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thedrifter
10-16-09, 09:02 AM
A military that recruits can believe in

Dan Rodricks

October 15, 2009


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.

Young people are not going to put their butts on the line for a president who doesn't seem to know what he's doing, or who abuses his awesome power and lies about the reasons for war, or who doesn't seem overly concerned about the long-term stresses placed on those who serve in the all-volunteer forces.

Barack Obama, at least as a candidate, articulated a correction in the country's military focus, resetting the target as Afghanistan, saying we never should have taken our eyes off the terrorists nesting there in the wake of 9/11.

He also called Americans to service, and he continues to present as a role model to citizens who want in some way to do something for their country. His wife has put military families near the top of her agenda.

Since taking office, Obama has increased troop strength in Afghanistan, and the war has become increasingly deadly for the Americans serving there. The debate is on about how far we go, and how long we go, and the decisions about Afghanistan will be the major test of the Obama presidency.

So yeah, it's the sour economy filling combat boots.

But maybe those who signed up this past year believe in this president more than they believed in his predecessor. They hear Obama talk about reaching out to the Muslim world, about negotiating peace and working through the United Nations, and maybe they believe that we won't be in a state of permanent war, pretty much alone out there. They hear Obama speak and they think this Commander-in-Chief might actually be the one who doesn't lie and who doesn't send them into dubious combat.

Ellie