Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2008 – All 10 military components met or exceeded their recruiting goals in July, with the Marine Corps leading the active-duty components and the Air National Guard on top of other reserve components. In terms of recruiting percentages, the Marine Corps bested all active-duty components, attaining 117 percent of its goal. Meanwhile, the Army and Air Force made 101 percent, and the Navy added 100 percent of its target number, according to information provided today by Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. Data published on the Defense Department Web site shows that the Marine Corps goal was 4,094, but...

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (May 19, 2006) -- What makes a first-term Marine with two combat tours, nearing the end of his four years in the Marine Corps, want to reenlist? This is a question many career planners aboard the Combat Center face daily when dealing with Marines nearing their end of active service date as they tailor both that question and incentives to each Marine. Their mission is to retain these combat veterans and other experienced Marines despite the possibility of deployments and hardships while a conflict overseas continues. Yet they still meet their...

As Soldiers and Their Families Tire of Extended Deployments, Reenlistment May Fall, Survey Shows CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Patty B. Morgan's husband was fighting in Iraq with the 101st Airborne and she was caring for two children by herself. Their lease was expiring and they had committed to buying a house across town, so she was going through with the move anyway. One hot morning last July, as she was about to drive boxes to the new place, she walked outside, infant car seat in hand, and opened the garage door -- to find that her green Jeep had been stolen....

Janine Suppes put it plainly. "My own husband will not be re-enlisting," she said. Glen Suppes, a Hotchkiss high school teacher, father of three and a Colorado National Guardsman, has been gone for 14 months, in Iraq for 10, with two more months to go. When he comes home, he will join a growing number of military reservists and National Guard soldiers who will leave the service when their enlistments are up. "Mass exodus. That's the term that keeps going around," said Janine Suppes. So far, at least, an exodus is not reflected in the numbers. Nationally, officials say that...

Despite overseas cruises of record length and number, sailors in the U.S. Navy are re-enlisting in record numbers. This presents a problem, as the navy has more people wanting to stay in than the navy needs. At the same time, the navy is still reorganizing itself as a result of post-Cold War cutbacks and reforms. This has produced shortages of sailors in some specialties, and surpluses in over fifty others. The navy has found that, in peacetime, it's better to have sailors volunteer to change their specialty, rather than ordering them to switch. So the navy set up a program...

Mass Reenlistment Marks July 4th Celebration in Baghdad By U.S. Army Pfc. James Matise / 101st Airborne Division MOSUL, Iraq, July 5, 2003 -- The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) celebrated America's 227th birthday in grand style the Fourth at the division headquarters, located at the palace overlooking the banks of the Tigris River. The Independence Day festivities culminated in a mass reenlistment ceremony, where 158 Screaming Eagles stepped forward, raised right hands in front of their fellow soldiers and swore to continue defending the Constitution of the United Sates."We say this is a great day or a great...