Marine Corps narrowly misses target for enlisting new recruits

[lebkuchen]

"narrowly" -- right. And army reenlistments in Europe are "booming." :sarcasm:

Bush has left the US high and dry on defense. Our army is so worn out and depleted now, we no longer have the capability to invade more hapless countries. As the Army goes, so will the Marines.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=28236

For the third month in a row, Marine recruiters have failed to find enough people willing to join the Corps.

<cut>

Compared to the Army, which has missed its goals by more than 10 percent in recent months — short thousands of hoped-for recruits — the Marine Corps’ troubles seem minimal. “The Army’s in a whole other league of difficulty,” Griesmer said.

But Marine recruiters are facing tough months ahead.

“April and May will be down to the wire, because they’re the hardest months for us,” Griesmer said. “We expect to make it, but it’s going to be close.”

[unhappycamper]

1. do the Marines have stop-loss?

[wmbrew0206]

22. No

There is no stop-loss for the Marine Corps right now, not even for Arabic linguists.

[doublethink]

2. Army missed by 32% last month .......

Earlier editorial I posted here ......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x118012

[0007]

6. Thanks for putting it up again. Good read.

junior can't be to inspirational or appealing to the younger generation, and then to read about all the deaths and the ones going nuts upon their arrival back home. "No way" they say.

[lebkuchen]

7. Looks like Stripes reporters are trying to get the enlistment #'s out

there, in the "military's paper," before HS graduation so that kids of vets at least have some information available to them before making the decision whether to follow in Dad's, Mom's and grandparents'/great grandparents' footsteps.

If military kids don't enlist, civilian kids will be an even tougher sell, especially after back-to-back-to-back deployments, as reported in the papers.

Bush will never make his numbers. Based on the reup/enlistment stats we already have available, we should be able to predict the condition of our army/marines to the year 2008.

[wmbrew0206]

23. You are off a bit

If you go back and read the article, you'll see that while the Marine Corps missed the target number for the recruiting pool, they exceeded the number of recruits sent off to boot camp.

Just because they miss the target number of enlistments doesn't mean they are not keeping up with the required personnel the Marine Corps needs to keep its strength at 176,000. The term "target enlistment" means that the recruiters sign a certain amount of non-binding contracts for prospective recruits to say they are going to boot camp. The "target enlistment" is always greater than the number a recruiter is expected to actually send to boot camp because "X" number changed their minds and back out.

The real number to watch to see if recruitment is struggling is the number actually shipped off to recruit training. According to this article the Marine Corps was at 103% of its March goal. If the Corps keeps missing its "target enlistment goals" but keeps meeting its "shipped to recruit training goals" the Marine Corps will be fine.

The Army is another story though....

[tabasco]

25. The trends for both services are DOWN.

If recruiting this month is down, it WILL affect the number shipping off to basic training next month. The bottom line is that almost 60 million voted for the corporate warmongers, but those among that number eligible for military service are NOT stepping up to the plate.

I was an infantry commander and if you are short even a few people, it hurts. I know company commanders in Iraq who tell me they are glorified platoon leaders because of the shortage of troops.

This dirty lib'rul did his 12 years in the infantry. Where are the brave young "conservatives."

THE FREEPERS NEED TO GET THEIR ASS TO THE RECRUITERS !

[meganmonkey]

3. I'm surprised that April and May are their tough months

I would think that high school seniors would be trying to figure out what to do next and would be pretty vulnerable to the recruiters then. Obviously I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Anyone know why this is?

[lebkuchen]

4. From what I understand

and have been told, the real recruiting high harvest months are through the late spring and into the summer months after high school graduation. Nov through Feb/Mar tends to be the slowest. A parent's approval is required from 17, which is the earliest you can join, to 18 when you legally become an adult.

[LdyGuique]

5. A recruit isn't official until he/she takes oath and goes through

physical in preparation for going to boot camp. Anyone who signs up in April/May isn't going to be ready to go active until after graduation (high school diplomas or GEDs are mandatory). And, as pointed out, many are not 18 before graduation and many parents oppose enlistment. There is a huge swelling of numbers in June through the summer as potential recruits are in fact ready to go.

[Nordmadr]

9. Just wanted to point something out...

you can go to basic training before graduating and without having a GED. I enlisted in the Army National Guard during my JUNIOR year of high school, at age 17 with parents permission, and attended Army Basic Combat Training in Fort Dix, New Jersey that summer before returning for my senior year of high school. At the time that I was doing push-ups, shooting M-16's and tossing grenades I was not yet a high school graduate or equivalent. After graduating from high school and actively drilling with my unit for a year I was scheduled to attend Infantry training in Fort Benning, Georgia, but instead opted to transfer services and enlist for full active duty in the Navy as a Gunners Mate. This required that I attend Navy Basic Training, as the two sets of training are entirely different animals. So for two staight summers I spent my time getting barked at by Drill Instructors. Fun Huh? :)

Olaf

[LdyGuique]

10. That may be true of the National Guard, but the rules

for the each branch of the service vary -- and all of the major active duty services require a diploma at the time of beginning active duty service. This is the preliminary educational level accepted for the all volunteer services (or it was in 1992 when my son wanted to join).

[Nordmadr]

12. This was back in 1990.

The military at the time had what was called the DEP (Delayed Entry Program)for recruits. I don't know if this program was specific to the reserves and Guard. It was required to have the high school diploma or GED eventually, but not before attending Basic Training (which is considered active duty). I enlisted on my 17th birthday, and was in training 3 weeks later, a full year before having a high school diploma or GED.

Olaf

[LdyGuique]

15. LOL -- well, I rather think that with all of the low numbers

in recruitment that DEP is most likely available to any/all who are so inclined. I wouldn't expect that it has gotten more stringent :)

[DS1]

17. Actually the Marines had a program at one point where you went

through bootcamp in summer between Junior and Senior high school years, came back, went to school as a buffed-out dude hopefully recruiting more kids to follow.

They got rid of that.

Or maybe my recruiter was telling me a lie, but I had already been in and through bootcamp at that point, so I don't know why he'd lie about it.

Unless recruiters are pathalogical liars. Naah, can't be.

[doublethink]

26. Actually the Army recruits Drop-Outs

and they have increased like 50% this recruiting year from last year, article attached here ......

http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=February+Army+Recruiting+27%25+Dropouts&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&u=www.capecodonline.com/archives/7days/tues/armyrecruiting8.htm&w=february+army+recruiting+27+dropouts&d=B9258F1B99&icp=1&.intl=us

Welcome to the 2005 cannon fodder army. This shit sucks.

[Ernesto]

8. My high school junior son got his 2nd USMC letter just

yesterday. Too bad for them, his pop was a crotch-creature in Vietnam. Fool me once... OK: Fool me twice? No Huckin Way, GI!

[lebkuchen]

11. Enlistment bonuses are bound to go higher

How high is your son's tolerance threshold for cash in hand?

[Nordmadr]

13. I remeber my division officer asking me what it would

take to get me to re-enlist in the navy, a few months before I was scheduled to get out. I flat out told him that "The navy isn't willing to pay me the money it would take to keep me in....Sir". He never asked me again.

It seems now that the military is willing to bribe a little bit more.

Olaf

[rocktivity]

16. They can't call you back again? Are you in the individual ready reserve?

:headbang:
rocknation

[Nordmadr]

18. My total enlistment of 8 years for the navy SHOULD

have been up in 1999. I served 4 years active duty and then 4 years inactive reserve. I should not by contract be recallable, but then again, the U.S. military doesn't seem to be properly honoring the contracts of folks these days. As of yet they haven't tried to come after me. I'll be 32 years old in June, and at this point, outside of the draftable age as well, but rules change.

I served on a deployment to the Pesian Gulf and the Red Sea for Somalia activities. Southeast Asia Service Medal with Bronze Star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Sea Service Deployment (2nd award) National Defense Medal (which they just give to anyone still), and Good Conduct Medal...as well as both Expert Rifle and Pistol Ribbons...I was a Gunners Mate after all. :)

I did my duty and don't intend to do any more for these ass clowns.

Olaf

[AnneD]

19. haven't you heard....

Their new advertising campaign is aimed at Mom and Dad, esp Mom 'cause about 74% of recruits and 67% (the %'s are close acan't remember exactly)of the recruits said they listen to parents re enlistment. They even have paired an Iraq vet with a recruiter to tag team the parents. Hate to tell them....I've been to the puppet show and seen the strings. My daughter (only child) will go over my dead body!

[lebkuchen]

27. The recruiters are, in essence, challenging the parents

I think the parents sense this, and are rising to the challenge.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

14. "crotch creature"

i have never seen that word combination used before, can you define it for me, just curious. thanks!

[Bigmack]

20. "Crotch...."

"insider" term for the Marine Corps. As in "I was in the Crotch for 4."

Many plays on the words in Marine Corps.

"Eat the apple.... fuck the Core."

"Rotten to the Core."

Used only by ex-Marines... never by non-Marines. Marines bitch. It's right in the oath of enlistment.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

21. ahh, i see

thanks!

[OhioChick]

31. My Kid

is younger than yours and they're sending this crap in the mail every few weeks now. His friends have said that they're beginning to get "visits" at home. :grr:

[AndyTiedye]

24. Marine Recruiting Is Being Haunted by the Ghost of Jason Tharp

Jason Tharp, a Marine recruit, drowned during "water survival training",
while surrounded by qualified instructors who presumably were trained
expressly to prevent such an occurance. This occurred a day after
a drill instructor was *filmed by a TV newscrew* hitting and abusing
Jason for refusing to get in the pool because he couldn't swim!

All Jason Tharp wanted was to go to art school.

----
http://braxtonian.com/extra/JasonsTharpsLetters_SundayGazetteMail.html

In the last letter he sent home, Jason Tharp said he knew that he had to get out. He was sick and no longer wanted to become a Marine. He feared that he’d end up with pneumonia, coughing up blood like some of the other recruits. He could barely do the required number of sit-ups and pull-ups, and it didn’t seem like he was improving. After looking at pictures his family sent from home, he started wondering how much more he could take.
...
The day before he got into the Olympic-sized indoor pool and died during the 25-meter swim, Jason refused to get in the water.
Video footage aired by Columbia, S.C., station WIS-TV shows a drill instructor striking Tharp in the chest. Tharp was a member of Platoon 3024, India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion.
...
Like many students from rural areas, Principal James Lambert said that Jason joined the military because it was a way out.
“In rural Braxton County, a lot of them don’t have any way to go forward and learn what’s out in the world, how to get an education and develop a skill for them for life. So they use it as a pathway,” Lambert said.

A scholarship fund set up in the name of Jason has attracted national attention, Gibson said. People from all over the country have been calling to find out how they can help. Money will be given to needy students like Jason who want to attend college.
...
To donate to the Jason Tharp Memorial Scholarship Fund, call [phone], [phone] ext: 258, or send donations to: Braxton County Board of Education, 411 North Hill Rd., Sutton, WV 26601.

[lebkuchen]

28. Jason's parents were interviewed

It was difficult to watch, but they stated their case clearly and viscerally. The Marine Corp has no excuse.

[leftchick]

29. I watched that. It was heartbreaking....

and horrifying. RIP Jason. :(

[Zerex71]

30. Marine Corps narrowly misses target for enlisting new cannon fodder