Army, Marines Miss Recruiting Goals Again

[Nbadan]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Army missed its goals for signing up recruits in April and expects to do so again in May, and the Marines also fell short, officials said on Monday, as the Iraq war further strained the all-volunteer U.S. military.

The Army and Marines provide the ground forces fighting rebels in the two-year-old Iraq war that has killed nearly 1,600 U.S. troops. At least 51 American troops died in April.

The active-duty Army missed its April recruiting goal and was 15 percent behind its year-to-date target, officials said. An internal forecast indicated the active-duty Army and part-time Army Reserve and Army National Guard also will miss their May goals.

The active-duty Army, striving to attract 80,000 recruits in the 2005 fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, has now missed its recruiting targets for three straight months.

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050502/pl_nm/iraq_usa_recruiting_dc)

Well, you know where this is going...

[3rdCoast]

Dan, why are you so concerned over the possibility of a draft? Are you going to be one of the people drafted?

[exstatic]

this is why i'm not registered to vote my friends

lol

Dude, they'll find you. This isn't fucking jury duty. If you have a driver's license, they even know where you live. :rolleyes

[Spurminator]

About the only reason I can think of for being glad Republicans are in power... we don't have to worry about a draft.

In other news, my Alma Mater missed its fundraising goal for the trimester.

[JoeChalupa]

I don't understand this.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read "My Son served in Iraq so your's could party in college".

[Clandestino]

this is why i'm not registered to vote my friends

lol

everyday you say something that totally shows you don't know shit...

at least the shit i get blasted for is me being accused of not caring, of being an asshole, etc... :lol

and you're safe regardless.. there will not be a draft...

[Nbadan]

..there will not be a draft...

Maybe if you click your heels three times while you say this it will come true.

[Clandestino]

Maybe if you click your heels three times while you say this it will come true.

how many years have you said, "next year" there will be a draft? :rolleyes

[Nbadan]

I've always said in the last summer, early winter period of 2005. I stand pat.

How desperate are some recuiters becoming?


Army Recruiters Say They Feel Pressure to Bend Rules
By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: May 3, 2005

It was late September when the 21-year-old man, fresh from a three-week commitment in a psychiatric ward, showed up at an Army recruiting station in southern Ohio. The two recruiters there wasted no time signing him up, and even after the man's parents told them he had bipolar disorder - a diagnosis that would disqualify him - he was all set to be shipped to boot camp, and perhaps Iraq after that, before senior officers found out and canceled the enlistment.

Despite an Army investigation, the recruiters were not punished and were still working in the area late last month.

...Recruiters and some senior Army officials, however, said that for every impropriety that is found, at least two more are never discovered. And the Army's figures show that it is not punishing serious offenses as it once did. In 2002, roughly 5 of every 10 recruiters who were found to have committed improprieties intentionally or through gross negligence were relieved of duty; last year, that number slipped to 3 in 10.

General Rochelle said that decline could be explained, in part, by his decision two years ago to end a policy that nearly always dismissed serious offenders from recruiting.........(more stories)

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050502/pl_nm/iraq_usa_recruiting_dc)

It seems there are no rules for recruiters today. Maybe they'll let recruiters work welfare offices, halfway houses, and prisons to meet their numbers?

If not, be careful walking in a dark alley alone...

[Clandestino]

I've always said in the last summer, early winter period of 2005. I stand pat.

How desperate are some recuiters becoming?



Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050502/pl_nm/iraq_usa_recruiting_dc)

It seems there are no rules for recruiters today. Maybe they'll let recruiters work welfare offices, halfway houses, and prisons to meet their numbers?

If not, be careful walking in a dark alley alone...

if you truly believe all your drivel you need some psychiatric help.

[SPARKY]

They're coming to get us. Oh no.

[Clandestino]

They're coming to get us. Oh no.

seriously...what is that brick all about?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

that story sure is sensationalized. Recruiters sign up anyone they kind, whether they can cut it at MEPS or not.

There won't be a draft, the Republican party isn't going to commit political suicide so some asshat on Spurstalk looks like he knows what he's talking about.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

BTW, you cry about a draft, but your boy Kerry wanted to have a draft for all 18 year olds - putting them into national service obligations.

Whee bit hypocritical, don't you think?

[Nbadan]

BTW, you cry about a draft, but your boy Kerry wanted to have a draft for all 18 year olds - putting them into national service obligations.

:rolleyes

Two years of domestic service to help pay for college is not active combat duty in Iraq.

[Clandestino]

:rolleyes

Two years of domestic service to help pay for college is not active combat duty in Iraq.

and joining the military doesn't mean active combat soldier either... a very small percentage actually ever sees combat.

[The Ressurrected One]

You know, I saw the subject line to the thread and the first thing that popped into my mind is, "so long as they don't miss their targets."

[CommanderMcBragg]

I'm guilty of not wanting to see my grandsons join the military, however if they decided to enlist I'd be mighty proud.

[The Ressurrected One]

I'm guilty of not wanting to see my grandsons join the military, however if they decided to enlist I'd be mighty proud.
I'm with you on that one McBragg.

[Guru of Nothing]

I'm with you on that one McBragg.

Why would you not want your grandchildren to join the military tro?

[The Ressurrected One]

Why would you not want your grandchildren to join the military tro?
It's a thankless job, with little pay, and even less respect from about half of the nation they'd be sworn to protect and defend.

That's why.

[The Ressurrected One]

I think recruiting goals will be met. I also think they'll rebound when the U.S. Supreme Court overturns that ridiculous ruling by the 3rd Circuit that upheld the prohibition of ROTC and recruiting on college campuses -- without losing federal funding.

A big part of the recruiting problem lies in the concerted efforts of the anti-American crowd on the Left actively seeking to retard recruitment efforts. The college campus issue is just one example.

[Mr Dio]

It's a thankless job, with little pay, and even less respect from about half of the nation they'd be sworn to protect and defend.

Amen to that, God Bles all those who have signed up & served & most of all those who have paid the ultimate price.
So many punk ass kids don't have the balls or the heart to sign up for any combat related field. That bumper sticker post is so sickening. Service to your country should be MANDATORY for at least 2 yrs & even more if you don't serve in the armed forces. The benefits to those who do serve should definitely be increased.

[Guru of Nothing]

It's a thankless job, with little pay, and even less respect from about half of the nation they'd be sworn to protect and defend.

That's why.

Right On! Self-esteem is everything.

[The Ressurrected One]

Right On! Self-esteem is everything.
I'm assuming that was tongue-in-cheek. You may have missed the point of my post which was that I'd be proud if they enlisted. I never said or implied I would try and talk them out of it. I never said or implied I would denegrate military service.

All I said is that I would hope for more for my grandchildren than to be the lightning rod of anti-American agenda for little pay and security....that's all.

It had nothing to do with self esteem.

[Guru of Nothing]

You may have missed the point of my post

No, I did not.

The less I say, the greater the emphasis on your words.

[Nbadan]

Yet another hidden cost of the war arises...


Troops who survive war and return home from battle still have a tough fight to stay alive. "USA Today" compiled statistics showing that 132 soldiers died in car accidents from October 2003 to September 2004. Two-thirds of them were veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan.

Also, in the past seven months 80 soldiers were killed in traffic accidents and most of them had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The report indicates that most of those killed were safe and disciplined drivers before they were called to war.

Psychiatrist Jonathan Shay told "USA Today" that combat has altered the behavior of soldiers home from Iraq, just as it did with Vietnam veterans.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-02-soldiers-accidents-cover_x.htm)

[Nbadan]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army missed its April recruiting goal by a whopping 42 percent and the Army Reserve fell short by 37 percent, officials said on Tuesday, showing the depth of the military's wartime recruiting woes.

With the Iraq war straining the U.S. military, the active-duty Army has now missed its recruiting goals in three straight months, with April being by far the worst of the three, and officials are forecasting that it will fall short again in May.

The all-volunteer Army is providing the majority of the ground forces for an Iraq war in which nearly 1,600 U.S. troops have died.

The active-duty Army signed up 3,821 recruits last month, falling short of its goal of 6,600 for April, Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith said. That left the Army 16 percent behind its year-to-date goal, officials said.

Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8378239)

[Nbadan]

Some sombering statistics...


The army needs to recruit 80,000 people for the year to replenish their ranks (an average of 6,666 per month).

Feb:
Goal: 7,050
Signed up: 5,114
Shortfall: 1936

Mar:
Goal: 6,800
Signed up: 4650
Shortfall: 2150

Apr:
Goal: 6,600
Signed up: 3,821
Shortfall: 2779

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-03-02-army-goal_x.htm)

[Nbadan]

I think recruiting goals will be met. I also think they'll rebound when the U.S. Supreme Court overturns that ridiculous ruling by the 3rd Circuit that upheld the prohibition of ROTC and recruiting on college campuses -- without losing federal funding.

A big part of the recruiting problem lies in the concerted efforts of the anti-American crowd on the Left actively seeking to retard recruitment efforts. The college campus issue is just one example.

Seems to me that the Iraq war is the 'concerted effort' that is killing Army and Marine recruitment, but if it makes you feel better to blame the Democrats, so be it..

High school must turn over the names, addresses, and phone numbers to recruiters who came in asking for the list.

It is the law! it's in NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

It is also the law that the school notifies the parents that unless they sign something stating that they opt-out, the school will give the recruiters the student's information.

Ii just found out about this section of NCLB this past march. I called our school district & found out that, yes indeed, they failed to notify parents about this law & the opt-out business. The district office was not aware that the schools had not notified the parents. so now my school district has put a hold on releasing any more names to recruiters until next year.

Parents need to be made aware of this law--and contact your school immediately.

[Useruser666]

Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8378239)

Add this part to your post.


The Army is striving to attract 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2005, which ends Sept. 30. The Army has not missed an annual goal for signing up new soldiers since 1999, and had not missed a monthly goal since May 2000.

So they missed their goals those tmes too and was there a draft then? No. But I know you will say this is different now.

[Useruser666]

Yet another hidden cost of the war arises...



USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-02-soldiers-accidents-cover_x.htm)

Try posting the entire article. I know this is absolutely Bush's fault in your mind. I'm sure none of these deaths have to do with the fact that these are a group of young men, mostly under the age of 30. Pfffft.


Survivors of war take fatal risks on roads
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
LAKE JACKSON, Texas — Just three days home from the war in Iraq, Army Spc. Robert Tipp Jr., couldn't wait to open the throttle on his knobby-tired ATV.
This accident killed Iraq war veteran Vincent Withers and another driver outside Fort Bragg, N.C., in June 2004.
By Steve Hebert, The Fayetteville Observer

"It was like he was in prison for a year, and the bird's free," Gail Tipp says of her only son, who returned in late March. "He was riding that four-wheeler as hard as he could."

Tipp's father, Robert Sr., agrees: "He thought that nothing could hurt him now."

There were no roadside bombs along that winding stretch of lane in this Gulf Coast town. Just a freedom that Tipp hadn't tasted for more than a year — and a sharp curve that he and his speeding ATV couldn't handle.

When he smashed, without a helmet, into the pavement on the evening of March 26, Robert Jr. — the 20-year-old his mother still called "Scooter" — suffered massive head injuries. He died hours later, on Easter morning.

Soldiers, many just back from the war, are being killed in vehicle accidents at a pace that has the Army alarmed. The fear is that soldiers' safe return from combat has left many feeling just as Tipp did: invincible. As a consequence, they drive too fast, sometimes under the influence of alcohol, and lose control of their cars, their trucks, their motorcycles or ATVs.

"We absolutely have a problem," says J.T. Coleman, spokesman for the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker in Alabama, which is tracking the trend. "The kids come back and they want to live life to its fullest, to its wildest. They get a little bit of time to let their hair down, and they let their hair all the way down and do everything to excess. They drink to excess. They eat to excess. They party to excess."

And then, some drive.

The statistics underscore the problem. From October 2003 to September 2004, when troops first returned in large numbers from Iraq, 132 soldiers died in vehicle accidents — a 28% jump from the previous 12 months. Two-thirds of them were veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan.

The deaths continue. In the past seven months, 80 soldiers died in vehicle accidents — a 23% increase from the same period a year earlier. Four out of five were veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The numbers could be higher, but the statistics, tracked by Army safety officials at the Readiness Center, don't include soldiers who recently left the service, or those with the Army Reserve or National Guard who have just been deactivated.

The Marine Corps faces a similar problem. Three years ago, its rate of fatal vehicle accidents was almost double what the Army's is today. The rate dropped after the Marines added an eight-hour driving course to boot camp, but that drop flattened out when the Iraq war began.

Today, the Marine rate remains somewhat higher than the Army's. But the Army's rate is surging, and because the Army is much larger than the Marine Corps, it loses almost three times as many people to vehicle accidents.

Usually safer drivers

The Army's rate also is troubling because, before the war, soldiers appeared to be safer drivers than civilians. Compared with other young adults, soldiers have more disciplined and regulated lifestyles. All are employed, and many are married and have children — factors that encourage responsible behavior. In fact, despite the surge, the Army's rate of vehicle-accident deaths — almost 20 per 100,000 this year — remains just below where the overall U.S. rate has stood for the past few years — about 22 per 100,000.

"Having said that, this is where we lose most of our people" in non-combat deaths, says Brig. Gen. Joseph Smith, commander of the Readiness Center. "And we're putting our resources on that."

Army and law enforcement officials are particularly concerned about the months ahead. Summer has traditionally been the most lethal season. In Fayetteville, N.C., just outside Fort Bragg, police Lt. Richard Bryant warns, "When warmer weather comes, we're going to see a big increase."

Fort Bragg, home to the war-hardened 82nd Airborne Division and Special Forces troops, saw vehicle accident deaths among soldiers based there rise from four in 2002 to six in 2003 to 10 last year.

Among them was Vincent Withers, 27 and a veteran of Iraq. Behind the wheel of a borrowed Pontiac Trans Am last June, police say, he told a passenger at a stop light just outside Fort Bragg: "Let's see what this thing can do before we hit the top of the hill."

The Trans Am reached 90 mph before Withers swerved to avoid another car, hit the median and launched the Trans Am into an oncoming car, police say. Withers and the driver of the other car, a father of two, were killed.

'Nothing can touch me'

Smith, the Readiness Center commander, says the Army is moving aggressively to cut the death rate and to better understand the reasons behind it.

During the past year, the center has created a computer program in which soldiers fill out forms detailing personal travel plans. The program identifies travel risks, such as late-night driving, and allows supervisors to review plans and advise GIs on how to travel more safely. Other programs include an advanced-driver course for soldiers and a safe-driving ad campaign.

In recent weeks, Smith also has enlisted epidemiologists to investigate a link between the effects of war and stateside traffic fatalities. Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist who works with the Army on ways to reduce psychological damage from war, says combat has altered the behavior of soldiers home from Iraq, just as it did with Vietnam veterans.

Some return home, Shay says, with an air of invincibility. " 'I'm 20 years old. I've lived through firefights. Nothing can touch me,' " he says of their attitudes. "They feel like they have to live life on the edge, or it is too bland or colorless." Others "actively seek out danger." In the extreme, Shay says, that behavior becomes suicidal.

The life of Army Staff Sgt. David Rutledge Jr., 31, was in turmoil when he died Feb. 28 near Fort Drum, N.Y., where he was based. A veteran of Afghanistan, Rutledge was in the midst of a bitter divorce. His girlfriend was pregnant, and he faced the prospect of missing the child's birth because he was being sent to Iraq.

At the time of his death, Rutledge also was having episodes of paranoia and was taking antidepressant medication, says Detective Steven Cote of the Jefferson County (N.Y.) Sheriff's Department.

The night that he died, Rutledge couldn't get cash from an ATM or at two convenience stores. He jumped into his girlfriend's SUV and sped out of town at nearly 90 mph, Cote says. Moments later, he plowed into a parking lot full of new cars. He died instantly.

"He didn't lose control," Cote says. "He just went right straight through."

Grim details

On a recent Sunday morning in Killeen, Texas, near the Army post at Fort Hood, Greg Anderson, an investigator with the Killeen Police Department, recites details about the latest traffic death of a soldier.

Staff Sgt. Brian Foster, 24, an Iraq war veteran, had crashed his motorcycle into a cedar bush along Westcliff Road around 4:30 that morning. He wasn't wearing a helmet. Foster is one of 12 soldiers from Fort Hood killed in vehicle accidents this year — and the second to die during that second weekend of April.

On a city map, Anderson traces from memory the courses of other fatal motorcycle accidents. Each ended horrifically, with a soldier catapulting himself into a car or onto the pavement.

"Had one down here on this end of Westcliff," Anderson says. "He was going too fast to make this turn, hit the curb, was launched off the bike right into a car — head first, no helmet. Had another soldier coming north on WS Young (Drive) ... witnesses told us in excess of 130 mph when he hit the back end of a car."

Anderson grimly predicts a record year for traffic deaths in Killeen.

To caution soldiers, the Army erected billboards outside each Fort Hood entrance and displays car wrecks to underscore the message. On the billboards, lights flash red or amber if a soldier has died in an accident, or green if there's been no death in 30 days. Green lights haven't flashed since January.

Hooked on speed

Fort Hood, the Army's largest post, is home to the 4th Infantry and 1st Cavalry divisions. For the first time since the war in Iraq began, both divisions are back in town at the same time. Streets are clogged with gleaming new Ford Mustangs and Chevy Silverado pickups, and a profusion of high-speed racing bikes that soldiers call "crotch-rockets."

"We're selling out," says Mike Clark, sales manager for Texas Motor Sports in Killeen, where hot items are the Yamaha YZF-R1 and YZF-R6 racing bikes. With muscular fairings and tiny windshields, the bikes go from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds and top out at about 160 mph. "They want something that goes fast and keeps that high up they had during the war," Clark says of the soldiers.

Along congested Rancier Avenue, soldiers pop wheelies or weave through traffic. On outlying roadways, some race.

One Sunday afternoon, as bikers congregate at Longbranch Park, Staff Sgt. Anthony Stewart roars up on a racing bike. He wears no helmet, a violation of Army regulations. Just weeks home from Iraq, Stewart, 31, shrugs. Sometimes he wears it. Sometimes he doesn't, he says. "You're not going to predict an accident," he reasons. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen."

Nearby, members of a racing bike club, Chaos Ridaz, gather around a picnic table. Most are soldiers who have served overseas. Many are older, non-commissioned officers who try to mentor young GIs about driving responsibly. But even these veterans concede that speed fills some indescribable urge for excitement that they've felt since returning from war.

"The war changes you," says Staff Sgt. Gregory Dickerson, 31, club president and a soldier with the 4th Infantry Division, which will return to Iraq later this year. "Every day I was in Iraq, I had a chance of dying — 365 days. Now, when I make it home ... you want to live."

Going fast, he says with a grin, is like "a drug — the newest crack out there."

'Casualty of war'

From the Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Smith worries that the Army may not be able to stem the tide in traffic deaths by itself. It needs families and spouses to curb the reckless behavior of returning soldiers.

That's why the center is producing commercials in which friends and families talk graphically about what they could have done to save their loved ones.

In Lake Jackson, Gail and Robert Tipp do that every day. They are convinced that their son's time in Iraq contributed to his death — and that he died in service to his country, just like any of the more than 1,500 who have died in Iraq. Gail calls him a "casualty of war."

Gail Tipp, 49, a retired school bus driver, relives every moment of those last days with her son. "It was like he couldn't harness the energy he had," Gail says. "Everything was now. There was no waiting."

Robert Tipp, 51, a chemical plant operator, torments himself for not stopping his son from riding the ATV.

"Follow your instincts," he says. "If you've got a feeling that they're living too fast a lifestyle, even if it makes them mad, pisses them off, slow 'em down." The alternative — losing someone so quickly after a happy homecoming from war — is unbearable, he says.

Tipp remembers how he wept after seeing his son off to war. "He strapped that M-16 on his shoulder and he marched off. He looked like he was 10 years old.

"I thought, 'Nothing can be harder than this,' " the father recalls. "Boy, was I wrong."

[Useruser666]

Maybe the armed forces should promise new recruits that they won't have to fight in any combat. :rollseyes

ar·my Audio pronunciation of "army" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ärm)
n. pl. ar·mies

1.
1. A large body of people organized and trained for land warfare.
2. often Army The entire military land forces of a country.
3. A tactical and administrative military unit consisting of a headquarters, two or more corps, and auxiliary forces.
2. A large group of people organized for a specific cause: the construction army that built the Panama Canal.
3. A multitude; a host: An army of waiters served at the banquet. See Synonyms at multitude.


sol·dier Audio pronunciation of "soldier" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sljr)
n.

1. One who serves in an army.
2. An enlisted person or a noncommissioned officer.
3. An active, loyal, or militant follower of an organization.
4.
1. A sexually undeveloped form of certain ants and termites, having large heads and powerful jaws.
2. One of a group of honeybees that swarm in defense of a hive.

soldier·ship n.

Word History: Why do soldiers fight? One answer is hidden in the word soldier itself. Its first recorded occurrence is found in a work composed around 1300, the word having come into Middle English (as soudier) from Old French soudoior and Anglo-Norman soudeour. The Old French word, first recorded in the 12th century, is derived from sol or soud, Old French forms of Modern French sou. There is no longer a French coin named sou, but the meaning of sou alerts us to the fact that money is involved. Indeed, Old French sol referred to a coin and also meant “pay,” and a soudoior was a man who fought for pay. This was a concept worth expressing in an era when many men were not paid for fighting but did it in service to a feudal superior. Thus soldier is parallel to the word mercenary, which goes back to Latin mercnnrius, derived from mercs, “pay,” and meaning “working for pay.” The word could also be used as a noun, one of whose senses was “a soldier of fortune.”

[Clandestino]

Seems to me that the Iraq war is the 'concerted effort' that is killing Army and Marine recruitment, but if it makes you feel better to blame the Democrats, so be it..

High school must turn over the names, addresses, and phone numbers to recruiters who came in asking for the list.

It is the law! it's in NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

It is also the law that the school notifies the parents that unless they sign something stating that they opt-out, the school will give the recruiters the student's information.

Ii just found out about this section of NCLB this past march. I called our school district & found out that, yes indeed, they failed to notify parents about this law & the opt-out business. The district office was not aware that the schools had not notified the parents. so now my school district has put a hold on releasing any more names to recruiters until next year.

Parents need to be made aware of this law--and contact your school immediately.

dan, this has been happening for decades. why do you act like this shit is new. this was happening under clinton too. this is nothing new!!!

[Clandestino]

and that car accident statistic... omg...stfu... car accidents happen every single fucking day, it is not because someone served in the war..

[Nbadan]

The Army is about to launch tests increasing cash bonuses for recruits above the current $20,000 limit and pairing returning veterans with recruiters to attract new soldiers, the service's top civilian said Wednesday.

Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey said his service wants to see whether a higher signing bonus boosts recruiting. (Related story: Harvey Q&A)

More than halfway through the 2005 fiscal year, the Army is 15% behind in its effort to enlist 80,000 new soldiers.

The Army has already increased the maximum cash bonus for a three-year enlistment three times in the past year, from $15,000 to $20,000, but is still struggling to meet its yearly quota.

Harvey declined to say how large the new bonuses will be or when they will start. In an unusual step, the Army will send combat veterans out with recruiters "to talk to young people about the value of serving their country," Harvey said.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-04-army-recruits-bonus_x.htm)

Bummer! We weren't meeting recruitment goals because there just aren't enough kids out there who think their life is worth only $20,000, despite our best efforts to cheapen their lives.

Let's make it $25,000. Or $30,000.

Somehow I don't think Jenna or Barbs, Jr. would sign up for that kind of chump change; but the military figures there will be enough recruits desperate for $25,000 to risk their lives. Society's winners and oligarchs, however, won't be sending their precious offspring off to Iraq to defend their opulent way of life. What should that tell us?