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I bet we see people that never considered the military try to join as jobs dry up, Moderator cut: This forum is not to be used for political arguments and/or discussions.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 06-29-2010 at 09:09 PM..
I bet we see people that never considered the military try to join as jobs dry up, Moderator cut: This forum is not to be used for political arguments and/or discussions.
People are already considering the military in droves. So much so that it's difficult to enlist anymore.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 06-29-2010 at 09:09 PM..
Regardless of how many people try to 'opt' for the military, congress sets how many people are in each branch.
Say 100,000 are in each branch [just a number I made up, you can easily find the real number if you wish], new recruits can only go in if current servicemembers get out.
The military is a rotating pool of bodies. With a set number of members in it.
The nation can go into a really bad depression, but unless congress first says that a branch can expand then each branch will remain at the current size.
During periods of time when few want to enlist, the enlistment standards are lowered. For example I enlisted in 1976, a period of time when few wanted to enlist and the general attitude toward the military was open hatred. I was allowed in with flat-feet, no waivers and no discussion, it was not even seen as a problem. A younger brother of mine tried to enlist a few years later and he was rejected due to his flat feet. The criteria changes every year to keep the level of each branch steady.
Today lots of young people want to enlist, so the standards are very high.
During Vietnam, many draftees were angry because they tried to enlist at age 18, didn't pass their physical, but got drafted 4 years later and passed their physical.
What a bad economy affects is people re-enlisting.
After the first hitch, a person debating whether to re-enlist or enter the civilian world might think twice about getting out and coming home to slim job prospects. ( especially if married )
Bad times are the crimper's friend. Historically professional soldiers (the rankers anyway) come from the lower classes of society and the army was often an escape from poverty or seen as a person's best prospect.
Such people can make excellent soldiers; it was men just doing a "job" that conquered Gaul for Caesar, held Rorke's Drift, slaughtered the Germans at Mons and First Ypres, captured Chapultapec and went to their graves with Custer.
Plus, we don't want a military full of people that are only there for "jobs".
? We already do. If you don't think the primary driving force for the vast majority of people in the military was a job/career, you're kidding yourself.
While I was in Iraq with an Army Reserve unit attached to 4th ID during summer 2009, there was a MILPER message stating that the Army was halting reenlistment until the end of the fiscal year. I believe this came about in Aug. and the Army's fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Keep in mind that was during the height of the recession.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Balad1
People are already considering the military in droves. So much so that it's difficult to enlist anymore.
I know of at least two people (friends of friends) who are in the process of enlisting and save for some weight issues that they are working on, they have no problem going in. I should note that I'm from the Houston area where the job market is fairly decent (relative to much of the US) and law enforcement here is competing very heavily for people as well. A clean background and 60 credit hours can give a person a good shot at being a cop in Houston. The Harris County Sheriff's Office only requires 30. http://www.hpdcareer.com/ & https://webservices.hcso.hctx.net/Recruitment.Web/Recruitment1/employment.aspx (broken link)
I don't think the economy plays a role, people are either going to join or they arent going to join. Especially these days were the military is not as respected as it once was.
Quote:
Such people can make excellent soldiers; it was men just doing a "job" that conquered Gaul for Caesar, held Rorke's Drift, slaughtered the Germans at Mons and First Ypres, captured Chapultapec and went to their graves with Custer.
I like. You must remember though, particuarly with the 2 British examples (Mons and Rorke's Drift) that in 1879 and 1914 the majority of the British Army was made up of professional career soldiers, not 4 or 6 year volunteers like in the US Army today. Most of the guys who crossed rifles with Zulu spears had something like an average of 8 years service behind them, even more for the NCOs.
I have a similar one: it was the conscript soldier that landed in Normandy, it was the conscript soldier that went into the Meuse-Argonne, it was the conscript soldier that brought the South to it's knees in 1864/1865, it was the conscript that planted the US flag over Mount Surabachi. But yet conscripts are supposedly bad soldiers? I think not. Most Americans don't realize this but 7 in 10 members of the US military of WWII were conscripts. In Vietnam only 4 out of 10 troops serving IN VIETNAM itself were conscripts.
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I like. You must remember though, particuarly with the 2 British examples (Mons and Rorke's Drift) that in 1879 and 1914 the majority of the British Army was made up of professional career soldiers, not 4 or 6 year volunteers like in the US Army today. Most of the guys who crossed rifles with Zulu spears had something like an average of 8 years service behind them, even more for the NCOs.
