How can this be??? I’ve never seen so many people with “Support the Troops” bumber stickers, yellow ribbons, flags, God Bless America t-shirts and the internet is choc full of folks professing their loyalty to the President and his war.
How the hell can there be so many gung ho, kick their ass, patriotic Americans in favor of this war and so few willing to fight it?
I guess talk and bumpersickers are cheap.
I like how you say they all missed their goals instead of just saying the Army missed it’s recruiting goals. It’s like saying that the QB, the RB, and the WR all lost the football game instead of just saying the team lost.
As for the basic point, you’re partially right. There is a lot more lipservice paid to patriotism than there is self-sacrifice in this country. A significant difference from 50 years ago or so.
How can this be??? I’ve never seen so many people with “Support the Troops” bumber stickers, yellow ribbons, flags, God Bless America t-shirts and the internet is choc full of folks professing their loyalty to the President and his war.
How the hell can there be so many gung ho, kick their ass, patriotic Americans in favor of this war and so few willing to fight it?
I guess talk and bumpersickers are cheap.
Aren’t you still looking for a job?
3 distinct entities with 3 different goals all came up short…what is wrong with saying that?
Interestingly the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all exceeded their recruiting goals…perhaps because they aren’t getting killed in Iraq quite to the same extent.
Where did you get your information? For September ALL services are ahead of goal.
The Department of Defense announced today its recruiting and retention statistics by the active and reserve components for the month of September.
· **Active duty recruiting. **The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force met or exceeded their recruiting goals in September.
Accessions Goal Percent
Army 8,710 8,365 104
Navy 4,886 4,818 101
Marine Corps 3,738 3,694 101
Air Force 2,771 2,682 103
"3 distinct entities with 3 different goals all came up short…what is wrong with saying that?
Interestingly the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all exceeded their recruiting goals…perhaps because they aren’t getting killed in Iraq quite to the same extent. "
Well if you want to play that game, how about saying that the Navy, the Naval Reserves, the Air Force, the Air National Guard, the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Reserves all met their goals? The National Guard and the Army Reserve are components of the Army.
How can this be??? I’ve never seen so many people with “Support the Troops” bumber stickers, yellow ribbons, flags, God Bless America t-shirts and the internet is choc full of folks professing their loyalty to the President and his war.
How the hell can there be so many gung ho, kick their ass, patriotic Americans in favor of this war and so few willing to fight it?
I guess talk and bumpersickers are cheap.
Aren’t you still looking for a job?
Yup…but I don’t care much for the guy who heads up that operation and where he’s taking the company.
What about the Coast Guard? How are they doing?
Matt, Matt, Matt…
What do you really mean by those words? And would you be referring to GW or Rummy?
Actually, the Army goals are higher this year because of the desire to expand the size of the Army on a permanent basis. If the yardstick were last year’s goals, they probably would have met them.
Also, reenlistment is way up. For the record, Marines are doing more than their fair share of fighting and dying in Iraq, so you might want to get your facts straight.
Why do your posts always seem to celebrate any problem the country is having?
"3 distinct entities with 3 different goals all came up short…what is wrong with saying that?
Interestingly the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all exceeded their recruiting goals…perhaps because they aren’t getting killed in Iraq quite to the same extent. "
Well if you want to play that game, how about saying that the Navy, the Naval Reserves, the Air Force, the Air National Guard, the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Reserves all met their goals? The National Guard and the Army Reserve are components of the Army.
The Navy Reserve only met 88% of its goal and the Air National Guard only met 86% of its goal.
According to the newspaper I’m reading the Army met its monthly goals June thru September but had run up huge deficits earlier in the year that it ended the 2005 counting period with its biggest recruiting shortfall in 26 years.
Actually, the Army goals are higher this year because of the desire to expand the size of the Army on a permanent basis. If the yardstick were last year’s goals, they probably would have met them.
Also, reenlistment is way up. For the record, Marines are doing more than their fair share of fighting and dying in Iraq, so you might want to get your facts straight.
Why do your posts always seem to celebrate any problem the country is having?
So you concede there is a problem?
**For September ALL services are ahead of goal. **
But, were they the initial goals, or did they lower them?
According to military.com the 2005 recruiting goals were revised downward in June after a dismal spring, so the Army met their revised June-September goals but still missed their revised yearly goal by 20%.
Doesn’t bode well…either we start recruiting high school dropouts and drop the “best and brightest” moniker or institute a draft. Personally I prefer option 3…stop starting stupid wars we have no business fighting and no chance of winning.
There is a problem, but you need a little perspective. The Army came up 7,000 short of recruitment goals in a force of over 1,000,000. I am not sure if that entire 7,000 was covered by higher reenlistment rates, but it was surely close.
I know you would be much happier if the problem were more serious. So sorry to disappoint.
“Doesn’t bode well…either we start recruiting high school dropouts and drop the “best and brightest” moniker or institute a draft. Personally I prefer option 3…stop starting stupid wars we have no business fighting and no chance of winning.”
The problem is that you don’t see option 4, which is to teach our kids the value of service to country and to pay and treat our military commensurate with their sacrifice.
Start with the Bush kids…their daddy started this war.
"Start with the Bush kids…their daddy started this war. "
Ok, I guess if you don’t have a point, insulting the President is always an ok way to go.
There is a problem, but you need a little perspective. The Army came up 7,000 short of recruitment goals in a force of over 1,000,000. I am not sure if that entire 7,000 was covered by higher reenlistment rates, but it was surely close.
I know you would be much happier if the problem were more serious. So sorry to disappoint.
Perspective?
The Army just had its biggest recruiting shortfall in 26 years. They missed their already downwardly revised target by a whopping 20%. You can only reenlist so many men so many times…unless there are new recruits backfilling you will run into big problems pretty quickly.
If it isn’t really a problem why are the Army asking Congress to be allowed to offer new recruits a $40,000 on the spot signing bonus and $50,000 worth of mortgage rebates?
The Army is about half the size it was in 1979 and yet we still can’t recruit 7000 people to meet current goals? I’m just asking why? Why do there seem to be so many people in support of this war and so few willing to fight it?
That has always been the tactic before. No reason to leave a strategy that works.
I wasn’t insulting him and I do have a point you just can’t or refuse to see it.
You said we need to instill a sense of patriotism and duty in our kids…tell em their country needs em sort of thing…has the President, the man who started this war done this yet? Why aren’t his kids signing up? How many members of Congress, dems and reps, who voted for this war have children in the Army?