Army "buying" soldiers

[dajoki]

October 11, 2007, 11:44 am
To Fill Ranks, Pentagon Fills Pockets
By Mike Nizza
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/to-fill-ranks-pentagon-fills-pockets/?hp

The Pentagon has been trying this year to cope with a formidable problem: how to persuade Americans to join and stay in the armed forces during an increasingly unpopular war. The answer has been quite simple: Cash dollars.

The latest effort is the lead news in The Washington Post this morning: “Army Offers Bonuses of $35K to Retain Officers.” That price has been right for 6,000 of them so far. In just three weeks, the Army bought three more years from each of them.

When the Army was falling short of recruitment quotas back in August, it started dangling free iPods and bonuses of up to $50,000 on its Web site. That worked, too, and possibly emboldened Mr. Gates to move up the timetable for a planned expansion of the Army by 2010.

<<snip>>

The National Guard fell short, filling just 93 percent of its target. But that did nothing to dash the celebratory mood. A National Guard news release announced that they nevertheless “shared in a piece of Big Army’s sweet recruiting success.”

Money alone would not have solved the Army’s recruiting problems, though. The Pentagon also had to issue a greater number of what are called character waivers, allowing people to join the Army despite having broken the law in the past, The Chicago Tribune noticed. All told, 11 percent of recruits in 2007 required waivers — a three percentage-point increase — including 1,620 for felony convictions. In 2003, the Tribune says, 459 enlistees were accepted with felonies on their records.

At a news conference on Wednesday, officials denied that the increase indicated that the Army was lowering its standards.