Repug co-workers says military re-enlistment is at all-time high...

[phillybri]

I could swear that EVERYTHING I've heard has been the opposite.

Give me some links or something to get my shit straight!!!

[IrateCitizen]

1. I can't give you links, but I can give first-hand experience

MANY of the people I know through the Army Reserve are expressing the "fuck this shit" attitude. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, "As soon as my ETS (end of enlistment) comes up, I'm done with this." And several officers I know are looking to resign their commissions either ASAP, or upon return from theatre.

Morale within the ranks is FAR from high right now. Many people, except for the hard-core right wingers (of which there are still plenty in the military) are looking to get out.

[Richardo]

2. Hell - get THEIR links. If it's anything but "I heard it on Rush"...

...I'll eat (a cake in the shape of) my hat.

[deurbano]

3. IF true...

Maybe because civilian jobs are at an all-time low?

[proud patriot]

12. Exactly

Our local news did a segment on this very thing
linking the bad job market to people signing up.

They even interviewed a kid just out of highschool
who said the military is the only option for work
for him right now .

I'm afriad our current situation is giving
our young very few options for survival
the military or crime .

perhaps that was the plan all along .

they figure they will have plenty of
cannon fodder if there are no new jobs
that pay well .

[arcane1]

18. perhaps that was the plan all along indeed

remember, Jessica Lynch enlisted because WalMart was the only job in town, and she didn't get hired there. Joined the army for the money. period.

[CO Liberal]

19. I Hate to Say This......

....but what does it say about a person's qualifications if WAL-MART turns them down?????

[arcane1]

22. it's possible they just weren't hiring at the time

happens. I've applied to some pretty crappy bottom-level jobs that I didn't get

[newyawker99]

24. Hi deurbano!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. FReeper co-"workers" if that's what you call them....

cannot be trusted to tell the truth, especially when it goes against what they WANT TO BELIEVE!

[loudnclear]

5. Why didn't your co-worker sign up?

I have a cousin who was a recruiter (Marines)...your co-worker is lying. I don't know what they do or how they report the numbers but my cousing said it has been tough...even with a bad economy.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

8. Great Question??? Toby Keith said that if he had....

a son in the military, he would tell him to "kick some ass"! Now why doesn't he join if he thinks it's so great. He'd send his own son in but would not go himself. Maybe he was just looking to earn some money? Though he has done nothing to earn it.

:eyes:

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

13. W's daughters are in their early 20's

In other words, they're prime candidates for enlistment. Hmmmm... I wonder why they haven't joined up yet?

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

11. Me too

My cousin is an army recruiter, and the way he tells it you would expect to see tumbleweeds rolling through his office.

[arcane1]

6. all-time high my ass

I guess if you change the grading scale so that 50% or more = an A, you can say that A Students are at an all-time high:

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18545

If Army officials were worried that constant deployments would drive too many soldiers out of uniform, they can rest easy.

As the Army closed out fiscal 2003 at the end of September, so many soldiers had raised their right hands to re-enlist that the service met its retention goals and then some, retaining 106 percent of the soldiers it hoped to keep.

“We needed 51,000 soldiers to re-enlist, and we got 54,151,” said Sgt. Maj. James Vales, a senior retention manager at Army headquarters in Washington.

Of those, Vales said, 1,955 soldiers re-enlisted at the last minute, taking advantage of an 11th-hour $5,000 bonus offered in the last two weeks of the fiscal year. Nearly half of those takers were midcareer soldiers with fewer than 10 years in the Army, he said.

<snip>

This year’s re-enlistment success comes after the Army dropped its goals twice over the past 12 months. Initially, Army officials had tasked retention noncommissioned officers to keep 57,000 soldiers from getting out of the Army.

[proud patriot]

15. So they bribed them with $5000.00

of course ...meanwhile the sick and injured wait
6 months to see a doctor .

[Timefortruth]

7. Check "Stars and Stripes"

They did a survey recently and if memory serves up to 70% of the soldiers responded that they definitely or probably wouldn’t reenlist when their terms were up. It was stunning. There is also a “stop loss” going on in the Guard where Guardsmen aren’t permitted to resign when their terms are up, it seems that is part of their contract and they are stuck.

After that I’d tell the moran to put up or shut up.

[ShimokitaJer]

9. This might shed some light

It highlights the difference between what some of the officers say about high morale and what the soldiers themselves say. I don't doubt your Freeper friend takes the officers at their word.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-morale10nov10,0,7817542.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines

...Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces, told reporters last month that military leaders are responsible for sustaining morale in a "tough environment" like Iraq, and are succeeding.

"When I walk around units, the soldiers I find are dedicated. They're missing their families, but they are committed to accomplishing the mission," he said. "Retention rates are high. The soldiers' quality of life is better than it was during the summer. Morale is very good."

Forty-nine percent of Stars and Stripes respondents said it was unlikely they would stay in the military when their current obligation was completed.

Sanchez, however, said reenlistment had exceeded commanders' goals by at least 20% in four divisions serving in Iraq — the 101st and 82nd Airborne, the 1st Armored and the 4th Infantry. The 5th Corps, which is also here, has the highest reenlistment rate in the Army, he said. ..

I'll keep trying to find some harder data

[wuushew]

10. Even their beloved Faux News destroys their lies

WASHINGTON — Overdeployment may threaten recruitment and retention for the entire military, particularly the National Guard and Reserve, presenting the risk of a "hollow force" — a military that suffers dramatic drops in volunteers willing to join or stay in the armed services.

While re-enlistment rates have been up since 2001, the Army National Guard is expected to miss its recruitment goals this year. Re-enlistment figures are also not available since the Iraq war, but historically rates have dropped after major conflicts.

“We are overstretched and, believe it or not, underfunded,” said Col. Bill Taylor, U.S. Army-Ret., a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (search). “We are headed for where we were back in the late ‘70s.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101375,00.html

[Loonman]

14. Chocolate rations up 10%

LOL!

[bearfartinthewoods]

16. are you sure they said RE-enlistment?

i find that hard to believe. i have seen figures that show the enlistement figures met quota in the last quarter reported but i can't believe the re-ups are that high.

[haele]

17. Errr...is this from an article where the Army

says it met retention levels and surpassed them - because it dropped the active duty retention levels to around 5000 from 10000 and the Guard retention levels to an even lesser number this last fiscal year?

I don't remember the link to the article or exact numbers (heck, it could be 25K from 50K in retention), but this situation was discussed in DU last week or the week before and that the levels were cut somewhere around half of what they were the previous year.

There's been a similar situation in the Navy. Where "stop loss" doesn't keep sailors and aviators in, lower retention numbers keep the "books balanced" in terms of those little PR notices that keep Congress and other customers from thinking of slashing funding.

Exact words are critical at this point. It's not that there's necissarily more re-enlistments but that the FY 2003 retention levels were met and surpassed - which, of course, can be spun to suggest that there's more re-enlistments this last fiscal year than there were in previous years - where in actuality, Military retention is down by at least a third in percentages from last year.

Haele

[HawkerHurricane]

20. Shipboard reenlistments are down

At least for MY ship.

People are reenlisting, if...
They have guarenteed shore duty OR
Over 10 years of service.

Change the rules (lower the quotas) and then brag that you are exceeding quotas...

[bushisanidiot]

21. NOT BLOODY LIKELY. Not Only are they not re-enlisting, but they are

leaving the repuke party in droves!!

[Nlighten1]

23. Enlistment is but I don't know about re-enlistment.

The Army exceeded its enlistment quota recently.

[Blue Gardener]

25. My Nephew Has Signed Up

Going into the Marines when he gets out of high school next year. I wish there was something I could do to talk him out of it, but I believe his mind is made up. On the plus side, my brother will NOT be voting for Shrub in 2004 like he did in 2000.