"Down economy boosts military; Enlistment figures spike" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | March 1, 2009
WASHINGTON - The faltering US economy is fueling a dramatic turnaround in military recruiting, with new statistics showing that the Army is experiencing the highest rate of new enlistments in six years....
The latest recruiting outlook "is good news in the nick of time," said Beth Asch, a senior economist specializing in military manpower studies at the government-funded Rand Corporation....
Why? STARTING ANOTHER WAR SOON?
Asch, who frequently advises the Pentagon on demographic trends, thinks the Army has reason to be hopeful....
Yeah, the SHIT ECONOMY is a GREAT THING for U.S. MILITARISM!!
What a COINCIDENCE that the economy crapped out when it did, huh?
Another factor that may be driving the recent gains, specialists said, is the improved situation in Iraq and the expectation that US military involvement in the war will be winding down - thus decreasing the likelihood that a new recruit would be deployed there....
Well, there will ALWAYS BE ANOTHER WAR, kiddos! Or you will be sent to Afghanistan instead.
A recent study by researchers at Clemson University concluded that the Iraq war was a major factor in the steep drop in enlistments.... "If you extrapolate, this Iraq affect will disappear and presumably there will be a reversal of that and there will be an increase in enlistment," said Asch. But the dominant factor driving more people to consider Army careers appears to be the steady rise in the unemployment rate across the country....
How many times do I have to say it? This is reporting?
STILL, BUT, IF, COULD BE, MAY BE....
I'm SO SICK of the MSM SHIT SHOVEL that TODAY is the DAY!!! The LAST ONE for PURCHASING, READING, or SEEING any Boston Globe material. I hate them now. I used to like reading newspapers, but not anymore. This is simply too much time spent on bullshit lies. day after fucking day!
"Typically a bad economy has worked to the benefit of the military," said retired Navy Rear Admiral John D. Hutson, currently the dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H....
Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the recruiting command. "We know that historically an increase in the civilian unemployment rate has resulted in an increase in Army enlistments."
Indeed, it appears that the sagging economy is helping all the branches of the military, not just the Army, which has borne the brunt of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.... But while a bad economy is usually a boon for military recruiting, Hutson warns that the Pentagon still must closely monitor who it is bringing into the ranks.
People who are joining the ranks for purely economic reasons may not make the best soldiers, he said - especially when the economy turns around and they discover that they still must complete their service.
"The military has to be very careful about the motivation of the people it is bringing into the force," said Hutson. "Military service is hard work. It is not easy to serve well and honorably. Motivation has to be very good. If your motivation is you can't get a job anywhere else that is not necessarily the motivation they are looking for."
Pfffft!
I really don't care about some shitters second thoughts after Sig Heiling his way for dough. Fuck him, and fuck all the troops lining up to serve in these wars.
It is TOO LATE in the GAME for them to say WE DIDN'T EXPECT, WE DIDN'T KNOW!
And if we have so many recruits waiting in the wings, WTF is up with these NEXT TWO ITEMS?
"Mother says deployment leaves no care for children" by Mitch Weiss, Associated Press | March 1, 2009
DAVIDSON, N.C. - When Lisa Pagan reports for duty today, four long years after she was honorably discharged from the Army, she'll arrive with more than her old uniform. She's bringing her children, too.
"I have to bring them with me," she said. "I don't have a choice."
Pagan is among thousands of former service members who have left active duty since the Sept. 11 attacks, only to later receive orders to return to service. They're not in training, they're not getting a Defense Department salary, but as long as they have time left on their original enlistment contracts, they're on "individual ready reserve" status - eligible to be recalled.
Soldiers can appeal, and some have won permission to remain in civilian life. Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her children. All were rejected. Then she hit on the idea of showing up today at Fort Benning, Ga., with her children in tow.
"I guess they'll have to contact the highest person at the base, and they'll have to decide from there what to do," Pagan said. "I either report and bring the children with me or don't report and face dishonorable discharge and possibly being arrested. I guess I'll just have to make my case while I'm there."
Master Sergeant Keith O'Donnell, an Army spokesman in St. Louis, said the commander at Fort Benning will decide how to handle the situation.
"The Army tries to look at the whole picture and they definitely don't want to do anything that jeopardizes the family or jeopardizes the children," O'Donnell said. "At the same time, these are individuals who made obligations and commitments to the country."
Yeah, the only ones who don't have to fulfill those are the POLITICIANS!
********************
Pagan, who grew up near Camden, N.J., was working in a department store when she made her commitment in September 2002. She learned how to drive a truck, and met Travis while stationed in Hawaii. She had her first child while in uniform, and they left the service in 2005 when their enlistments were up.
She always knew there was a chance she could be recalled, so she buried the thought in the back of her mind. The orders to return to active duty arrived in December 2007. Tom Tarantino, a policy associate with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit group that helps veterans, said the Army has taken a hard line on many of these cases.
"Usually the only way that someone can get out of the deployment or get out of the military due to a family hardship is if they get into a situation where the kids will be put into foster care," Tarantino said.--more--"
"Foreigners answer call to US service; Military efforts to recruit specialists gets big response" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | March 1, 2009
WASHINGTON _ When the Pentagon announced in December that Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates had ordered the military to recruit a small number of foreign citizens to cover for shortages in certain specialties, personnel officials didn't know what to expect.
Translation: American kids are cannon fodder! And they are signing up in droves!
Now, as the effort gets underway to enlist nearly 900 foreign-language specialists and medical professionals who hold visas to study or work in the United States, personnel officials have their answer: There are likely to be more volunteers than they can handle.
I'm so glad WAR is AmeriKa's biggest business, aren't you, Amrkn?
By the middle of February, the Pentagon's public communication line had received more than 300 inquiries - currently up to four a day, officials report - while recruiting stations around the country have been inundated with hundreds of additional calls and visits from young men and women from countries as diverse as Iraq, Lithuania, and India eager to earn their American citizenship through military service.
And here we go with the WORD GAMES again:
But....
But....
(Blog author shaking his head he is so sick of seeing those words in his "news" reports.)
The enormous response so far highlights an untapped resource that could be critical to filling severe shortages in the military of doctors and nurses and people who speak languages such as Arabic, Hindu, or Pashtun that could prove crucial to operating in foreign countries.
I guess chucking out the gay interpreters didn't help, huh?
There are already about 29,000 legal immigrants serving in the US military in return for expedited citizenship. However, the new yearlong program for the first time allows foreigners who are studying or working in the United States on a temporary visa to join if they meet certain requirements.
The program, designated by Gates to be "vital to the national interest," is being managed by the Army, which is seeking to recruit up to 557 individuals with certain foreign language and cultural skills, and another 330 who are doctors, nurses, or other medical technicians.
While the foreign-language specialists are being recruited only in New York, recruiting offices across the nation, including in Boston, are seeking to fill the medical slots, officials said....
Looking forward to the never-ending wars and occupations, America?
The medical personnel accepted under the program would be required to serve at least three years on active duty and foreign language specialists would be required to serve four years.
But....
But, but, but, but, but, but!!!! When does it fucking end?
Idrees Hazzaa, an Iraqi living in Philadelphia, arrived in the United States as a refugee two months ago. He said he worked as a translator for US forces in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and says he is hoping to apply for the program even though he has only been in the United States a few months.
Ike O.Madubuike, a medical doctor who moved to Dallas from Nigeria in 2002, said he believes "joining the military is way to serve the country."
Fine. You can serve the empire; I prefer not to, and never will.
