Billybob
09-22-2003, 08:39 AM
Think about it, this country gets poorer and poorer, which forces many more people to join the military out of desperation. Do you think the Bush administration knows that a poor country equals a larger military? Here's a good article.
<<Soft Economy Aids Army Recruiting Effort
By ERIC SCHMITT
ORT 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 thr 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.
Army recruiters have always offered educational benefits, job security and training skills to prospective soldiers. But recently they have been armed with more logistical support and a growing arsenal of financial incentives that look even more enticing in a down market.
The Army has raised signing bonuses to as much as $20,000 for badly needed positions like intelligence analysts. It has also increased college aid. And it has nearly doubled its advertising budget, to $227 million, in the last four years, shelving its 20-year-old "Be All You Can Be" slogan in favor of the "Army of One" campaign, aimed at Generation Y youths. It has ramped up a cyberrecruiting operation, with daily online chat rooms in English and Spanish. Next month it is rolling out a 15-month enlistment option (the current minimum length for a tour is two years) aimed at college students, an increasingly important target group.
The sagging economy mostly affects the recruiting of active-duty soldiers. About two-thirds of all enlisted troops resign by the end of thr first tour, so the Army needs more than 70,000 new recruits a year to replenish its ranks.
The demographics of the newest Army recruits are shifting slightly. Women make up about 20 percent of this year's recruits; that figure is roughly unchanged over the last three years. But since the 2001 fiscal year, the share of Hispanics signing up has increased to about 13 percent from 11 percent, while the proportion of non-Hispanic whites has increased to about 65 percent from 62 percent. At the same time, the ratio of blacks signing up has declined to 16 percent from nearly 23 percent.
The drop in black recruits may be tied to the Army's increased focus on the college market, military officials say. Nearly one in four recruits now has some college experience, almost double the rate five years ago, General Rochelle said.
Recruiting part-time Army National Guard and Army Reserve troops, who are typically older and have civilian jobs, presents mounting challenges. Military experts warn that recruiting and retaining these citizen soldiers will get more difficult as they are repeatedly called up to serve extended tours in Iraq or Afghanistan as military police, civil affairs specialists, water-purification experts and other jobs.
"How long people will continue to be deployed will ultimately have some effect on retention," said Frank Shaffery, deputy director of Army recruiting operations here. "We're concerned about it."
Those concerns grew this month when the Army announced that 20,000 Reserve and National Guard soldiers would stay in Iraq or Kuwait for as long as 12 months, extending thr tours on the ground by several months.
Army National Guard officials said this week that the Guard would probably fall short of its goal of recruiting 62,000 soldiers this year. But because fewer Guard forces will leave this year than had been anticipated, the Guard still expects to maintain its overall troop level at 350,000.
Lt. Col. Michael L. Jones, the Army National Guard's chief of marketing and advertising for recruiting and retention, said the Pentagon must give these troops more certainty. "We need to build in predictability so thr families, employers or universities can be told, `Here's the mobilization date and here's the demobilization date,' " he said.
________
YAMAHA YZF600R HISTORY (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_YZF600R)
<<Soft Economy Aids Army Recruiting Effort
By ERIC SCHMITT
ORT 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 thr 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.
Army recruiters have always offered educational benefits, job security and training skills to prospective soldiers. But recently they have been armed with more logistical support and a growing arsenal of financial incentives that look even more enticing in a down market.
The Army has raised signing bonuses to as much as $20,000 for badly needed positions like intelligence analysts. It has also increased college aid. And it has nearly doubled its advertising budget, to $227 million, in the last four years, shelving its 20-year-old "Be All You Can Be" slogan in favor of the "Army of One" campaign, aimed at Generation Y youths. It has ramped up a cyberrecruiting operation, with daily online chat rooms in English and Spanish. Next month it is rolling out a 15-month enlistment option (the current minimum length for a tour is two years) aimed at college students, an increasingly important target group.
The sagging economy mostly affects the recruiting of active-duty soldiers. About two-thirds of all enlisted troops resign by the end of thr first tour, so the Army needs more than 70,000 new recruits a year to replenish its ranks.
The demographics of the newest Army recruits are shifting slightly. Women make up about 20 percent of this year's recruits; that figure is roughly unchanged over the last three years. But since the 2001 fiscal year, the share of Hispanics signing up has increased to about 13 percent from 11 percent, while the proportion of non-Hispanic whites has increased to about 65 percent from 62 percent. At the same time, the ratio of blacks signing up has declined to 16 percent from nearly 23 percent.
The drop in black recruits may be tied to the Army's increased focus on the college market, military officials say. Nearly one in four recruits now has some college experience, almost double the rate five years ago, General Rochelle said.
Recruiting part-time Army National Guard and Army Reserve troops, who are typically older and have civilian jobs, presents mounting challenges. Military experts warn that recruiting and retaining these citizen soldiers will get more difficult as they are repeatedly called up to serve extended tours in Iraq or Afghanistan as military police, civil affairs specialists, water-purification experts and other jobs.
"How long people will continue to be deployed will ultimately have some effect on retention," said Frank Shaffery, deputy director of Army recruiting operations here. "We're concerned about it."
Those concerns grew this month when the Army announced that 20,000 Reserve and National Guard soldiers would stay in Iraq or Kuwait for as long as 12 months, extending thr tours on the ground by several months.
Army National Guard officials said this week that the Guard would probably fall short of its goal of recruiting 62,000 soldiers this year. But because fewer Guard forces will leave this year than had been anticipated, the Guard still expects to maintain its overall troop level at 350,000.
Lt. Col. Michael L. Jones, the Army National Guard's chief of marketing and advertising for recruiting and retention, said the Pentagon must give these troops more certainty. "We need to build in predictability so thr families, employers or universities can be told, `Here's the mobilization date and here's the demobilization date,' " he said.
________
YAMAHA YZF600R HISTORY (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_YZF600R)