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Why would they if this is what they said in Sunday's paper??
War hasn't slowed flow of recruits, services say
By Jack Dorsey
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
NORFOLK, Va. - Despite a rising tide of combat deaths and the prospect of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan for years to come, Americans continue to volunteer for military duty and are re-enlisting at record rates.
The services believe a combination of patriotism and the economy is driving people to the military and keeping them there.
"The war is not only not having a negative effect, but it is helping to reinforce the number of people who want to join," said Cmdr. John Kirby, a spokesman for the Navy's Bureau of Personnel.
Even the Army National Guard, which has had 150,000 citizen soldiers mobilized for up to a year, has seen retention rates "going through the roof," said Guard spokesman Maj. Robert Howell.
"Mass exodus has not been the case in the Army National Guard," said Howell, deputy chief of the Strength Maintenance Division at the National Guard Bureau in Washington.
The Guard was prepared to lose up to 18 percent of units returning from lengthy deployments, but they have averaged just 16.6 percent, with some as low as 12.6 percent, Howell said.
The Guard fully expects to again reach its recruiting goal of 56,000 members this year, to maintain its total strength of 350,000.
The Guard's goal for first term re-enlistments, for those with less than six years of service, had been 65 percent this fiscal year, but the rate rocketed to 141 percent - which indicates that additional members re-enlisted early, usually to take advantage of bonuses.
The goal for second- and third-term enlistments, or those considered "career" soldiers, was set at 85 percent in the Guard, but re-enlistments are at 136 percent, Howell said.
The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard all met or exceeded their year-end recruiting goals for fiscal year 2003, which ended Sept. 30.
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