NYT - Guard Reports Serious Decline in New Recruits

[HootieMcBoob]

In the latest signs of strains on the military from the war in Iraq, the Army National Guard announced on Thursday that it had fallen 30 percent below its recruiting goals in the last two months and would offer new incentives, including enlistment bonuses of up to $15,000.

In addition, the head of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, said on Thursday that he needed $20 billion to replace arms and equipment destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan or left there for other Army and Air Guard units to use, so that returning reservists will have enough equipment to deal with emergencies at home.

The sharp decline in recruiting is significant because National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers now make up nearly 40 percent of the 148,000 troops in Iraq, and are a vital source for filling the ranks, particularly those who perform essential support tasks, like truck drivers and military police.

General Blum said the main reason for the Army National Guard's recruiting shortfall was a sharp reduction in the number of recruits joining the Guard and Reserve when they leave active duty. In peacetime the commitment means maintaining their ties to the military with a weekend of service a month and two weeks in the summer.

<snip>

http://nytimes.com/2004/12/17/politics/17reserves.html?hp&ex=1103259600&en=ba6801121d30fa22&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[VegasWolf]

1. I find this story hard to believe with all those freeper hawks around

and just sucking bush.

[justinsb]

6. The freeper hawks

will only support the war as long as they don't have to go - wait until there's a draft

[Placebo]

2. Money isn't going to help you if you're dead.

[justinsb]

3. Great so

they'll get people desperate enough or psycho enough to put their life on the line for 15,000. I'm sure that will be great news for the Iraqis.

[BikeWriter]

7. Many of our troops are fine people...

...others are losers who are too lazy to look for work.

[justinsb]

8. I understand

all I'm saying is if they weren't going to sign up, except for that extra 15k - if that's the determining factor - those probably aren't the people you want over there.

[BikeWriter]

10. I agree, they'll get a lot of the ones who can't hack it as a civilian...

...We used to call them lifers because they'd stay in as a career. It was somewhat akin to living with your Mother the rest of your life...

[enki23]

4. why the fuck would anyone join the national guard

when they know they have at least as good a chance of being sent to shithole iraq as the better-equipped, better-led, better-trained, better-protected regular military?

[hatrack]

5. Goes under "O" in the Obvious File

Whaddya know? :eyes:

[sally343434]

9. Someone please explain ...

Someone please explain the difference:

Saudi Arabia pays $15,000 to someone (or their family) if they blow themselves up, killing surrounding people.

The US pays $15,000 to someone to sign up in the guard, which will send them to Iraq where they will very likely be either killed or horrible mutilated after they have had a chance to indiscriminately kill anyone with brown skin.

[BikeWriter]

11. Uh, the mercenaries we pay are the good guys...

<sarcasm>...cause we said so and we have the nukes.</sarcasm>

[Barkley]

12. Enlistment bonus up $15,000; Pell Grants down $300 million

Its directed at poor and black youth.


The new guidelines allow the Department of Education to revise the calculation for federal college aid in a way that would reduce the average allocation for the need-based grants by about $300 for about 1 million students, said Brian Fitzgerald, staff director for the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, which advises Congress.

In addition, he said, nearly 90,000 students now receiving Pell Grants would be cut off entirely.

But by allowing for a change in the formula, the revisions will save $300 million for the $12.4 billion program, which already has a $4 billion cumulative shortfall, Republican supporters said. Such a move could allow Congress to raise the maximum grant sooner, they said.



Congress curbs Pell Grants
Spending bill increases funding but could cut or even eliminate eligibility for college aid to as many as 1 million students.
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0411/24/A05-15081.htm

[amber dog democrat]

13. youd have to be insane to join the Guard now.

god knows what would happen to you and afterwards, if you are simply wounded and send back as an amputee or worse, what sort of future would you face?
And the big question is WHY? As an old philosophy professor I knew used to say, " you have only one life to screw up and when you screw it up , you're screwed."

Having enlisted in the Navy during the first Nixon admin, I have a feeling for futile unnecessary wars. This one has all the hallmarks.

[Rose Siding]

14. Maybe the RNC could provide their campaign data base,

rich with willing supporters of Bush's war- 50 million recruits, plus or minus :shrug: