Thirty-Somethings Find Home in the Army

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CBS News

It wasn't long ago that the U.S. Army was struggling to meet its recruiting goals as the military's increasingly unpopular presence in Iraq reached its peak. Now there's a steady stream of prospective GIs flowing through military recruiters' offices - and they don't fit the traditional profile.

A growing number of older Americans - "old" being defined as 30 and over - are enlisting in the Army, eager to take advantage of the stable income and valuable benefits offered by military life in an otherwise sluggish economy, according to a Los Angeles Times report Tuesday.

At the Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion, people holding master's degrees are showing up at a place normally reserved for those with just a high school diploma.

"I've been a recruiter for four years, and I've never seen that before," Staff Sgt. A.J. Calderon told the Times. "This is definitely a good thing for the Army."

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But the bump in older recruits is growing. More than 1,800 people over 30 have signed up for the Army in the first half of the 2009 fiscal year, which began in October. That accounted for a 59 percent increase over the same period in previous year.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/11/national/main5234139.shtml?tag=stack

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Here we go, boys and girls!

We'll be able to fight wars on all sorts of abstract nouns soon!

:woohoo:


:sarcasm:

[BOSSHOG]

2. The Army is also allowing retirees to go back on active duty

Saw an article in my retiree newsletter.

[pasto76]

3. keep in mind we are still dealing with the reduced recruiting goals that were forced years ago

when DOD was tired of reporting that it had "missed it's recruiting goals" it simply lowered those goals.

the 30something crowd is interesting. Hopefully more mature, better informed and realistic volunteers.

SGT PASTO

[izquierdista]

4. To be expected

What else to do when all the factories are closed and the jobs sent overseas? :shrug:

[RamboLiberal]

6. And I'd bet some are joining to get health care

for their families and education benefits for themselves.

[espiral]

10. re:

Hey, another compañero- nice to meet you :toast:

[izquierdista]

12. Hola!

Y Bienvenidos a DU. :hi:

[Strong Atheist]

22. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Kingofalldems]

5. Living in a barracks after age 30 has to be awful

Makes me cringe.

[Blue_Tires]

8. i'm over 30 and live with my mother

how much worse could barracks be?

[Kingofalldems]

13. A lot worse

[BeGoodDoGood]

14. I Don't Believe

Most troops live in barracks now. Now they have BEQ's Bachelor Enlisted Quarters, which are 4 persons to a suite.

Walt

[Earth_First]

20. Cripes, at my A-school at Ft. Rucker we had enlisted quarters 2 to a room dormatory style... n/t

[WriteDown]

16. Why would anyone want to live in Barrack....

creepy. :)

[Ocotillo]

7. As Paul Krugman wrote

"What saved the economy, and the New Deal, was the enormous public works project known as World War II, which finally provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economy’s needs.

This history offers important lessons for the incoming administration."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10krugman.html

Say hello to the "economic draft", and with Afghanistan, can the real one be far behind?

[Blue_Tires]

9. i might give it some thought if it were peacetime...

[OnlinePoker]

21. Peacetime?

It was peacetime until Sept 10 2001...look how quickly that changed. And with Obama upping the number of grunts in Afghanistan, don't expect "peacetime" any time soon.

[espiral]

11. conflicts

In this case, I find myself torn between sympathy for the displaced workers in need, and disgust at their willingness to act as mercenaries in an unjustified war.

[Jim Sagle]

15. Ya gotta eat.

[defendandprotect]

17. Poverty breeds armies?

[valerief]

19. Always. Hunger breeds finding food to eat. Homelessness breeds finding a place to sleep. nt

[defendandprotect]

23. People are actually trying to get into our jails just to eat something every day!!

Welcome to GOP's "third world America" . . .!!!

[valerief]

18. And prison. Gotta get that slave labor for industry. nt