There is little evidence that we can't fill the boots voluntarily. The fact is that the numbers are capped by Congress, both via the budget and actual numerical caps. The Caps have been waived to some degree for the Army and Marines, and the President is requesting that the caps themselves be somewhat raised. By about 90K, IIRC. However the Air Force and Navy are being reduced, even as many Air Force and Navy personnel are being used for ground missions, such as EOD and Convoy escorts.
Personally, I am not swayed by the monthly numbers released to the media regarding recruiting goals of our armed services. I know that the Pentagon has to weigh the plusses and minuses of what is released to the public. We certainly don't want the enemy to be emboldened nor our own military troops to be demoralized by anything the DoD Public Relations "puts out." I completely understand this.
I'm basing my thoughts from firsthand knowledge. We have some friends who've been d/c'd from active duty for 8½ years. These guys are receiving calls from Monitors in D.C. that they'd better start looking for a billet or one is going to be chosen for them in the near future. Yes, they signed their own contracts decades ago, and the IR was always a possibility for reactivation, but why in the world are we recalling 40-somethings after 8½ years if there isn't a shortage? How many times has stop-loss been applied since 9-11? How many tours have Reservists already done? Those who were active duty on 9-11 are beginning 4th and 5th tours to the M.E.
It's all well and good for Hillary Clinton to state that SHE believes the solution to be the redeployment of our Reservists rather than increasing the numbers of our armed forces. What a bewildering, asinine comment, Hillary!
Everything has a shelf life. And our military, active and reserve have given waaay more than this country should ask. Not to mention, Iran, N.Korea & China are all dangling their strike capabilities.
In this FReeper's opinion, it's d@mned time we double our military personnel now.