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Originally Posted by Sparhawk
The Air Force is in great shape recruiting-wise; it's currently at 20,000 (or thereabouts) over its congressionally mandated limit, and is trying different methods of "force shaping" to reduce it back to the allowed numbers.
The Army on the other hand is about 20,000 short of its recruiting goals, making for a very tough job for those Army recruiters.
Interestingly, there is a purely voluntary "Blue to Green" program to get airmen to cross over and become a soldier. This airman says Fuck No. Green isn't my color anyway.
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Blue to Green is looking for former Navy too, since the Navy is "force-shaping" like a motherfucker right now. What most people fail to realize is that our defense budget doesn't only buy bombs. It puts food on our family tables, clothes on our kids' backs, and roofs over our heads. It pays for much-needed maintenance to our facilities and bases. Limiting pay raises to a level that doesn't meet inflation, cutting bonuses that are incentives to re-enlist, and trimming GI Bill benefits are causing people to leave the military when their tour is up and I can't blame them. This was even before Iraq. But what's the alternative? The American People don't want a high defense budget, which Kerry, like Clinton before him, will almost certainly slash. So, they might get a draft.
Looks like you two flyboys and I are pretty much all in agreement... we don't want draftees in our military any more than they want in. As a supervisor, I have enough trouble with the garbage the recruiters send me who WANTED to join, to have to deal with the ones who didn't. They're not an inconvenience, they are a flat out danger in a combat situation or even in an emergency. I can only imagine how a draftee would respond.
-Mikey