Iraq fears, 'bad apples' impede Army recruiters' mission

The Dallas Morning News ^ | May 20, 2005 | DAVID McLEMORE and RICHARD WHITTLE

[Dubya]

Army recruiter Chad Christenson has sent 60 new soldiers off to basic training in the last two years.

Every day, he works the phones in his northwest San Antonio recruiting office, talking up the Army to young prospects. He visits San Antonio schools and shopping malls in his quest to meet his goal: two "quality" appointments arranged by the end of each day.

But rising combat casualties in Iraq make parents nervous. And increasing complaints about unethical recruiting tactics have made the Army an even harder sell – sending enlistments plunging for the first time in five years.

[Dubya]

J. MICHAEL SHORT/Special Contributor

Sgt. Chad Christenson, an Army recruiter in San Antonio, says parents are a difficult sell.

[68skylark]

The press dearly wants to report on declining enlistments, and they've done everything in their power to make it happen.

But the facts don't really fit their hype -- our standards are still very high and we're still enlisting most all the soldiers we need. Retention is also strong. So there just isn't as much bad news as they'd like.

[lepton]

So are enlistments actually lower? Or just not increasing at the intended rate?

[68skylark]

Last I saw, they're around 90% of the goal for the year-to-date so far. It would be easy to take them well up over 100% and more if we lowered our standards a little, back to where they were in the 1980's and early 1990's (when they were still pretty high). But I think everyone is happy with the very high standards we have since the later 1990's, and we'll probably tolerate somewhat lower enlistments in order to keep standards as high as possible. Last I heard, retention is pretty strong, and that helps.

And remember, the figures above only apply to the Army (the Marines are similar). The Air Force and Navy are still fully meeting their goals.

[Buddy B]

Sgt. Chad Christenson, an Army recruiter in San Antonio, says parents are a difficult sell.

Sign-up required...to read ? Most likely...

[Gunslingr3]

Retention is also strong.

Yeah, it's called Stop-Loss. Recruitment is the final test of voluntary armies and elective wars.

[Gunslingr3]

And remember, the figures above only apply to the Army (the Marines are similar). The Air Force and Navy are still fully meeting their goals.

USAF and USN had plenty of volunteers during Vietnam too. Ever wonder why people would choose those roles over Army or Marines during a war?