Bleak U.S. job market boosts military recruitment

[Bushknew]

Source: Reuters

Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

"For the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components, active and reserve, met their number as well as their quality goals," said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.

The U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force sent a total of about 169,000 active duty recruits to training in the 2009 fiscal year that ended on September 30, beating their 164,000-member goal, the Pentagon said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59C5O320091013

[madville]

1. What a change from 1999

I joined in 1999 and recruitment was hurting big time back then. I got a $4,000 bonus just for signing up and another $8,000 for extending my active duty 2 years once I was in. They were giving people $10,000 just to go to school to be cooks and up to $30,000 if they would re-enlist after their first term. Now bonuses have dried up in many fields and force strength is near 100% in many areas.

If you don't have many other options it is a good deal in the long run. Decent pay nowadays, free college, free dental, free medical, honorable discharge will get you hiring preference in many state/federal jobs, hard to get fired, can't quit just because you have a bad day(this is a good aspect for many people), etc, etc.

It's also a positive sign for communities with a large military presence. Good for local economies, housing markets, etc, to have more military members spending money.

[Hannah Bell]

2. "it is a good deal" - unless you die in one of our ongoing wars, of course. or, like my cousin,

go through 5 tours in war zones & turn into a basket case.

[jonnyblitz]

10. eh. i am a vet that thinks it's a sign that times are bad and

mostly a negative thing. you sound like you would make a good recruiter spewing their upbeat bullshit. most junior military i knew had to go on foodstamps. :crazy:

[madville]

12. The military pays pretty well these days

I remember when I joined in 1999 and lived in the barracks after bootcamp, I took home about $760 a month as an E-2. I just ran the numbers for active duty at my old unit, a junior enlisted E-3 takes home about $2500 a month by my calculations after taxes with BAH and BAS without dependents, add a couple hundred more if they are married or have kids.

In 2004 we were going to put one of our "broke" E-4's on food stamps as a joke but he made too much money in FL to qualify (he blew all his money partying and clubbing every weekend). When I left active duty in 2005 I was taking home $3100 a month as an E-5. I make $45,000 a year in my civilian job now and don't get that.

[NecklyTyler]

3. This is just one more tentacle of Ronald Reagan's plan for America

Reagan took as part of his conservative reformation the destruction of the middle class to fuel recruitment into the military. Bush 43 continued the plan with his military adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan

[saigon68]

4. He was one evil man

If there is a hell I hope he enjoys it.

[dysfunctional press]

11. ronbo raygun was just a figurehead and front man...

the plans weren't 'his'- he was just the public face.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. The GOP is good at creating plenty of work for soldiers.

[AndyA]

6. How convenient. And just when we need more troops in Afghanistan.

Who could have invented a better plan? :shrug:

[raccoon]

7. Remember the phrase "poverty draft?" nt

[hadrons]

8. Not new, I uploaded this NBC news story from 1983 on the same thing ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJtvGv101xQ

at least there wasn't a shooting-war at the time

[DireStrike]

9. This time around every single branch has met numerical and quality goals 100%

That has never happened before.

[Bigmack]

13. A lot of people are throwing terms like...

Fascist and Socialist around these days, but employing the unemployed in the military is classic Hitler/Mussolini stuff.

We wouldn't need so many people in the military if we didn't have an Empire.

But what would we do with all those people?

Hey, I've got a revolutionary idea..... the government could hire young men to work in the woods building parks, trails, and maintaining our valuable public lands. Hell, the government could hire people to work on the shattered infrastructure in the country. We could even hire artists, musicians, and writers to ply their trades for the benefit of the country.

If that sounds like the CCC, WPA, and the New Deal generally... it is.

All we need is the balls in DC to try it again.