Home > Army, Marines miss recruiting goals again- 42% off target

Army, Marines miss recruiting goals again- 42% off target

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 10 May 2005
12 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts USA

WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials say it’s not a crisis, but it is a major concern - a battle here at home to win the hearts and minds of potential new recruits.

After more than three years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the all-volunteer military is facing its toughest test yet.

In April, the Army missed its recruiting goal for the third month in a row, short by nearly 2,800 recruits, or 42 percent off its target.

And for the first time in 10 years, the Marine Corps missed its recruiting goal for the last four months.

"Because the Army and Marines are too small and we’re employing them in constant operations, our recruiting posture is now coming apart," says retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an NBC News analyst.

Cash incentives increased
In a desperate attempt to recruit volunteers, the Army has increased cash incentives. Signing bonuses are up from $8,000 to $10,000. College scholarships have been raised from $50,000 to $70,000.

But it’s an uphill battle. A decent economy is steering many potential volunteers into private sector jobs. And concerned parents who don’t want their sons and daughters going to war are convincing them to not sign up.

In fact, new recruiting commercials are aimed not at recruits, but at their parents.

What would you tell a potential recruit?

But the current problem with recruiting could have long-term ramifications on America’s ability to take on other potential conflicts.

"This raises questions about whether the all-volunteer force can really cope with a long war," says military analyst Loren Thompson.

Appeal to ’sense of duty’
In an appeal to the nation’s patriotism, the Army’s vice chief of staff, Gen. Richard Cody, warns this issue is about far more than military service alone.

"This recruiting problem is not just an Army problems, this is America’s problem," he said. "And what we have to really do is talk about service to this nation - and a sense of duty to this nation.")

Military officials remain cautiously optimistic that they will meet their recruiting goals by the end of the year, but until the war in Iraq eases, and large numbers of American troops start coming home, it will remain a tough sell.

More than 40 percent of the ground troops in Iraq have been from the Army’s National Guard or Reserve - and Guard officials warn that by the end of this year they’re going to run out of additional troops with the right skills to send to Iraq.

Recruiting alone is not going to fill that need so the regular Army, already stretched thin, is going to have to come up with the numbers.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7802712/

Forum posts

  • Our troops were lied to about the reasons for going to Iraq, is it any wonder that the potential recruits aren’t buying that Patriotism line! They and their parents know they are being used.
    I FEEL A DRAFT IN THE AIR!! And I know ALOT of parents and young children who are planning on going to jail before they will allow themselves/their kids to be drafted.
    We are not going to fight W. and Cheney’s Wars!!

    • People are mobilizing all over the country to teach youngsters how to start building a record for consciencious objector status and how to get both sides of the story regarding military service presented when the recruiters go into the high schools. Parents need to educate themselves about how to keep their children from the clutches of Uncle. They need to guide their children away from the temptation of a signing bonus that sounds like huge money to high school aged children. There are many other ways to get money for school for those who truly desire a college education, also there are training programs or technical schools for those young people seeking a skill to get better paid employment. It is up to the parents to protect their children from being used by the government to do their dirty work.

      As to the idea of patriotism, it is more patriotic to want America to learn how to live in a peaceful world, how to turn away from war and warmongering for profit. Only then will America be truly safer in a world willingly shared with all of humanity.

    • Get a clue!

    • Or may Osama Bin Laden is right. Gutless, pampered scum like you can’t handle the threat. Are we creating a culture of spoiled, weakminded pseudo intellectuals who can’t handle the heat

    • I don’t see you at the front of the line at your local recruiting station. Armchair Generals have the easiest job in the world. If you’re so brave get yourself over to Iraq and stop bothering people.

    • The Vietnam draft was the end of the USA in Vietnam.
      ’In the limited conflicts after WW II the side won that was prepared to shed most of its own blood, Yitzak Rabin’, Israeli prime minister, murdered after extremist Jews took the 1993 Oslo Accords seriously.

    • Then let the go to jail. Who needs them anyway?

  • I’m wondering if we really need that many people in the military. It’s time to dissolve NATO and pull our troops and facilities out of Europe and South Korea. These people are rich enough to fend for themselves and it really irks me that we are still there. I can’t imagine Russia attacking europe, that bear is pretty toothless. As for Kim Jong Il, the south koreans should have enough manpower and resources to beat that lunatic easily.

    • Warmongering around the planet is the only growth industry the U.S. has now. It is only a matter of time and there will be a two class system in the U.S. The super rich and the super poor which will make up the majority. The super rich will make servants out of the super poor and have an enormous military to protect them and their assets which will include any and all of the rest of the world’s wealth. We have the undisputed largest mammoth military, we now have most of our country’s wealth being spent on weaponry, and to seal the deal we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth 100 times over and military bases all over the planet. Meanwhile we are dumbing down the citizenry and keeping them backward by teaching nonsense like creationism and made up history. Parents prop their kids up in front of the rotten box called t.v. and get the poor little bastards minds full on garbage so they can’t think and have no imagination. Then we are given large doses of fear and elevated terror alerts on a permanent basis, the government is leading us around by our noses. The good jobs have all but disappeared and in their place are the service jobs and the military which is exactly what the plan is for the future. THE AMERICAN DREAM IS REALLY JUST A NIGHTMARE.

  • If this is our patriotic duty to our country can someone tell me why none of the poltitians are urging their children to sign up?
    Why is it our children who are doing the sacrificing and not the children of the people who started this war?
    MR. Bush maybe the twins should do their duty to this country and enlist.

  • I am sad for the United States. I was a soldier was 14 years. I took my experience with me, all of the training, all of the knowledge about safety and how to do things well. I was more serious about training than the people around me. That was out of respect for the good men who mentored me.

    Today I got an e-mail from one of my friends in Iraq. He said it was bad, really bad, and that they are just trying to stay alive.

    I have seen the good people get out of the Army, and the very worst people get promoted. And that is sad. That is doomsday for the Army. I heard lies. I saw the most selfish "look out for number one" people get to take the lead, and then they made sure they did not have to do anything dangerous. Based on this I say: don’t join the army.

    If you have been in a unit where the leaders did everything they could to go TDY and make some big bucks while the soldiers went untrained.... if you have been in a unit where people get promoted even though they never go to the field and all they do is trick each other and compete for money (and play golf) (I forgot trading baseball cards on the internet).... if you have been in a unit where the junior soldiers are not cared about enough to get them ready for war.... then you can criticize my views if you want. But you see, the problem is that no one cares. Not training people to go to war and then making sure they themselves do not go—that is a crime. It is disgusting. This is the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. And again, no one cares. They look good on paper and that is all the hollow army needs. What I describe is true of what I saw in my small part of the military. Like I said, the good people got out. The army was survival of the unfittest. And it is the army’s blindness that has brought this about. I could not honestly recruit a young person to join.

    And let me add one more thing: if you are buddies with the boss it does not matter what you do, how bad it is, how dumb it is, how damaging to the national security of the United States. Don’t worry: you are covered. Pretty sad. And all the money being wasted. You would not believe it. There is no accountability for that money. No punishment when it is wasted.

    • are you sure you guys are americans?????????? where is your loyalty? if america is so bad ...move!!!!!!!go try living anywhere in the middle east! bunch of cowards!!!!!!!!