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Citing the Pentagon's recent success in meeting its manpower needs, the Obama administration is proposing to cut the Defense Department's budget for recruiting by nearly $800 million, or 11 percent, for 2010.
The proposed budget would reverse years of increased spending aimed at bolstering military forces strained by six years of combat in Iraq and nearly eight in Afghanistan. From 2004 to 2008, annual funding for recruiting and retention programs more than doubled, from $3.4 billion to $7.7 billion.
Amid a deep recession that has made the military a more appealing option for job seekers, all the armed services have consistently met or exceeded their recruiting and retention goals in recent months, according to the Pentagon.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...72.html
The proposed budget would reverse years of increased spending aimed at bolstering military forces strained by six years of combat in Iraq and nearly eight in Afghanistan. From 2004 to 2008, annual funding for recruiting and retention programs more than doubled, from $3.4 billion to $7.7 billion.
Amid a deep recession that has made the military a more appealing option for job seekers, all the armed services have consistently met or exceeded their recruiting and retention goals in recent months, according to the Pentagon.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...72.html
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Re: Recession Rescues Recruiters
Fri, October 16, 2009 - 1:43 PMThe Pentagon boasted this week that the U.S. armed forces have exceeded their recruitment goals for this year. Some officials attributed the success to high unemployment in the civilian job market, others to a spurt in civic-mindedness.
Whatever the theory, many reporters assumed the numbers mean that more young men and women are joining the military.
In fact, however, fewer people joined the Army this year than last year. The Army exceeded its recruitment goals not because recruitment went up but rather because recruitment goals were lowered.
www.slate.com/id/2232548/
I guess the recession must be over . . . -
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Re: Recession Rescues Recruiters
Mon, October 26, 2009 - 4:03 PMTo get more recruits the military has relaxed their standards as well.
From the web:
Is it the economic downturn? Renewed patriotism? Despite near-certainty of being sent to war, hundreds of thousands of people enlisted in the armed services this year, allowing the U.S. military to meet all of its annual recruiting goals for the first time since the all-volunteer force was established in 1973. In recent years, the Army in particular has been forced to drop its standards, admitting high-school dropouts, overweight recruits, and ex-cons. This year, however, 95 percent of the year's recruits have high-school diplomas and only 1.5 percent received the lowest acceptable score on the military's standard qualification test—down from 4 percent in recent years. The Washington Post reports that even experts were surprised with the success: "We delivered beyond anything the framers of the all-volunteer force would have anticipated" said Bill Carr, a deputy undersecretary of Defense. Nonetheless, with many soldiers serving multiple combat tours, many are keeping a wary eye on personnel issues. One Brookings Institute fellow pointed to the possibility of "mass desertion, or people unwilling to stay in" and long-term maintenance of recruitment quotas.
Read it at The Washington Post
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