Seattle high school seeks military recruiter ban

roadhog

It is certainly true that the Army has a tougher recruiting challenge now than a few years back. It is also true that the Reserves and NG have an even bigger challenge than that. It is also true that most (if not all) of this is a result of the war. HOWEVER, it is overly simplistic to assume that it is a result of policy decisions or the justification of the war itself alone. Every major, PROLONGED war in our history until now would have seen the same results in recruiting, probably to an even greater degree (given the incredibly higher death rates in conflicts such as WWII, Vietnam, etc, than we see now) if a draft had not been in use at the time. The fact is, ANY war scares people away from service. It's perfectly understandable and it would be naive to not expect it.

There are undoubtedly some crooked recruiters in that bunch of 7,145 that you cite, and they are a digrace and their actions are unforgiveable, but the recruiting institution as a whole and the vast majority of hard working NCO's out there recruiting for our nation is a just and noble cause. To limit their access to advertise these options to our citizens is dangerous and counter-productive. If a kid has other interests and desires, then he won't do it. If he needs college money etc, bad enough then he/she might do it, but it is no secret thorugh the recruiting process that wearing a uniform brings on a certain amount of risk. The options are there for them, and they are forced into nothing. Restricting access is to take options away from students and to take stability away from our security services. There is nothing for the anti-government/anti-military/ant-war people to complain about here. Simply say "no thank you" and walk away while appreciating the fact that some will say yes and continue our tradition of strong national security.

As for demographics....Why do people act surprised and point fingers when they realize certain backgrounds are represented more in the military than others? Look at the sacrifice and look at the monetary compensation. It is simple and not a surprise to anyone. The military pays enough to provide a relatively stable, comfortable life, but nowhere near enough to attract those with aspirations of real wealth. Again, why is this a surprise? I have been on active duty for 9 years now, spent over a year in Iraq, the Army paid for a top notch B.S. degree for me years ago, they are currently paying for my full-time pursuit of an M.S. from a top-5 school in my academic discipline, they will put me in assignments that utilize this discipline heavily upon my completion, and my family is comfortable and well-cared for. Although I am at the top of the military pay scales in relation to my time of service, I make less money than anyone in my immediate family by a decent amount, and quite a bit less than my peers in the Army who have gotten out in the past few years. I could be making more if I were not in, yet I think I have nothing to complain about. I choose to stay, but it should be no surprise that most would not, and it doesn't make them worse people either -- just different priorities and aspirations. Besides, I can still afford my bike!

Yes, the military is stretched thin right now and it is definitely busy times. It is also a time of war, and this should be expected. It's not clear how long we can keep it up at this pace with current military size. The real problem here is the size of our military going into these recent conflicts. Regardless of the recruiting challenges now, we could easily have a much larger force today if not for policy decisions over the past 15 years. Do you know how many 10's of thousands we have "forced" out of the military during the 90's in order to get to the smaller size we have now? That shrinking was a conscious decision and my contention is that it was a big mistake because our foreign policy has not matched that decision at any time. I don't care if our military is big or small, but I do care if it matches our foreign policy, and I don't think it has, and the current administration is only a small piece of that big puzzle. Even now we force some people out of the military ("retention control points", etc). There is a legal cap at which the military is allowed to operate. It's a difficult number to manage exactly with promotions, etc, but by and large we have been at that cap consistenly for years +/- a few thousand here and there.

There is much more at play here than recruiting numbers. And the recruiting numbers should not be a surprise to anyone given that we are at war. Until somebody attacks at our borders inspiring a national patriotic fervor, any war, no matter how just or unjust, will have similar results. It means relatively little in my opinion.