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WRL said:
Patriotic%20Eagle.jpg



"Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."


70 percent of soldiers eligible to re-enlist in 2006 did so — a re-enlistment rate higher than before Sept. 11, 2001. For the past 10 years, the enlisted retention rates of the Army have exceeded 100 percent. As of last Nov. 13, Army re-enlistment was 137 percent of its stated goal.


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May God welcome the fallen home, and may we honor their sacrifice with victory.
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And they all SAID re-enlisted because they liked the 3 or 4 tours of duty in Iraq? What reasons did they give?

Here is an interesting counter to your story:

(CBS/AP) Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam war, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.

Nearly 64 percent of the desertions last year were reported from April to December, reports CBS News correspondent Sam Litzinger, which would suggest the pace is picking up.

Analysts say the Army has borne the brunt of the war in Iraq. Marine and Navy desertions actually declined last fiscal year.

Military leaders - including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey - have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat. And efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off between deployments.

Despite the continued increase in desertions, however, an Associated Press examination of Pentagon figures earlier this year showed that the military does little to find those who bolt, and rarely prosecutes the ones they get. Some are allowed to simply return to their units, while most are given less-than-honorable discharges.

The report on rising desertion rates comes a day after two U.S. Army deserters who fled to Canada and sought refugee status on grounds of their opposition to the Iraq war lost their bids to have the Supreme Court of Canada hear their cases.

The court refused Thursday to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, who were rejected by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board in 2005. Hinzman and Hughey deserted the U.S. Army in 2004 after learning their units were to be deployed to Iraq to fight in a war they have called immoral and illegal.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.knx1070.com/Army-Desertion-Rate-Soaring/1220829
 
Soldiers re-enlist beyond U.S. goal

Soldiers re-enlist beyond U.S. goal
By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Soldiers are re-enlisting at rates ahead of the Army's targets, even as overall recruiting is suffering after two years of the Iraq war.
The high re-enlistment rates would make up about one-third of the Army's projected 12,000-troop shortfall in recruiting, although the re-enlistments won't address some key personnel vacancies, such as military police and bomb-disposal experts.

Army officials attribute the strong re-enlistment rates to unprecedented cash bonuses and a renewed sense of purpose in fighting terrorism. Some of the record bonuses are tax-free if soldiers re-enlist while in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Re-enlistment bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $150,000, depending on the type of job and length of re-enlistment. The $150,000 bonuses are offered only to senior special operations commandos who agree to stay in the military for up to six more years. The average bonus is $10,000, said Col. Debbra Head, who monitors Army retention at the Pentagon.

From Oct. 1 through June, the Army had re-enlisted 53,120 soldiers, 6% ahead of its goal of about 50,000 for that period. At that pace, the Army would finish the year 3,850 troops ahead of its target of 64,162.

Re-enlistment rates the past three years have been at least 6% above the service's goals for the 500,000-member active Army. There are about 105,000 Army soldiers in Iraq, including members of the National Guard and Reserve.

"The biggest thing is that soldiers believe in what they are doing," Head said.

The re-enlistment rate has remained strong even though the Army has accounted for 1,179 of the 1,750 U.S. troops killed in Iraq, according to USA TODAY's casualty database.

By contrast, the Army through June was about 15% behind its goal of recruiting 80,000 soldiers by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The Army has said it faces the roughest recruiting climate since the start of the all-volunteer military in 1973.
The bright re-enlistment picture won't fully compensate for the recruiting problems, Head said, because the Army needs new troops to fill its lower ranks and has limits on how many senior soldiers it can keep.

Thirty-five percent of Army re-enlistments have come in combat zones, said Maj. Gerald Conway, who oversees retention policies for the Army.

About 60% of all soldiers who have re-enlisted this year, Conway said, have received cash bonuses of some kind.

Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, said the bonuses have encouraged soldiers to re-enlist, but that many soldiers are committed to fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sgt. 1st Class Edwin Allbaugh, a member of the 75th Ordnance Company in Michigan, said he re-enlisted because his job makes a difference and "I work with a great group of guys." Allbaugh's unit, which disarms and destroys improvised bombs, is about to deploy to the Middle East.
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But WRL would have us all believe it is SOLELY for love of the mission and the Army! What a laff. Notice even the Army mentions the cash first. I would say that second to the case is the reason given at the end of the story by Sgt. 1st Class Edwin Allbaugh. You should at least tell the whole story instead of making it sound like they LOVE being in Iraq.
 
"The Army has said it faces the roughest recruiting climate since the start of the all-volunteer military in 1973."

Yet they continue to reach over 100% seems a great many American's are answering the Nations need.

And if you really think people are re-uping in a war zone over some extra cash, you're sorely mistaken, many can get out, get more money to go home and go to school, where they can sleep in on the weekends, and eat real food. These numbers reflect something far greater than dollars and cents...
 
WRL said:
"The Army has said it faces the roughest recruiting climate since the start of the all-volunteer military in 1973."

Yet they continue to reach over 100% seems a great many American's are answering the Nations need.

And if you really think people are re-uping in a war zone over some extra cash, you're sorely mistaken, many can get out, get more money to go home and go to school, where they can sleep in on the weekends, and eat real food. These numbers reflect something far greater than dollars and cents...
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Yeah, they reach over 100% of their recruitment goals because they've lowered their recruitment goals (and standards for letting folks in) since their real goals (and preferred standards) were unattainable.
 
WRL said:
"The Army has said it faces the roughest recruiting climate since the start of the all-volunteer military in 1973."

Yet they continue to reach over 100% seems a great many American's are answering the Nations need.

And if you really think people are re-uping in a war zone over some extra cash, you're sorely mistaken, many can get out, get more money to go home and go to school, where they can sleep in on the weekends, and eat real food. These numbers reflect something far greater than dollars and cents...
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Or be stop lossed and not get anything for their time in. Quit pretending that this is the greatest war since WW II. They still can't make their total recruitment needs. They have to buy people with huge sums of money not heard of during the Reagan Military. and ONLY 35% are reupping in a warzone and the SFC's response is probably the most telling for that stat. Those guys want to be with their buddies watch their back. Something a REMF like you probably would not have understood.
 
Socrtease said:
Or be stop lossed and not get anything for their time in. Quit pretending that this is the greatest war since WW II. They still can't make their total recruitment needs. They have to buy people with huge sums of money not heard of during the Reagan Military. and ONLY 35% are reupping in a warzone and the SFC's response is probably the most telling for that stat. Those guys want to be with their buddies watch their back. Something a REMF like you probably would not have understood.
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:321:
 
Socrtease said:
Or be stop lossed and not get anything for their time in. Quit pretending that this is the greatest war since WW II. They still can't make their total recruitment needs. They have to buy people with huge sums of money not heard of during the Reagan Military. and ONLY 35% are reupping in a warzone and the SFC's response is probably the most telling for that stat. Those guys want to be with their buddies watch their back. Something a REMF like you probably would not have understood.
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I am writing in relation to this statement made by me two days ago. WRL and I don't agree on much here, I stand by almost everything I said here but for the last sentence. I get heated on here sometimes, especially when arguing about the conflict in Iraq which I completely disagree with and WRL supports wholeheartedly. That being said, I should not have engaged in ad hominem name calling. WRL obviously cares about his country and served it just like I did and many others on this site did. My calling him a REMF is an insult that those who served understand and take personally. It was wrong. I have apologized to WRL privately for it but I feel that I should also do it publicly so people KNOW I did. Again WRL I am sorry I resorted to name calling and I will try (and most likely fail) to not subject any of you to juvenile name calling.
 
It's ok, I accept. We all get a little hot sometimes. That you apologized shows class.

:clink:
 
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