Experts say the U.S. military's recent recruitment success is due to the recession - young men and women, lacking job opportunities during a period of relatively high unemployment, have volunteered for duty in record numbers despite the nation being at war.
Hard to argue with the experts; "the economy," up or down, is a factor in everything, starting with the career choices young Americans get to make. Throw in pay raises and signing bonuses, and you can see why the Army and Marine Corps were able to reach recruitment goals and then some - nearly 170,000 fresh faces signed on the dotted line during the last federal budget year.
This contrasts sharply with what has been going on since 9/11 - not enough recruits, particularly recruits of quality; the Army lowering its recruitment standards; active-duty troops forced to serve multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; widespread post-traumatic stress disorder; the highest number of soldier suicides since those records were kept, and an Army suicide rate higher than the general population for the first time in more than three decades.
And let me hasten to add three other factors: A president, vice president and defense secretary who all believed we could get by with less, and who never asked the American people to sacrifice and to serve.
Memorable moment from the George W. Bush presidency: February, 2007, an interview on public television:
Jim Lehrer: "Why have you not, as president of the United States, asked more Americans and American interests to sacrifice something? The people who are now sacrificing are, you know, the volunteer military, the Army and the U.S. Marines and their families. They're the only people who are actually sacrificing anything at this point."
President Bush: "Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. They sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV each night."
So, OK, it's the economy, stupid, driving young men and women to the Army and Marine Corps. But maybe their willingness to serve has something to do with the fact that George Bush is no longer in the White House.
During the Bush years, the Defense Department could not reach several of its recruitment goals because, within a few months of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration had no credibility with Americans of age to consider signing up for military duty. And there was that glaring lack of call to service during the Bush years and a widening of the cultural divide between those in the military and the rest of us.
