Army ordered to retain problem enlistees

[StarOfAfrica2]

After the recruiter horror stories, you'd think they'd be more careful what they tell reporters.  

WASHINGTON -- Faced with a long, tough war in Iraq, the U.S. Army has struggled mightily with recruiting. Now the service is battling to keep the new soldiers it has brought into the force.

More of the new Army recruits are washing out of the service before completing their first enlistment, which typically runs three or four years. One recent memorandum from a senior Army personnel official branded the problem "a matter of great concern."

The Army's answer: Figure out a way to keep more of the soldiers who are now being forced out. "We need your concerted effort to reverse the negative trend," reads the internal Army memo, which was directed to senior commanders. "By reducing attrition 1% we can save up to 3,000 initial term soldiers. That's 3,000 more soldiers in our formations."

The memo comes in the wake of a string of recruiting problems for the service. Last month, the Army announced it was 6,659 soldiers short of where it wanted to be this year, on its way to a goal of recruiting 80,000 soldiers. Not long after it announced the recruiting shortfall, the service suspended recruiting operations for one day. The pause came after a series of incidents in which recruiters were found bending or breaking rules to meet their quotas of new enlistees.

To keep more soldiers in the service, the Army has told battalion commanders, who typically command 800-soldier units, that they can no longer bounce soldiers from the service for poor fitness, pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse or generally unsatisfactory performance. Typically such decisions are made at that level. Instead, the battalion commanders must send the problem soldiers' cases up to their brigade commander, who typically commands about 3,000 soldiers.

"Basically it is another set of eyes reviewing cases. It lessens the chance that we will separate people who might still make good soldiers," says Maj. Elizabeth Robbins, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Army officials say the move isn't unprecedented. The service made a similar decision in 1998, when the strong economy and lack of a clear mission left the military struggling to meet recruitment goals.

 
Still, some Army battalion commanders are less than pleased with the Army's decision to try to keep more problem soldiers in the service. "It is the guys on weight control ... school no-shows, drug users, et cetera, who eat up my time and cause my hair to gray prematurely," says one Army battalion commander. "Often they have more than one of these issues simultaneously."

And some battalion commanders question whether it makes sense for brigade commanders to make decisions about which soldiers can cut it and which must go because the brigade commanders have less daily interaction with the soldiers and their immediate commanders.

One commander says the growing attrition problem can be traced to a slip in the quality of new soldiers as recruiters have increasingly struggled to hit their monthly quotas. "There are guys showing up at units with physical problems or other issues who you would not have seen a couple of years ago," says the commander.

In March, 17.4% of all new Army recruits failed to make it through training. Another 7.3% didn't finish their first three years with their unit. The Army's goal is to keep training losses below 12% and first-term enlistee losses below 5%.

Army officials say they haven't lowered quality standards in an effort to bring in more recruits or keep those soldiers they have already got. Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, "has been adamant on the subject of maintaining high standards," says one Army official.

Moreover, Army personnel experts say there is nothing in recent recruiting data to suggest that the service has taken a higher percentage of borderline soldiers, who either lack high-school degrees or score low on Army aptitude tests. "The kids who are coming into the Army are pretty high-quality kids," says Henry Leonard, the deputy director of manpower and training at the Rand Corp.'s Arroyo Center, which regularly analyzes personnel data for the Army.

Mr. Leonard says that part of the increase in attrition could be tied to the more rigorous training that soldiers are getting today because the Army is at war. In boot camp and unit training, the Army has stressed that every soldier -- from the front-line infantryman to the supply clerk -- could come under enemy fire and must be able to defend himself or herself.

When training is tougher, less-motivated soldiers tend to wash out of the service in higher numbers, Mr. Leonard says. Harder exercise and field training also could lead to more career-ending injuries, he adds.

At least one military-personnel expert questions whether the Army's changes will make much of a difference. "The higher quality the recruits, the lower the attrition," says Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University and architect of the Clinton administration's policy on gays in the military. "The whole story is that quality counts."

[Sandman]

Hmmm... is it irony if the Army/Navy/USAF won't allow gays in the military while their recruiting number steadily decline?

[Toad]

This is the end beautiful friend. This is the end my only friend, the end.

Of our elaborate plans, the end; of everything that stands, the end. No safety or surprise, the end; I'll never look into your eyes...again.

Can you picture what will be so limitless and free?
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand in a...desperate land.

Soon, Canada will invade us and leave us prostrate and ruined.

[Toad]

How many divisions of gays you think the Army could raise, Sandman?

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Toad
How many divisions of gays you think the Army could raise, Sandman?

 
According to the GAO, 1500 gays are kicked out per year, on average.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/gao_report.html

How many soldiers in a division?

[Lye-El]

Originally posted by Sandman
Hmmm... is it irony if the Army/Navy/USAF won't allow gays in the military while their recruiting number steadily decline?

No.

[Hangtime]

The mind boggles...

[GREENTENERAL]

Spartans, Romans, Cretians, Celts, and many others througout history have been of three stage sexuality.  The Spartans would pair up in combat (as this would make them stay in the fight for the preservation of their partner), and when the war was over, they would get married, have children, and when that was done, they would seek out young men as sexual partners. The Romans were the same and so on.  This lifestyle was considered normal for women at anytime.  I'm sure that this did not apply to every individual, but for most of the history of warfare, homosexuality and bisexuality has been dominant.

[Toad]

A US division has about 10K-15k soldiers depending on the division.

[GtoRA2]

The Big pink one? The FUrious faq Division?

[Hangtime]

Ah.. it's just a light brigade, sandy.

Enuff to get the attention of the french...

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by Toad
Soon, Canada will invade us and leave us prostrate and ruined.

Fear not, for we will be benevolent masters.  Nay not masters, but strong and true caretakers of the great nation that was once called Amerilandia.

[Toad]

Exposure Category Estimated # of AIDS Cases, in 2003

Male-to-male sexual contact 17,969 - Total 17,969

Injection Drug Use  Male 6,353  Female 3,096  Total 9,449
 
Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use 1,877 - 1,877

Heterosexual contact  Male 5,133  Female 8,127  Total 13,260

Other*  Male 281  Female 276  Total 557



Exposure Category Estimated # of AIDS Cases, Through 2003
 
Male-to-male sexual contact 440,887  Total 440,887

Injection Drug Use Male 175,988  Female 70,558  Total 246,546

Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use  Male 62,418
Total 62,418

Heterosexual contact  Male 56,403  Female 93,586 Total 149,989

Other* Male 14,191  Female 6,535  Total20,726

[Staga]

"Fabulous 5:th"

[Toad]

From the American Red Cross:

Since 1981, the Centers for Disease Control has been collecting information on AIDS. Approximately 95 percent of the persons with AIDS belong to one of the
following groups:

* Sexually active homosexual or bisexual men (73 percent)

* Present or past abusers of intravenous drugs (17 percent)

* Patients who have had transfusions with blood or blood products (2 percent)

* Persons with hemophilia or other coagulation disorders (1 percent)

* Heterosexuals who have had sexual contact with someone with AIDS, or at risk
  for AIDS (1 percent)

* Infants born to infected mothers (1 percent)


From the CDC:

The cumulative estimated number of diagnoses of AIDS through 2003 in the United States is 929,985. Adult and adolescent AIDS cases total 920,566 with 749,887 cases in males and 170,679 cases in females. Through the same time period, 9,419 AIDS cases were estimated in children under age 13.

*********

About a million cumulative estimated diagnoses of AIDS, probably 73% are sexually active homosexual or bisexual men.