thedrifter
10-15-06, 06:33 AM
Red states out do blue in signing up soldiers
BY RICHARD SISK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - The blue state/red state political divide has its mirror image in the military, with recruits much more likely to come from the South than the Northeast, according to service recruiters.
Of young Americans aged 17 to 24, "We recruit fewer, proportionally, from New England and the upper Midwest and more, proportionally, from the other regions of the country," said David Chu, the Pentagon personnel chief.
"I don't want to overdo those differences, but they suggest that we don't have as much traction in terms of recruiting in those regions," including New York, Chu said.
One reason for the disparity, he said, was a reluctance on the part of teachers, coaches and parents - what the military calls "influencers" - in the North to recommend and support joining the service.
"Personally, it's been surprising how difficult it's been, New York in particular," said Capt. Dan Caetano, a Marine recruiter in the Garden City, L.I., office covering the Northeast.
"I struggle to make my numbers, more so than my counterparts in the South and Southeast," Caetano said.
Chu and chief recruiters from the service branches discussed the North-South differences last week in announcing that the military had met most of its recruiting goals in fiscal 2006, following the worst shortfall by the Army in 20 years in fiscal 2005.
The Army recruited 80,635 active duty troops, topping its goal of 80,000, after swearing in 73,000 in '05. The Marines also exceeded their goal of 32,000 by 337, but Chu and the recruiters warned of another "challenging" year in '07 for the ground forces.
From New York, the Army shipped 4,263 recruits to boot camp in fiscal '06, an increase of 23%, or 796, over fiscal '05, although more were expected.
Doug Smith, an Army recruiting command spokesman, said more should have come from the Northeast since the percentage of those qualified for service tends to be higher in the North.
Illustrating the problem, Maj. Gen. Ronald Coleman, director of the Marine Personnel Management Division, told of his brother and sister-in-law in Rhode Island forbidding his nephew, Curtis, to join the Marines, although Curtis had "wanted to be a Marine since he was in the seventh grade."
But when he came of age, Curtis joined up and he's now "as happy a Marine as you can find," Coleman said.
Curtis has since told him that "my parents felt that they're all for a strong national defense, but someone else's kid should do it, not theirs," Coleman said.
Originally published on October 15, 2006
Ellie
BY RICHARD SISK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - The blue state/red state political divide has its mirror image in the military, with recruits much more likely to come from the South than the Northeast, according to service recruiters.
Of young Americans aged 17 to 24, "We recruit fewer, proportionally, from New England and the upper Midwest and more, proportionally, from the other regions of the country," said David Chu, the Pentagon personnel chief.
"I don't want to overdo those differences, but they suggest that we don't have as much traction in terms of recruiting in those regions," including New York, Chu said.
One reason for the disparity, he said, was a reluctance on the part of teachers, coaches and parents - what the military calls "influencers" - in the North to recommend and support joining the service.
"Personally, it's been surprising how difficult it's been, New York in particular," said Capt. Dan Caetano, a Marine recruiter in the Garden City, L.I., office covering the Northeast.
"I struggle to make my numbers, more so than my counterparts in the South and Southeast," Caetano said.
Chu and chief recruiters from the service branches discussed the North-South differences last week in announcing that the military had met most of its recruiting goals in fiscal 2006, following the worst shortfall by the Army in 20 years in fiscal 2005.
The Army recruited 80,635 active duty troops, topping its goal of 80,000, after swearing in 73,000 in '05. The Marines also exceeded their goal of 32,000 by 337, but Chu and the recruiters warned of another "challenging" year in '07 for the ground forces.
From New York, the Army shipped 4,263 recruits to boot camp in fiscal '06, an increase of 23%, or 796, over fiscal '05, although more were expected.
Doug Smith, an Army recruiting command spokesman, said more should have come from the Northeast since the percentage of those qualified for service tends to be higher in the North.
Illustrating the problem, Maj. Gen. Ronald Coleman, director of the Marine Personnel Management Division, told of his brother and sister-in-law in Rhode Island forbidding his nephew, Curtis, to join the Marines, although Curtis had "wanted to be a Marine since he was in the seventh grade."
But when he came of age, Curtis joined up and he's now "as happy a Marine as you can find," Coleman said.
Curtis has since told him that "my parents felt that they're all for a strong national defense, but someone else's kid should do it, not theirs," Coleman said.
Originally published on October 15, 2006
Ellie