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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004 :::
U.S. soldiers re-enlist in strong numbersDespite the shrapnel wounds Staff Sgt. William Pinkley suffered during his tour in Iraq, the 26-year-old is joining other soldiers who are re-enlisting at rates that exceed the retention goals set by the Pentagon.
As of March 31 - halfway through the Army's fiscal year - 28,406 soldiers had signed on for another tour of duty, topping the six-month goal of 28,377. The Army's goal is to re-enlist 56,100 soldiers by the end of September.... However, Childress cautioned that factors such as an improved economy and the Pentagon's decision to keep about 20,000 troops in Iraq for longer than a year to help quell the violence could change the picture. Could be; on the other hand, a lot of people were invoking decisions similar to the Iraq extension to predict that these goals wouldn't be met this year. My personal sources indicateThe Army is just barely meeting its reenlistment goals, but in recent years it has not met them at all. The Marines, I believe, are seeing reenlistments at almost twice the rate of their goal. The Navy and Air Force are offering early retirement buy-outs to long-serving sailors and airmen because they are overstaffed. This source provides an interesting idea as to why the media have done a poor job of making these predictions: they're stuck on Viet Nam, in which the soldiers already sent into war were draftees. Because this is a volunteer military, many of our soldiers see this as an appropriate job for them, rather than something to be further resented, as draftees would. The military might prefer not to retain those who don't, anyway, so long as the number of those who do is sufficient.Other personal sources with family in Iraq give no indication that they think they shouldn't be there. These, too, aren't the kind of people the media tend to hang out with.
::: posted by dWj at 9:35 AM
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