US military recruitment crisis deepens (WSWS)

[undeterred]

By James Cogan
1 June 2005

Statistics continue to be released showing a slump in both US military recruitment and the rate of re-enlistment by personnel whose contract has expired. The worst affected branch is the active, or full-time Army, followed by the part-time Army Reserve and National Guard. Major General Michael Rochelle, the US Army’s recruiting commander, told a May 20 press conference: “Today’s conditions represent the most challenging conditions we have seen in recruiting in my 33 years in this uniform... We now have very, very low propensity to enlist, both on the part of young Americans and likewise on the part of influencers... to recommend Army service.”

snip

There is no doubt as to what the major factor is behind the recruitment and re-enlistment crisis: the continuing quagmire in Iraq.
American military personnel sent to Iraq can reasonably anticipate suffering some form of harm. The 22,000-strong First Infantry Division, for example, which recently returned to Germany after a tour in northern Iraq around the city of Tikrit, suffered 193 dead and 845 wounded. Marine units hurled into the bloody fighting in Fallujah and the surrounding Anbar province last year suffered far higher casualty rates. Since the March 2003 invasion, 1,661 US soldiers and marines have lost their lives in Iraq and over 12,000 have been wounded-in-action. As well, at least 18,000 Army personnel have been flown out of Iraq for non-combat medical reasons such as non-battle injuries and disease, according to the Army Medical Department.

snip

The suspicion that the war in Iraq is tainted and that something sinister lies behind the Bush administration’s foreign policy emerges from interviews with military personnel leaving the armed forces. An Army captain, Dave Fulton, who is planning to resign in the coming months, told the Los Angeles Times: “The undefined goals of the ‘war on terror’ are making it really hard for the Army to keep people right now.” Another young officer, Captain Vincent Touhey, said: “What’s the end point? When do you declare victory?”

snip

The New York Times’ editorial on May 29, “The Death Spiral of the Volunteer Army”, pointed to the concerns in the political establishment. After bewailing the crisis of the military and the debacle in Iraq, it declared a return to the draft as “militarily foolish and politically explosive”. It recommended instead “expanding the potential recruiting pool” by allowing women into more combat roles, allowing gays to openly serve in the armed forces, and signing up “immigrants with promises of citizenship”, and changing how the US government “treats its ground troops”. Why women, gays and immigrants should find the idea of an Iraq deployment appealing, the Times did not bother to answer. The reality is that under conditions where there is little ideological commitment among military personnel or the American people to the occupation of Iraq, any significant turn around in the recruitment crisis is unlikely. Compulsion is increasingly becoming the only method available to the American ruling class to find the human material needed to assert its imperialist interests internationally.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/mili-j01.shtml

[rodeodance]

1. the lean clean and mean ideal war machine of rummy is going down down

down. (rummy ideal that is)

[dogday]

2. Does anyone not believe that Select Service will be put into effect?

I think we are looking at the beginning of the reasons for invoking Selective Service. Just a stroke of the President's pen would put this little program into effect....

[beyurslf]

3. Doesn't Congress actually have to reinstate the draft? The Selective

Service is already active. All males age 18 are required to register.

[dogday]

7. Not All Parts Of It Are Active, Here are the Sequence of Events..

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

http://www.sss.gov/seq.htm

Here is a brief overview of what would occur if the United States returned to a draft:

1. CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT AUTHORIZE A DRAFT
A crisis occurs which requires more troops than the volunteer military can supply. Congress passes and the President signs legislation which starts a draft.

2. THE LOTTERY
A lottery based on birthdays determines the order in which registered men are called up by Selective Service. The first to be called, in a sequence determined by the lottery, will be men whose 20th birthday falls during that year, followed, if needed, by those aged 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. 18-year-olds and those turning 19 would probably not be drafted.

3. ALL PARTS OF SELECTIVE SERVICE ARE ACTIVATED
The Agency activates and orders its State Directors and Reserve Forces Officers to report for duty. See also Agency Structure.

4. PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND MORAL EVALUATION OF REGISTRANTS
Registrants with low lottery numbers are ordered to report for a physical, mental, and moral evaluation at a Military Entrance Processing Station to determine whether they are fit for military service. Once he is notified of the results of the evaluation, a registrant will be given 10 days to file a claim for exemption, postponement, or deferment. See also Classifications.

5. LOCAL AND APPEAL BOARDS ACTIVATED AND INDUCTION NOTICES SENT
Local and Appeal Boards will process registrant claims. Those who pass the military evaluation will receive induction orders. An inductee will have 10 days to report to a local Military Entrance Processing Station for induction.

6. FIRST DRAFTEES ARE INDUCTED
According to current plans, Selective Service must deliver the first inductees to the military within 193 days from the onset of a crisis.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Smaller. Cheaper. Faster. Better.

Oh, wait -- that was NASA.

Unfortunately, the DoD is fresh out of rocket scientists. It appears that they were discovered to be gay, and were discharged.

--p!

[phantom power]

5. The neo-cons are really up against the wall with this.

If they re-instate the draft, most of the remaining "support" for the war will evaporate, since that support was always based on the false assurances of an easy victory, with no American sacrifices required.

If they don't re-instate the draft, the military will continue to wear down until it's useless (an enormous crime in itself).

My cup of schadenfreud runneth over.

[74dodgedart]

6. We should send them the College Republicans phone list.

[fasttense]

8. Wasn't there a post about hiring Mercenaries?

I read here on DU that about 10,000 men from a poor African nation (not sure which) were recently hired by H&B to provide security in Iraq? Wont this solve the manning problem?

[unhappycamper]

9. It was Uganda. I suspect those folks will be staffing a few

of the four new mega-bases under construction.

[wallwriter]

10. They really will get an Army of One