Posted on 05/21/2005 9:51:16 AM PDT by chudogg
Edited on 05/21/2005 9:59:24 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
USA Today is headline/link only.
Also, the Author of the peice seems to be confused with the IRR and the NG/Reserves.
If they'll take 47 year olds with no previous service, I'm there.
You could theoretically move through the service in less than 3 years.
"Theoretical" hardly ever worked, but there's a common belief that officers never served less than 3 years active duty.
This was in the 1966/67 time frame.
Sheesh, what's the point of investing much in training, with this kind of service commitment / payback? Are things really that bad recruiting-wise?
(((PING)))
Shake and Bakes?
Thanks for the correction, dont post too often and i didnt find this story reported anywhere else.
...where they would immediately be activated and, once their two years activation was up, involuntarily extended....
18 months in a military service should be manditory upon high school graduation.
"Sheesh, what's the point of investing much in training, with this kind of service commitment / payback?"
Exactly. It costs close to 50K these days to train up ONE soldier, through basic training and then their specialty training. What the h#ll are they thinking?
"Are things really that bad recruiting-wise?"
Bear in mind that we have a whole generation of young folks now who will be living off of their parents until they're in their mid-to-late twenties because their parents will enable them to do so, as well as having many youth raised by liberal, single mothers or two lesbians or two gay men who have brainwashed them against doing ANYTHING for their country, and equate "keeping the peace" with "killing people for fun!" (Just an observation from my own life.)
Patriotism, in our great nation, is dying. :(
My nephew lives (lived?) in the bluest of blue states, the peoples' republic of MA. He tried for eight months to enlist in any branch of the service, without success.
He first started talking to the Army recruiter last Sep. The guy was all set to take him. All the initial background checks and aptitude tests were completed. He passed handily. The recruiter said that since his aptitude scores were so high, he would be wasting his talents in the infantry and that he should apply for some sort of advanced electronics MOS. My nephew did and was accepted. To absolutely clinch the deal, the recruiter told him that he would get some sort of enormous signing bonus (in the order of $20K) if he entered basic training before 31 Dec 04. My nephew said he would take it, he would take it all, and went home and quit his job (idiot). This was the mid-Oct. time frame. This is where we enter 'The Twilight Zone.'
Once per week he was to report to some sort of Army induction center in the Boston area. He would be there with a couple dozen other prospective recruits, orders in hand. A bus (or buses) would pull up and some army puke would get out and select 50 people at random, pack them on buses, head off to boot camp, and all remaining were told, "Sorry. Come again next week." This went on through out all Oct., Nov., and Dec. In the meantime, I am calling his recruiter and local recruiters to find out what the deal is. His recruiter said that it is the Army and just the way it works. Typical Army SNAFU. I asked with it being this messed up how did he ever make his quota. He stated that his whole monthly recruiting quota is satisfied within the first 4 or 5 days each month and he doesn't even have to leave the office. He said that he has no need to go to any high school or college campii, he just sits in the office and they come to him. He said the biggest hassle was preparing paperwork for recruits that may or may not be taken once per week. My local Army recruiter had pretty much the same story.
Here is the kicker - that enormous signing bonus was out the window since he had not been in boot camp by 31 Dec. 04. Being a Navy vet myself, I told my nephew to tell his recruiter that if he didn't get off his dead butt and get him in, that he would go across the street and talk to the Navy recruiter. He did. The Army recruiter said, "Well, goodbye then." So, now the nephew is forced to go across the street and see what the Navy had to offer. The Navy recruiter welcomed him with open arms. He got his file from the Army recruiter and said, "With your scores, you belong in the Nuclear power program!" Papers were signed, he entered some sort of advanced enlistment program where he was sworn in to the inactive reserves but would not start boot camp for another several weeks. Finally the big day has arrived, he shows up at the induction center, they read about 50 names off a list and pack those off to boot camp. My nephew was not on the list. He went back to his Navy recruiter who said there was some sort of paperwork SNAFU that he would look into and get straightened out. One month later, they are still trying to get his initial background screening signed off on - that was the problem.
Then one day, about 3 weeks ago, he gets a call from the Army recruiter who says that if his bunz are at the intake center the following day, he could absolutely guaranty that the Army would take him. The only problem was there would be no advanced schooling - all billets were filled for the foreseeable future - so he would be going in as an infantry recruit. He called his Navy recruiter to ask if he was "really" in the Navy and what would happen if he went into the Army. The Navy recruiter said "Go for it!" Now here it is 3 weeks later and he has been pretty happy at Army boot camp in GA.
The moral of this story is that the armed forces are having no problem making their recruiting quotas--at least in blue state New England.
slow down there...
I think, being that this is the USA Today, that we are only getting half the story.....
I'm not worried about recruiting; they'll find a way to fill the ranks. I'm just suggesting some reasons for not having a dearth of eligible recruits these days. I'm retired Army; been there, done that. :)
I have recently read (I'm embarrassed to say at DU), that the Army is having recruitment problems.
However, a 15 month hitch does not necessarily mean each and every recruit will do 15 and get out. Yes, it costs a lot to train. During my era, Vietnam, there were many a US (2 year) and RA (3 or 4 year) that were not worth the powder to blow them to hell. Their attitudes also affected the good troops to much extent. So if by chance the Army is going full circle to that situation, 15 months is a good deal. Good troops and career material will likely stay for a career, the bad apples will get out and join places like DU.
However, if this 15 month thing does not work, here comes the draft. The military has been double understaffed since the Clinton era. We need to get back to basics, bring back the draft, boost numbers, and convert much of the civilian support folks back to uniformed positions.
Wish I could convince my son to join for 1 1/4 years. Since he was turned down for the ROTC because the quota was reached, he went on to college anyway and said to "heck" with the military. Now he is in a deadend job and still saying to "heck" with the military. Dang! As his parent, I'm a flag-waving, all American, pro-military individual but he isn't. (sniffle)
Bottom line, the guys who are qualified to serve and are man enough to do so will. Even those who disagree with the war can find military service that will likely put them nowhere near the front lines or even near Iraq. For too many young males however, it is something other folks do. Ask the former senator from Texas where his two husky young boys served, or the pepsodent-smile Massachusetts Governor where/when any of his four served.
I don't know, but from what I have been seeing here in Ohio and what I can get from the newspaper my mother runs, they aren't having any issues in Ohio right now...
The Marines do not seem to be having any problem here in California, but then they never seem to. I was suprised to hear from my nephew about a program that some guys in his High School class are taking advantage of. They go to boot camp in the summer between Junior and Senior. They are then put in the inactive reserves and return home to finish your Senior year of High School. When they graduate (and they encourage them to wear dress uniform to graduation) they go active and report for duty. I asked him if he was interested in it and he said he would be if the Navy had it.
"During the Viet Nam War the Army offered a combination of Basic/AIT/Infantry OCS (as an enlisted man), then 2 years as a Lieutenant, in the Infantry or other branches."
A friend of mine was drafted, then did the above (plus Airborne). But I recall that to do OCS he had to re-enlist for 3 years.
He made it a 37 year career, retiring as Lt. General (3 stars)!! Ranger. Combat all the way.
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