came from well-to-do families and most of us came from broken homes and grinding poverty. For us, the military was a chance to escape our environments. But for those from properous families, they would have to be nutcases to sign up for what we went through (unless they went in as officers which is a whole different world).
With the phenomenenal economy we are now enjoying as a nation, it should come as no surprise that enlistments are down. The lower classes are probably tapped out so far as military recruiting. Thus, we need to attract some middle-class recruits by increasing pay and improving living conditions on base.
That's what I thought, but then I remembered...there's no simple question or answer on an anonymous forum, especially this one...
Most of those items have been implemented since 9-11. Extra recruiters would appear to me to be counterproductive. Seems to me I've read where the Army is augmenting the recruiting command with 7-800 additional recruiters. As far as I know, recruiters are NCOs. How many line units are being deprived of the leadership those NCOs possess?
I admit I have biases. My first 12 years in the Army (61-73 -- PVT to CPT) I trained with, served with, and even trained a BCT cycle that included some of the last draftees. Between the knee-jerk reactions of Ford and Carter, we lost something in the Army and the country when the draft was ended.
Bottom line is that we are not meeting the quotas and there is no way a person can be forced into the recruiter's office.
As far as I can tell, your bottom line is correct.
My company misses our recruiting goal too!!! Infact we have been unable to come close to recruiting a mere 30 new drivers to fill the vacancies. Why do they have to post only ARMY misses the recruiting goal? Why don't they tell the OBVIOUS, which is lower unemployement rate? Low unemployment rate keeps most companies, businesses, etc. from getting people at the door. NOT ONLY THE ARMY!!!
Oh
Does this mean Americans don't want to be prosecuted for murder for killing terrorists in combat ?
I feel honored. You have made a total of four posts on FR in the last three years and you made one to me.
It really would have been interesting had your post been relevant.
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