Military Missing Recruitment Quotas: Good For My Morale
By Mark Glesne (05/20/05)
Much is being said lately about the United States military not being able to fulfill its recruitment quotas. News organizations across the country are lunging at the opportunity to exploit this “failure” within the military, but news of fewer recruits during this war is good for my morale.
Earlier this month it was reported that the Army had missed its April recruitment goal. According to Army officials, as of April 30, 2005, the Army had achieved only 85 percent of its target for the first five months of the fiscal year, which began October 1, 2004. April was the third consecutive month the Army found recruitment sub-quota.
This recruitment shortfall has come despite offering the largest enlistment bonuses in Army history (up to $20,000 for a four-year contract) and spreads across all three components of the US Army, which include the reserves and National Guard.
In February it was reported that the Marine Corps – of which I am a proud member – missed its January recruiting quota by a mere 84 recruits of their goal of 3,270, breaking its 10-year streak of success. This was followed by reports in March that the Marine Corps had missed its February recruitment goal of 2,964 by 192, according to Maj. David Griesmer, spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
(It should be noted that according to military spokesmen for each of the branches, the Air Force and Navy have reported meeting their recruitment goals thus far.)
Liberals love to hear this kind of news. They do. In late April I attended a liberal function at the local university sponsored by county, city, university and other local Democrat groups. After a screening of the documentary “The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror” and a presentation by an Army soldier who served in a civil affairs echelon of military action in Iraq, I engaged in conversation with leaders and members of local Democratic groups.
These typical liberal Democrats were all too ecstatic when they mentioned the decline in recruitment among the US armed forces. “The military can’t even meet their quotas,” said one middle-aged democrat. In response to my apparently abhorrent question during the Q&A portion of the soldier’s presentation as to why the vast majority of men and women in the US military support the war in Iraq, an enlightened local Democratic leader later asked me “If the military supports this war, why can’t they get enough kids to sign up?”
I’m not quite sure what this obviously intellectually superior individual meant by that question, but I was able to catch wind of the happiness vibe beaming from liberals in attendance – the excitement surrounding the issue of the military not meeting its recruitment quotas. But their excitement quickly turned to confusion when I replied, “I’m glad the Marines and Army are missing their quotas right now!”
More on this in a minute.
The Left in America has somehow recently concocted this notion that if branches of the military are not fulfilling their quotas, something is going terribly wrong and, of course, the President is to blame.
Let us probe that logic:
Under the Clinton administration every branch but the Marine Corps missed its recruiting quotas, yet not a peep from national media or liberals in general.
A Heritage Foundation study reported that during the Clinton administration “the military [was] suffering its worst personnel crisis since the draft ended in 1973. The U.S. Navy missed its recruiting goal by nearly 7,000 sailors in 1998, forcing many ships to deploy understaffed. In response, the Navy’s leadership decided in 1999 to accept a higher percentage of recruits without high school diplomas. That same year, both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force missed their recruiting goals. As noted … only the Marine Corps, by far the smallest of the four services, has avoided a major personnel crisis.”
The military missing recruitment quotas during war should not alarm us. It is when the military fails to meet these quotas during relatively peaceful times that should be cause for concern. As Marines and soldiers take the overwhelming majority of casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, I am not at all distraught that the Marine Corps and Army are not meeting their recruitment goals.
To the contrary, I would say that my morale has been boosted.
Here’s where I’m going with this:
It is dishonest to say that every recruit joins the military primarily out of love of country and for the chance to fight for this country. Many join for the plethora of benefits that accompany military service (benefits neglected by the wave of anti-recruitment organizations running amuck on college campuses nationwide). I recognize this and take nothing away from those who made the decision to serve with other considerations in mind.
I should take a moment to state what I hope would be obvious. I do not wish that the military continues to find itself unable to meet recruitment quotas. I do not wish that fewer people consider and actually join the US armed forces – but I do hope and believe that a different kind of person signs on that dotted line during war.
As recruitment quotas are not met during this time of war, I do not focus on the 84 people who did not join my Marine Corps as liberals so often do. Having joined after college and during Operation Iraqi Freedom, I have had the luxury of joining and serving with men and women who know for a fact that they may be deployed to combat zones.
Those who have joined the armed ranks since 9/11 (certainly since March 2003), especially in the Army and Marine Corps, know very well that there is a high probability that they will be deployed to war. These recruits have to be mentally tougher knowing that they face almost guaranteed deployment. These recruits are of a different breed.
War is the greatest filtering process the military could ever unintentionally undergo. If someone decides that he or she does not want to join the Marine Corps or Army during a time of war – I say “great!” Maybe these heavily combat-orientated branches of the military weren’t the right decision for that individual to begin with. Make way for the recruit behind you who is willing to go to war.
Our military gets stronger during a time of war as those who are willing to face war – which is, after all, the primary function of the military – join knowing full well they could be next to board that C-130. Those deterred from military service because the threat of war is imminent are not fit for military service – especially not with the Marines or Army who are seeing the most ground combat and taking the most casualties.
This period in our military’s history boosts my morale. I’ve spoken with hundreds of new recruits who joined or are joining because this time in our history will almost guarantee them the opportunity to fight for their country. I wasn’t offered glitz and glory by my recruiter – I was offered a chance to fight for my country. No one is under any misconceptions about the possibilities of war.
Despite attacks on the President and the military for shortages in fresh recruits, I still offer that our military grows stronger today – along with my morale.
About the Writer: Mark Glesne is the marketing/communications specialist for a software corporation in Southern California, a free lance writer, and a United States Marine Corps reservist.
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