RECRUITMENT: THE ARMY, THE MARINES, AND THE LEFT

The Army slightly exceeded its recruiting goal for June, ending a four month slide. In February, March, April and May, the Army fell some 7,800 recruits short of its goal. Only the Army has been having serious recruiting difficulties. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are all ahead of their recruiting goals.

Summer typically is the peak recruiting time, so the Army may reduce its shortfall somewhat before the fiscal year ends Sep. 30th. But it is most unlikely to close the gap entirely.

People on the Left assert that the Army’s recruiting woes spell doom for the U.S. mission in Iraq, and for the All Volunteer Force. Retired Army Lt. Col. James Carafano says such fears (or in the case of the hard Left, hopes) are overblown.

If you are missing your goals year in and year out, you have problems, but its not an immediate crisis, said Carafano, who now analyzes military manpower issues for the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C.

This is especially so because reenlistments have been higher than programmed. But if the Army’s poor recruiting this Spring isn’t a sign of incipient calamity, it is a clear indication of a powerful limitation.

I am among those who believe that to most effectively prosecute the war on terror, the Army should be larger by the equivalent of two divisions. This isn’t going to happen. Recruiting reforms can — and probably will — ameliorate the present shortfall. But with the economy as strong as it is, its most unlikely the Army could be expanded by much.

Forget about the draft. Its as obsolete a military instrument as the horse cavalry. Our generals know our military is as good as it is chiefly because it is all volunteer. They know that even if Congress voted tomorrow to reinstate conscription, it would take nearly a year for a draft to produce an additional soldier.

And they know Howard Dean will become a Republican before Congress votes to reinstate the draft. Its only advocates are a handful of ultraliberal Democrats who want to relive the glory days of the antiwar protests of the 1960s.

To improve Army recruiting, we could pay our soldiers more, put more recruiters on the job, and/or lower standards. The Army, wisely, has rejected the third course.

If Congress approves, maximum enlistment bonuses will double, to $40,000. More recruiters could make a big difference, Carafano said: “What people tend to forget is that before Iraq, things were going so well that we were pulling people out of Recruiting Command.”

What recruiters tell prospective recruits may also make a difference, says retired Army Major Donald Sensing, whose son is a Marine lance corporal. Though they have suffered, proportionately, three times the casualties the Army has, the Marines are meeting their recruiting goals.

His son chose the Marines over the Army because the Marines appealed directly to his patriotism, while Army recruiters talked of job training and pizza parties. “The problem is the Army’s recruiting strategy with its heavily civilianized marketing influences,” Sensing said. The Marines don’t hide what they’re about.

Being involved in a protracted war has to harm recruiting. But its more likely the strong economy is the greater culprit. The last year in which the Army failed to meet its recruiting goal was 1999. There was no war then, but the economy was strong.

Recruiting is harder because many parents wont let their children talk with Army recruiters, said Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, commander of Recruiting Command. Parental concern for the safety of their sons and daughters is understandable. But there is another group of influencers whose behavior borders on sedition.

Any high school or college which denies military recruiters access to campus should lose all of its federal funding immediately. Any high school or college which does not expel students who disrupt recruiters at job fairs should lose all federal funding immediately.

In his speech on Iraq from Fort Bragg, President Bush said there is no higher calling than service in our armed forces.

The web logger Tigerhawk said that should be the start of a national campaign to support military recruitment. Perhaps such a campaign could embarrass Me Generation parents into being as patriotic as their sons and daughters.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.