Making tomorrows Military today: Ode to missing Goal

Ode to missing Goal

Oh the mission...
How elusive you are...
You have been so good to me and so bad to others...

It happened again. Even with a goal reduction nationally, the Army still could only come up with 75% of the asses in seats. It would have been 63%, but National shifted the target to the summer.

I have to file a bit of a complaint abut the numbers around the divorces that all of the stories are touting. Guess what? When you leave, things change. Mommy turns into daddy and when daddy returns, Dad has to adjust to being just someone in the house for a couple of weeks while Mom is letting him get back to having the job that he was taken away from. This is very hard on alot of the guys coming back. If they are not ready to come back and not "come home" so to speak, it can be very stressful. Even beyond that, it can be downright hate filled. These poor guys are coming back from a stressful situation, to come back to a different stress-filled environment.

And then you run into cheating wives. The story that this woman tells is not an isolated event. Granted it is a navy story, but those boys have been dealing with deployments forever. It is not a new thing like it is for the army. So now the divorce rate is going up in the army. Who'da thunk it? When you take away a partner for a long time, the dreams of what the partner is like, especially after an extended period, become so grandiose that the partner cannot match the dream. And coming back into the marriage with a letdown is not a good foot to start on.

Nice. Another Anti-recruiting site. This one looks a little better, I must admit, than the counter-recruiting website. One thing that I appreciate is the breakdown for the MGIB. I tell everyone about the issues surrounding the MGIB. There is always the (SERVICE NAME HERE) College Fund that will kick your MGIB benefits up to a certain amount. (ie, the Army College Fund is 50,000. Technically it is only 14,000 because it kicks the 36000 up to 50000)

For all of the military members that come by my humble abode, here is a list (granted it is only 4) of bands that are against military recruiting. Please help me out by not buying any of their music. If you have to have your fix, download it.
Anti-Flag
Darkest Hour
Rise Against
Thought Riot

from this editorial, I am a little miffed. I am going to pick apart a couple of statements

Although the recruitment figures are falling, the demand for military personnel remains high, leading to great pressure on military recruiters to keep the ranks supplied. This pressure has led to many reports of aggressive and unscrupulous tactics by recruiters to sign up young people, including forging high school diplomas, pursuing mentally challenged high-schoolers, and encouraging potential recruits to lie about drug use and arrests.

There have been no major diploma controversies since 1999 when the Chicago Navy Recruiting District was involved in a Homeschool Diploma scandal where diplomas that were issued by a homeschool agencies were taken as "Tier 1" and given the full educational Qualifications. There were a TON of recruiters (like 40 from my Navy source) that were sent to office hours "Captain's Mast" to Navy people including supervisors and front line people. We do not "pursue" mentally challenged applicants. We call people from a list. We do not know if they are challenged or not. If they are and are interested, we will usually test them. That will put the Kibash on their dreams normally. If it does not and they are interested, it is MY OBLIGATION to give that person the opportunity to serve his country. The definition of "mentally challenged" is so diluted now that it is like a liberal calling a conservative "extreme" it just does not have any teeth. Lying about drugs and arrests. Not only are kids sly, but they will lie to you a million times. We, in my office, have a questionnaire that we make the kid fill out, sign and date it. That is how we cover our asses when it comes to arrests and drugs. If he will put his signature on a lie, then he is the one with no integrity, not the recruiter.

The recent death of Minnesota State Senator Becky LoureyÂs son Matt, who died in combat in Iraq, underscores one of the inequities that many people see in who goes to war and who stays home. The sons and daughters of the powerful and the well-connected do not often end up in the military, so LoureyÂs death was an anomaly.

Can someone explain this one to me? Where does this guy get this from Anyone remember the big-hoopla following Mayor Richard Daley's Son enlisting (yes ENLISTING) in the Army. If that is not a "powerful and the well-connected" ending up in the Army, I do not know what is. The problem is that the powerful and well connected children do not feel that they need to give back to the country. It is not that Daddy is keeping recruiters away. It is the kid is treating recruiters like crap and we don't want to deal with his tongue.

More recruiters not keeping it in their pants. I am not saying anything here... but it seems that Marine Recruiters are always involved. I am sure it is because they are usually more physically fit that the rest of the recruiting force, but the recruiting force needs to keep it in the pants. This school is looking for ANY reason to kick us out, and now they have a reason.

Army raises J.O. age limit.

Cool.