Warm Bodies Are Not the Answer

We Missed the Month of May!....



It’s hard to imagine why the Army missed its May enlistment goal.

The great military planners probably forgot that the word has gotten out that soldiers can go to Iraq or Afghanistan more than once in the course of an enlistment. And can even get shot up a bit guaranteeing that they will go through a system that pays very little attention to the needs of those in the system. And then when the benefits run out, you can always look forward to being pretty much on your own.

All things considered, it’s a lot of risk to consider for a single enlistment despite all the new incentives.

It’s surprising that the Armed Forces meet any goals at all. If nothing else, it is a testament to their recruiting and their promises, certainly not their candor.

I know they wouldn’t get this boy, again.

But despite the fact that the Armed Services are doing well getting recruits, despite the fact that they have beefed up their requirements, it doesn’t address some of the deeper problems that the military faces nor reveal the truths beneath the pure juggling of numbers..

For one, the new Army is heavily technology oriented which means that you don’t just become a tank operator or a logistics man. It takes time for training.

Moreover, you have to have the ability to measure up.

Does the military measure up?

Despite all the bonuses and other incentives that the Army has made available, many senior noncoms and officers are simply choosing not to “reenlist;” instead, they are dropping out. That means the military will have to find other ways to fill their rosters.

It’s not so much getting warm bodies, it’s a question of getting qualified candidates who can fill specific slots in the MOS system.

That isn’t happening.

According to past reports, the Army has lowered its standards to meet the quota even going as far as accepting high school drop-outs and those in trouble with the law; therefore, it has people in MOS’s who don’t belong there.

Sooner or later that tactic is going to have to catch up with a military that is living a lie.

Generals who know the score will confide that the military is going through a painful period with not enough trained warriors to carry the water for their branch of the service.

What this will mean longer term is problematical—especially in view of the fact that if this president has it his way, we might be in the Middle East for decades to come.

Either way, we as citizens of this great land are not being dealt with fairly or honestly and sooner or later the truth will emerge and at that point, there will be a lot of hair pulling but no easy solutions.

Les Aaron