All Military Components Meet, Exceed Recruiting Goals

Posted on November 13, 2007

As Ken Sheppard of Newsbusters has pointed out before, if the military falls short of its recruiting goals the MSM trumpet it and frame it as a result of an unpopular war. So how will the media react to the news that all military components meet and/or exceed their recruiting goals?

The first month of fiscal 2008 was a success for all active and reserve military components.
In a meeting with Pentagon reporters today, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said all components met or exceeded their recruiting goals for October.

On the active-duty side, the Army made 101 percent of its goal of 4,500, with 4,564 recruits. The Navy made 100 percent of its goal of 2,788 recruits. The Marine Corps made 102 percent of its goal of 2,720, with 2,788 enlisting. The Air Force made 100 percent of its goal of 2,656.

I wonder how the media that doesn’t ignore this news will frame it? Perhaps the headline from MSNBC will lead the way? “Lowering standards to meet recruitment numbers”.

» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Liberal Media/Bias, News, War On Terror

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3 Responses to “All Military Components Meet, Exceed Recruiting Goals”

Jeff Molby on November 13th, 2007 11:40 pm

It’s a fair framing, though. They’re getting the job done, but they’re pulling out all the stops to do it. I was surprised and saddened to receive a beautiful 24-page booklet from the Marines a few weeks ago. They even tossed in a couple more quarters to follow up with a postcard.

Now, I’ve voluntarily met with Marine recruiters twice in the past decade, so I’m not surprised that I’m on their list, but a quick look at my demographics would show that they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel. Last time I walked in there was almost 5 years ago. Even when I was in shape, I never had much in the way of upper-body strength, so my zero pull-ups put me in the “needs more PT first” category. I ended up walking away because they couldn’t make any promises about my MOS and, being pretty qualified with computers already, I wasn’t about to spend four years doing the digital equivalent of peeling potatoes.

So here I am, a computer specialist who’s 6 weeks from being 27 with a track record for being weak and demographics that correctly suggest that the trend continues… and the most prestigious of the regular services still thought I was a good enough bet to justify $4. Take the Iraq War out of the equation and that never would have happened.
Jay on November 14th, 2007 8:59 am

Straying off the topic just a bit. Regardless of not joining the military for whatever reason…why not work on your weakness? Hit the gym and drink some protein shakes.
Jeff Molby on November 14th, 2007 12:02 pm

At various times, I have done so with quite a bit of success. I never cared enough to strength train, but I can slim down whenever I make it a priority.

For the past year, I’ve literally dumped all available resources into building my business (with a good deal of success this time), so the food budget got slashed along with everything else. The fact of the matter is that you simply cannot maintain a 1500 calorie diet on a tight budget without skipping meals. And I don’t have the time to be active enough to counteract a 2000+ calorie diet. So, the belly is back.

I’ve just about turned the corner, though. By mid-winter, I should be able to resume a healthy lifestyle.