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Iraqi Police search men entering the clothing factory in Lutifiyah, Iraq, as they apply to become Iraqi police officers, July 9, 2007. The security was stiff, but over 1,100 residents of the Mahmudiyah district showed up to apply. Courtesy photo Several Hundred Police Recruits Vie for Security Jobs Violence doesn't deter Iraqis from taking control. By Multi-National Division - Center Public Affiars Office MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, July 11, 2007 — Despite Iraqi Security Forces being a primary target for anti-Iraqi terrorists, people continue to volunteer to become members of the Iraqi police. An Iraqi Security Forces recruiting drive, held July...

Police Recruiting in Nasir Wa Salam a 'Resounding Success' Iraqi citizens pour out to fight al Qaeda. By Multi-National Division – BaghdadPublic Affairs Office BAGHDAD, June 29, 2007 — Hundreds of volunteers from area tribes, willing to fight against al Qaeda, turned out for a screening to become Iraqi Police candidates in Baghdad’s Nasir Wa Salam and Abu Ghraib neighborhoods starting June 25. "This recruitment drive is a success because the tribes in this area want to reconcile their differences with the Coalition and the Iraqi government and participate in the legitimate legal process." U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter...

MIAMI, May 4, 2007 – Scores of young people raised their right hands and joined America’s armed forces during a joint enlistment ceremony here yesterday. Left to right: Floridian recruits Angeline Medina, 17, from Miami Gardens; Jorge Lainez, 18, from Miami; and Frank Giro, 18, from Hialeah, are sworn in as new Marine enlistees during a joint oath of enlistment ceremony at Miami’s Opa Locka Airport on May 3. The ceremony inducted 120 young people into the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy or Coast Guard. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The mass enlistment,...

Just a heads up for interested freepers. The Marines Examining the unique warrior culture of the United States Marine Corps, this documentary focuses on Marine training, the strong bonds between Marines and their devotion to the corps. "Semper Fidelis, always faithful. You'll take the corpse off the battlefield even if it means your own life ... Alive or dead, they come back with you." - Nancy Sherman, professor and author of Stoic Warriors THE MARINES, airing Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET on PBS, examines the unique "Warrior Culture" of the smallest but fiercest branch of the U.S. armed...

PETERSBURG, Va. -- As the World Trade Center rubble smoldered, Sharon Samuel felt determined to do something for her adopted country; she decided to enlist in the Army. But the Army told the Brooklyn hairdresser she was too old. "I wanted to serve. I wanted to give back," said the 40-year-old Trinidad native. "I have felt the pain New Yorkers felt." Samuel got a second chance this year when the Army increased its maximum enlistment age to 42. So, off she went to Fort Lee, about 25 miles south of Richmond, for training in logistical support. She has joined more...

Contrary to the claims of Rep. Charlie Rangel (D.-N.Y.), U.S. military recruits are not poorer and less well educated than their contemporaries. Quite the opposite is true. They tend to be better off and better educated. In fact, as the Iraq War has continued, enlistments have declined from poorer neighborhoods, while increasing from middle-class neighborhoods. Tim Kane, Ph.D., director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for International Trade and Economics, has studied the demographic trends among recruits in periods both before and after the war. The data he collected are represented in the charts below. They show that enlistees in the...

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D.-N.Y.), soon to chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has announced his intention to try to reinstate the draft. He has offered three justifications for returning to conscription after 33 years of an all-volunteer force: social justice, peace and better troops. Rangel claims that mostly poor people with few opportunities enlist, often driven to military service because of structural unemployment. “If a young fellow has an option of having a decent career, or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq,” he said on...

The military isn't full of poor, uneducated kids, but it doesn't look anything like America. November 3, 2006 SINCE John Kerry "botched" a joke and implied that those without education "get stuck in Iraq," political leaders from both parties have been piously describing U.S. troops as valiant young Einsteins in desert camouflage. But deep down, a lot of them probably think Kerry is right. If those grunts were half as smart as members of Congress, they'd be on Capitol Hill getting sucked up to by lobbyists instead of sucking up dust in Baghdad's bloody alleys — right? Demographically, the military...

SENATOR JOHN KERRY says he flubbed a joke aimed at President Bush when he warned a group of students last week that they would get “get stuck in Iraq” if they didn’t work hard in school. The president says Mr. Kerry demeaned the military by suggesting its men and women were “uneducated.” snip... Is the military a career of last resort for the uneducated? Though the military has a smaller proportion of college graduates than the country at large, it turns out that it has a higher proportion of people with high school diplomas, according to a comparison of figures...

Center for Data Analysis Report #06-09 The current findings show that the demo­graphic characteristics of volunteers have contin­ued to show signs of higher, not lower, quality. {snip} Given the nature of the military rank structure, most enlisted recruits do not have a college edu­cation or degree. Members of the armed forces with higher education are more often commis­sioned officers (lieutenant and above). In 2004, 92.1 percent of active-duty officer accessions held baccalaureate degrees or higher.[5] From 2000 to 2005, between 10 percent and 17 percent of active-duty officer accessions held advanced degrees, and between 35 percent and 45 percent of...

By Lance Cpl. Ben Eberle1st Marine Logistics GroupThe Iraqi Army’s newest soldiers march past an Iraqi and American audience during their graduation ceremony at Camp Habbaniyah Sept. 30. CAMP HABBANIYAH -- More than 300 Iraqi recruits graduated boot camp in a ceremony here Sept. 30. The Iraqi Army’s newest soldiers endured five weeks of training to learn the fundamentals of marksmanship, urban patrols, search and clear operations, as well as how to make the transition to a military lifestyle. A national recruiting initiative plans to bring in 30,000 soldiers by May 2007, said Col. Joel P. Garland, the basic...

Maj. William Gerst (left), the assistant operations officer for RCT-5, and Maj. Brian Wirtz, a military advisor to 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, relax while Iraqi soldiers administer multiple screenings to the recruits. By the day’s end, the Iraqi soldiers enlisted 293 Iraqi males in Fallujah and Habbaniyah. Photo by: 2nd Lt. Lawton King CAMP FALLUJAH -- Soldiers from the 1st Iraqi Army Division enlisted 293 Iraqi males from the greater Fallujah and Habbaniyah area recently as part of an al-Anbar province-wide recruiting drive - a sign, Coalition officials say, that Iraqis are looking to take charge of their...

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 22, 2006 -- An opportunity to get an education, to see parts of the world they’d only heard about or serve their country attracted 16 passengers here last evening aboard American Airlines Flight 1961, and ultimately, to 13 weeks of boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Devin Chambers (from left), Ben McCorkle and Pacheco Perez, new Marine recruits departing for basic training, pose for a photo. Photo by Cherie Thurlby  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The 16 Marine Corps recruits, most from Texas, displayed the expected range of emotions as they boarded...

RAMADI, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 22, 2006) – A record-setting 395 Iraqis answered the call at a recent recruiting drive for Iraqi police in Ramadi. The recruiting drives are jointly hosted by the Iraqi army, Iraqi police, and units of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. “The tremendous success of the August recruiting drive demonstrates that the people of Ramadi are committed to their own security. We have rounded a corner in creating a stable and secure Ramadi,” said Lt. Col. James Lechner, deputy commander of the 1st AD’s 1st Bde. To join the Iraqi police, recruits must pass...

University students at centre of terror plots By Roya Nikkhah, Andrew Alderson and Julie Henry (Filed: 13/08/2006) The recruitment of Muslim students at British universities to take part in terrorist attacks is at the heart of the alleged plot to blow up passenger jets, it is feared. A dossier of extremist Islamic literature has been uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph on the campus of a north London university, one of whose students has suspected links to the alleged terrorist attack. A tape produced by al-Muhajiroun Waheed Zaman, 22, a bio-chemistry student and the president of the Islamic Society at London...

FORT MEADE, August 2, 2006 – The young and not-so-young men and women processing into the military earlier this week at the Military Entrance Processing Station here offer a snapshot of the armed forces of the future. Most are between 18 and 20, and men outnumber women. But beyond those generalizations, no common thread runs through the group. They represent all colors and a broad range of ethnic groups, come from a variety of backgrounds, and express a wide range of motivations for joining the military. Among the youngest processing through the Baltimore MEPS July 31 was 17-year-old Bethany Wade,...

FORT MEADE, Md., August 2, 2006 -- A step through the doors of the Military Entrance Processing Station here blows away the myths that the military is struggling to get enough recruits, dropping its standards to get those it does, or glossing over the fact that it’s recruiting into a wartime force. July 31 was the last day of a month in which all the services had already met their quotas for recruits. It was a relatively slow day at the station -- one of 65 dotting the country. Yet the station buzzed with activity as 102 men and women...

JUST before the first anniversary of the July 7 bombings in London that killed 52 people, Al Qaeda released a video that reflects a significant change in how it operates: terrorism is being brought home. The new video tries to recruit ordinary American Muslims who might be offended, as many ordinary Americans are, by America’s mistakes and moral failings in carrying out the war on terrorism. The film stars three terrorists: Shehzad Tanweer, one of the July 7 bombers who died during the attack; Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy and long-time chief ideologue; and Adam Gadahn, a 28-year-old American...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5550697 (audio feed)

Teen Terror on the Web: Jihadi and Islamist Activities on MySpace.com By Laura Mansfield.com You’ve heard about MySpace.com, the social networking site that is commonly used by American teenagers. You’ve heard about the dangers of MySpace, as one news network after another reported on the prevalence of sexual predators on the system that prey on young teens who give out too much personal information. But MySpace.com isn’t just popular with sexual predators. As I reported in my presentation at the America’s Truth Forum Symposium two weeks ago, there is extensive jihadi activity and recruitment underway on MySpace.com. Teens and young...