62 Million Votes and the Army and Marine Corps still can not get enough people to Join?
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The Army and the Marine Corp continue to miss their monthly recruiting goals. Between the two the Army has missed their recruiting goals by the largest margin, with that margin growing each month. The army in an attempt to change how this drop in recruiting might look dropped their recruiting goals for the month of May and still missed it. They said the goals were dropped to relieve the pressure put on recruiters to get more men and women to join the Army but these goals have rarely been a problem in the past which leads one to believe the Army explanation for dropping their goals is them trying to spin the truth. The Air Force and the Navy have no problem meeting their goals and the Navy is actually trying to get rid of some people.
Clearly the drop in the Army and Marine Corps recruiting is due to the War in Iraq and in Afghanistan. What is most troubling to me about these recruiting shortfalls is that Bush received over sixty two million votes in last year’s election. That’s 62, 000,000!! My question is; how and why are the Army and Marine Corp not meeting their recruiting goals with over sixty two million people voting in favor of the war maker. I would imagine of the 62 million maybe 50 million or more are too old, too fat or have some disability that would prevent them from joining the Army or the Marine Corps. However this still leaves 12 million men and women to join the Army and the Marine Corps. So why is this not happening, why did so many people vote for the war maker and support his war but are unwilling to go fight in the war!
Recruiting methods are being changed now, it use to be that recruiters only had to convince the recruits to join, but now the Army and Marine Corps is finding that they have to recruit the parents as well as the children. Parents have become the biggest problem recruiters have with getting young men and women to join the Military. The Military rely heavily on its “Delayed Entry” program. This program allows men and women who are not of age or have yet to finish H.S. or get a G.E.D. to sign up for the military and when they graduate H.S. or is of age they are then shipped off to Boot Camp. The majority of delayed entry recruits are under age and need their parent’s permission to join, and this is what recruiters are finding difficult to attain, parents are refusing to sign any papers that will allow their child to enter the Military thus the shortfalls continue. The NY Times reported several improprieties are being carried out by recruiters, from recruiters buying detox solutions for possible recruits to hide their use of Marijuana to recruiters informing possible recruits who did not graduate H.S. where they can get a fake Diploma and what school to use on that Diploma.
I believe the Republican Party and all those who supported this war (we know some of you Democrats supported this war as well) should help solve the Army and Marine Corps recruiting problem. Instead of having fund raising parties or events, they should have Military recruiting gala’s and balls, where the goal is not for you to donate a certain amount of money but to donate your person or your children to a worthy cause, like the war in Iraq. How about all those college republicans who are causing all kind of hell on college campuses around the country, they are definitely at the right age to “really” support this war. The Army recruiting goal for the year was 80,000 new recruits. The Marine Corp goal is smaller than that I believe. So if we account for all possible variables; old, fat, crazy, already in the military, gay and any other reason one will not be able to join the Military, I am sure out of 62 million people we can still come up with at least five million eligible men and women far more than the 80,000 the Army needs. So where are they, why are they not joining the military to support a war they supported? They can no longer depend on poverty to produce men and women willing to join the military, not the Army and the Marine Corps anyway. Poor people are saying they would rather be poor and alive than get a paycheck to die in a war they do not support and had no hand in starting.
I am calling on all Bush supporters and those who voted for him and support this war to get off your ass and help the Army and the Marine Corps meet their recruiting goals, if you are bold enough to support this war, than you should be bold enough to go and fight it! Support your Country!!
posted by Faheem @ 6/09/2005 12:52:00 PM
20 comments
20 Comments:
There is one reason why there is a recruting problem. They don't pay enough. I wrote about it a few days ago.
http://tswe.blogspot.com/2005/05/military-recruitment-problem.html
"Imagine you are a patriotic postal worker and you want to fight. But you have a mortgage and a family. You can't even consider enlisting because your family would lose its house because of the pay CUT. So basically the only people who can consider enlisting are people who don't have any other responsibilities which is a very small age and education range. Even a kid out of college has college loans he wouldn't be able to pay on a military salary. more
Scott, I believe I accounted for all possible variables by reducing the 62 million down to 5 million. There are enough non-home having men and women with in that five million to keep the military full with recruits. The problem is those of you who supported the war are not brave enough to go and fight it.
That’s why there “should” be a draft. Whether one supports the war or not, is of no consequence. If you’re an American citizen, then you benefit and enjoy the spoils that the nation provides. Enough said! If an individual is of the proper age, health, education level, etc., then they should be required to do their stint (whinny liberal creeps, asshole Republican finger pointers, handkerchief heads, racists, Arabs, rich conservative yuppies, spoiled Ivy League brats, dashiki wearing Afrocentric complainers, hippie activist troublemakers, black nationalists, queers, women, capitalists, gangster rappers, strippers, reality show contestants, Brittany Spears, P. Diddy, Nascar drivers, evangelical Christians, Muslims, passivist Buddhists, minorities, majorities…the entire “stinking” lot included!).
If you suckle America’s tittie (whether you get a shot glass, or a pitcher full), then you must go fight…supporting or not supporting the war means squat! Otherwise, shut your whinny trap…!
M. Bernbaum
M. Bernbaum, I'll have you know, I already served in the Military four honorable years as a U.S. Marine 1992-1996, but that is really not that important because I do not think that one must serve to intelligently articulate what I have written in this essay of mine. The only kind of draft I would support is one that goes after those who actually support the war maker and his war; they should be falling over themselves to fight this war.
It is a ridiculous assertion that we all should have to fight a war because we are citizens of this country and forcing those of us who have not destroyed our body through the use of drugs and excessive eating to fight a war fat bodies and drug users do not does not sound like a freedom to me. If we are going to force everyone to fight, then we should send the drug users, the fat bodies, the gay, and if things get to bad we ship the crazy out as well. :)
Like I said where are those who supported Bush and his war, why are they not joining the Army and the Marine Corps?
Wow. Amazing to me how the noted scholar and military sociologist "Scott" can say there is ONE reason as to why there is a recruiting problem for the U.S. military. ONE?
Amazing that McDonalds, Burger King and any other merchant of death, disguising itself as a provider of hearty nourishing meals, never seem to have a shortage of "Fry Guys and Burger flippers". Last time I checked "Micky D's" wasn't paying it's employees top dollar. As a matter of fact the pay is down right degrading considering the workload and environment. This is why McDonalds and other fast food franchise workforces typically consist of whom? Teenagers and young adults with very little employment history and work experience, which by the way, happens to be the very same segment of society the U.S. Military preys upon to fill it's ranks.
McDonalds is successful in employing these young adults and teenagers at very low wages because they lack the requisite employment history and work experience to command a higher paying job elsewhere in corporate America. So if this is true then how does McDonalds become a viable option and not the U.S. Marines? Could it be there is another variable here at work that doesn't simply deal with economics? I think so Scott.
Any person who doesn't employ a personal agenda and is objective when dealing with the particular facts of this discussion will admit the two military branches that failed to meet it's annual recruiting quota did so because they employ large ground combat units that increase ones likelihood of getting killed or injured for what is largely considered by many to be an unjust war based on imperialist premise. Period. Doesn't have a damn thing to do with pay wages.
RaAmen
Yes, Faheem, I agree 100%. Send the disgusting fat bodies, the druggies, the supporters, the gays, and the nut cases. Ship em’ all out ASAP!
Hell, dogs should have to serve too. Teach em’ how to sniff bombs and ship em’ out!
Like I said, a draft is the only thing that will get this nation’s priorities straight. Everyone must do their part, or shut the hell up!
M. Bernbaum
Faheem said... " Scott, I believe I accounted for all possible variables by reducing the 62 million down to 5 million."
Even though you pulled this number out of you ass, lets assume its close to the realistic pool size of possible recruits.
The election results were basically 50/50 meaning of that pool of 5 million recruits about 2.5 million could have voted for Bush, (I would say less since younger trended to Kerry).
Well then lets look at the size of our ground forces currently. It 2.6 million.
"The United States still has 2.6 million active, Guard, and Reserve soldiers at its disposal"
This means that we already have over 50% of the possible pool that means the pool has to be increased by increasing military compensation so people don't have to take a pay CUT to serve.
The MSM also leaves out that congress againt the wishes of the Rummy mandated an increase in Army my 30,000 men, thus increasing recruiting goals over peace time levels.
Faheem you are full of crap.
[quote]
I believe the Republican Party and all those who supported this war (we know some of you Democrats supported this war as well) should help solve the Army and Marine Corps recruiting problem. Instead of having fund raising parties or events, they should have Military recruiting gala’s and balls, where the goal is not for you to donate a certain amount of money but to donate your person or your children to a worthy cause, like the war in Iraq.[/quote]
I could just imagine the reaction from the Civil Rights Actor-vist community of a Republican responded to the request for military assistance in the Sudan or Haiti by saying "we'll give Black Americans guns and allow them to battle for freedom for their people".
No doubt this would lead to a call for resignations.
Your hollow claim is nothing more than rhetoric.
Interesting enough Renaldo, in the 50's or 60's or possibly earlier when Ethiopia was at war, Black men and women tried to volunteer to go fight that war and this government would not allow it but it allowed white folk in America from foreign nations to go help their homeland. If you want I can get specifics for you, but you probably would not want them.
Why are you so worried about what the Civil rights Activist would do, they don't speak for you right? Only way we would really know what they would do is if such a call was actually made by Republicans. Maybe you are really upset because you support the war maker and his war but are a scared to death negro who would not go and fight this war, you would rather those poor Black folk who lack personal responsibility that you talk about so much to fight on your behalf. Negro please!!
In the News today, the Army again relaxes restrictions that were in place to keep men and women who commit certain crimes out of the officer corp.
The new rule “welcomes older candidates and allows more tolerance of past minor crimes”. Isn't it funny how crime is now subjective or relative? A crime that would have kept you out the army a year ago is now excusable! LOL... Also the Army has made it more difficult to kick soldiers out of the military for alcohol or drug abuse, being overweight or "unsatisfactory performance. Basically you can be a piece of shit, that smoke dope and they will still use to fight this war. Talk about wishy washy, one minute a soldier is too fat, on drugs and is an alcoholic, the next, none of these things matter. You know why, because they need more people to die, scratch that, I mean fight this war.
An Army memo sent out to battalion commanders stated;
"they cannot remove soldiers from the military for reasons such as "alcohol or other drug abuse rehabilitation failure," "failure to meet body fat standards," pregnancy and "unsatisfactory performance."
Listen to why they can not do this,
"It's one more check to ensure that a soldier who's being recommended for release may have some redeeming values,"
Isn’t that a bleep, a year ago, soldiers with problems like the ones listed would have been kicked out even if they had redeeming qualities but war make you look at people totally different.
Where my Bush voters and supporters at? You see what your cowardice is causing? The army has to lower its standards because of your cowardice.
I have no idea what you are referring to when you proclaim I don’t agree with personal responsibility. Maybe you meant to say I don’t agree with white supremacy.
The same thing that inspired most Black men and women to join the Military. My joining was not independent of why most Black folk join be it Poverty, the streets, education or simply to travel.
I always tell the story from when I was in boot camp and the Drill Instructor was going up and down the squad bay asking every recruit why they joined the Marine Corps, and all these white boys were hollering "To Defend my Country sir" few brothers seen how the "DI" responded to those answers and they too said it, so then came my turn, I was asked why I joined and I said something along the lines to get out of Chicago. LOL. The "DI" lost his mind, but what the hell he thought I was going to say. I did not give a damn about defending this country. These same punk arse white boys who were hollering they wanted to defend their country were crying in their beds at night because of all the pressure and how mean the "DI's" were. People romanticize about the military too much. I still live in a Military town and be in the barber shop every weekend with brothers in the Corps and the story is still the same but you will never hear their story in the media.
If a person is in support of the war, but are not and have not made personal sacrifices to the war effort, is not that a form of welfare…or transfer payment? What I mean is this. In welfare, people work and pay taxes and some of those taxes get transferred to the benefit of people who are not working. How is it different when people who believe that there is merit and benefit to a particular war, but receive the benefit only by transference via the sacrifice of others?
If one supported this war, Iraq, because they thought it would make America (and them) safer or because they benefited from the notion of increased freedom of Iraqi people, they should volunteer to fight. If the principle is true that to get something, something must be given up in exchange, then what are all the people who supported and sought benefit from this war giving up? The answer to that is NOTHING. They seek the reward, from others taking the risk.
Such is more disturbing than welfare, because in those transferee payments, people’s lives and limbs are not lost by others doing the work while others get the benefits. At the same time, these hypocrites are always complaining about personal responsibility, in regards to people putting forth the effort to manifest what they want. Yet, these “chicken hawks” are the first to support wars in which other people will have to take the responsibility to fight. No consistency in principle at all.
Louis, I am not following what you are saying here. Those comments are from a response in another op-ed. Tell me how are they relevant here and I will answer your question and restate the your question if there was one.
Noah, you are right. Those who supported the war should practice what they preach and take personal responsibility for supporting this war by fighting it themselves. That would be impressive!
I did not catch hell; I was as I am now, my brother RaAmen can attest to that. I attended the Million Man March while I was in the Military, I was not afraid to be myself and in fact I helped many other brothers find themselves. I was like a damn virus in the Military. LOL. I help awaken brothers to take advantage of their time in and get the hell out. We use to sell books out of the barracks, set up vending tables at the Local Juneteenth celebration, wear pro-black t-shirts, you name it we did it and did not catch hell because we were knowledgeable. We were the most respected group of brothers around and when other brothers got in trouble they sought our help, Am I lying Ra!!
Yet and still I was a top Notch Marine, who turned down a good re-enlistment package that included a promotion and a lateral move. I got the promotion and bounced!! Haha..
It's pretty obvious that Faheem is lying his ass off. And that anecdote he told about telling the drill instructor that he "just wanted to get out of Chicago," is from a fucking movie. The exact one is escaping me, but I'll figure it out soon enough.
Faheem's always talking about how his bio doesn't matter, and he gets all quiet when asked to back up his lies with actual personal experience, credentials, or qualifications. But now he's all big talk about his phony military service. Yeah sure, I bet you were some big revolutionary – passing out all of your pseudo-black nationalist quackery rubbish. Liar!
No "real" Marine would have such an attitude, nor would it be tolerated. I know plenty of highly-educated black Marines that love their culture, but none of them would act like that – escpecially not while serving.
There's seemingly no end to the bullshit on this forum!
Nat Turner Jones
Mrs. Jones, it is obvious you are the one full of shit. I have no reason to lie about serving in the Military in fact if I was to lie about something considering the views I have one would think it would be about not serving versus serving. Either way Faheem do not have to prove anything about himself to you and I defy you to find this movie you speak of where I supposedly stole what I said from.
It is clear to me you know very little about Marines if you think my behavior and attitude was abnormal. Bring forth your Marine friends and have them challenge what I am saying. Since Louis says he done the same thing, do you think he is lying about that as well? or am I the only liar around here.
[quote]Interesting enough Renaldo, in the 50's or 60's or possibly earlier when Ethiopia was at war, Black men and women tried to volunteer to go fight that war and this government would not allow it but it allowed white folk in America from foreign nations to go help their homeland. If you want I can get specifics for you, but you probably would not want them.[/quote]
Let us see. There are people from around the world who are Muslims who are joining the Jihad, regardless of what their home governments are saying.
Yet you are telling me that the prohbitions set forth by the USA prevented these people from going to war for their cause?
I find it hard to believe.
Why couldn't they fly to Europe and then go to Ethiopia as they wanted to, no permission needed from the USA.
If they are going to war, with the possibility of death why does it matter what their home country says? They are going for something greater than what their Earthly government can confine them from.
Seems to me that you put forth an excuse rather than an acutal case.
Here are the specifics. When Italy attacked Ethiopia. Black men (mainly those from Harlem) tried to volunteer to go help Ethiopia fight against the Italians but the U.S. government would not give them passports, however Italians could get passports and go help Italy in its attack on Ethiopia.
John Henrik Clark spoke about this all the time, if you get the great and brilliant documentary a "A great and mighty walk" he mentions it on it.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Actually, Faheem was even being conservative with those numbers of potential recruits who should step up to support Bush. Because even those fat, crazy, disabled, old people Faheem mentions have kids or grandkids whom they can get to join and support their warmonger.
So the number of available and possible recruits should be higher. Count those kids and grandkids of those corrupt politicians too who voted for Bush's war too.
There is no excuse, they wanted a war, they should get off their lazy coward asses and fight the war they supported.
And to that Scott guy who think's it's the money as the reason people are not signing up..WAKE UP! People don't want to get killed for a needless war foo! No amount of money should ever be enough to risk a life for needless, unjust war(s).
Hey bro (Faheem) can I post this on my blog? It's a good topic. :)
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