Free Republic

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2009 – All 10 active-duty and reserve military components met or exceeded their recruiting goals in April, Defense Department officials announced today. For the second consecutive month, the Marine Corps added the highest percentage of active-duty members. The Corps’ goal was to add 1,018 new Marines. It exceeded that number by 43 percent, adding 1,666 new Marines. The Army National Guard led the reserve components when it exceeded its recruiting goal of 4,029 new Guardsmen by 11 percent, adding 4,474 soldiers. “The economic downturn, rising unemployment, and the scarcity of civilian jobs has made military recruiting less...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 - In a sign of continued stress on the armed forces from operations in Iraq, five of the six military reserve components have failed to meet their recruiting goals for the first four months of the current fiscal year, the military's top officer said on Wednesday. The officer, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee that only the Marine Corps Reserve had achieved its recruiting quota through January. General Myers said the Army Reserve and the National Guard had been particularly hard hit because the Army was...

The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts to fill gaps in the regular troops. Many of these former soldiers - some of whom say they have not trained, held a gun, worn a uniform or even gone for a jog in years - object to being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan now, after they thought they were through with life on active duty. They are seeking exemptions, filing court cases or simply failing to report for duty, moves that will be watched closely by approximately 110,000...

About one in six soldiers returning from the war in Iraq shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder or other emotional difficulties, researchers are reporting today. Lower levels of psychiatric problems were found among troops who served in Afghanistan. The study, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, is the first to examine the mental health of troops returning from Iraq. The researchers surveyed more than 6,000 soldiers in the months before and after service in Iraq or Afghanistan. Almost 17 percent of those who fought in Iraq reported symptoms of major depression, severe anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder,...