Soft Economy Aids Army Recruiting Effort

[trogdor]

FORT KNOX, Ky., Sept. 16 — The slumping American economy has proved to be a boon to the Army's efforts to recruit the 100,000 enlisted soldiers it says it needs this year to fill its active-duty and reserve ranks, senior Army officials say, so far relieving concerns that the turmoil in Iraq could crimp new enlistments.

All the armed services say they will meet or exceed their recruiting goals for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30.

But many military personnel experts say the Army's efforts are most vulnerable over time because the Army recruits more active-duty and Reserve troops than all the other services combined — 73,800 active-duty and 26,400 Reserve soldiers this year — and it is now fielding about 90 percent of the 180,000 troops in Iraq and Kuwait.

"That's the driver, the economy," said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, the head of the Army Recruiting Command here, adding that the chaotic conditions in Iraq have yet to hurt recruiting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/22/national/22RECR.html?th

My take: 3/4 of this number was mainly goobers who signed up to go kick Saddam's ass, and were signed up prior to April 1st. The remainder were scattered over the six month period that followed, and consisted mainly of people who would have signed up anyway.

The figure given reflects growing failures in RETENTION efforts as stop-loss measures expired and troops began to vote with their feet. Ordinarily, it would take about 60,000 recruits (I read this in Army Times once) to replace those retiring or leaving at the end of their term of service.

What we are not hearing is the percentage of "Cat IV" troops in this year's class. Cat IV is, of course, reflects the lowest possible score on the entrance exam that will still qualify a recruit for entry - indicating an IQ similar to that of a gerbil. Also not shown is the percentage of high-school dropouts - typically 1%-2% - that they had to take to meet quotas.

Yes, the Army is meeting its quota of warm bodies. Big deal.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Bad Economy driving military recruitment.

Bad, bad combination of factors. These people aren't going into the military because they hear the call. They're doing it because they have no other options.

[ixion]

2. the neocon plan

drive the poor people into the kiling machine, then ship them off to the quagmire. :-(

[catzies]

7. Now all the cheap-labor conservatives need is to figure out

how to incorporate this development into the ongoing (un)employment numbers.

[HawkerHurricane]

3. Poverty Draft is back in force

They don't dare hold a real draft, so.

[JPace]

4. This angers me so much.....

Privileged AWOL and his wealthy ruling class
abolish all opportunities for the working
classes. Then through starvation of opportunities
they get all the fresh meat they want to go
off and fight their unnecessary wars. The wealty
get big tax cuts and keep their offspring out
of such dangerous and messy affairs as war. Their
children go off to Harvard and Yale while ours
go to Iraq and get Uranium poisoning or blown
up by a bomb. Then through a paid for media that
won't tell the public the truth he safely hides
these exploitaitions from the gullable masses.

[section321]

5. Until they find out they have pay for food if they get wounded in battle.

.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. Armed forces will be the only ones hiring

soon. PNAC has it all figured out.