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In This Issue
Focus on Counter-Recruitment 2005
Contents
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A ROUGH ROAD FOR RECRUITERS IN 2005
by Kevin Ramirez
 From Left: Conduct Unbecoming, a screenshot from a Cincinnati, Ohio news story on recruiters caught lying; a roomful of new recruits taking their oath of enlistment; a woman expresses her views during the May 20 day of counter-recruitment action in New York City.
What do you get when you mix an illegal and unjust war with an all volunteer military? A recruiting crisis.
If only it were that simple!
It was late February and the 2005 NBA All-Star Game was about to begin. I was sitting on the couch anxiously waiting for the start of this game where the most talented and popular basketball players from the NBA square off in an East meets West showdown. It was a Sunday evening and my mind was preoccupied with the start of another week of counter-recruitment organizing when all of a sudden uniformed soldiers marched onto the basketball court carrying the American flag. I thought to myself, here we go, again! As one soldier offered a tribute to all of his buddies in the military especially those deployed in Iraq, the entire arena erupted in applause especially the two dozen or so uniformed soldiers seated in their very own special section behind the scorer's table. When the applause subsided, someone announced a quick performance by Destiny's Child, one of the most successful R&B groups in history, and the beat dropped to their hit single appropriately titled “Soldier.” The message became clearer as the camera centered on the group for the most part except during the chorus where the camera would switch to shots of the cheering soldiers. The chorus went something like this:
I know some soldiers in here (Where they at, where they at)
They wanna take care of me (Where they at)
I know some soldiers in here (Where they at, where they at)
Don't mind takin one for me (Where they at)
The message I heard was soldiers were “cool,” they’re “hot,” and they are the “real All Stars.” Two months later Destiny's Child would go on to perform at a show called “Rockin' the Corps” at Camp Pendleton for 40,000 Marines returning to the US fresh from the killing fields and streets of Iraq.
Somewhere not far away from where I was sitting, a young person watching the game picked up a brochure they received in their mailbox from the US Army. Quietly humming the tune to “Soldier” they glanced at the tanks, the helicopters, and the camouflaged faces in the brochure and said to themselves, “no, not for me,” and swiftly dumped the brochure into the trash.
*******
Despite the continuous blitz of military-recruiting propaganda increasingly embedded in popular culture, recruiters are desperately seeking people to fill their quotas. For the first time in at least six years, the military is experiencing a recruiting shortfall they are not likely to pull out of. As of May 1, 2005, recruiters for the Army, the Army Reserves, the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard have all reported significant to alarming drops in their recruitment numbers.
The Army National Guard is perhaps the one branch that has been hit the hardest over the last two years. They were the only service to miss their recruiting goals in 2003, and in 2004 they came up short by close to 7,000. This year doesn’t seem to be getting any better as the numbers for the first half of 2005 show the Army National Guard behind their goals for recruits by about 24%. Perhaps sending people who join the National Guard to Iraq for two years, where hundreds of members of the Guard have been killed, has had some unforeseen consequences? The same can be said of the Army Reserves. The Army Reserves are in no better shape at the end of their first half of 2005 and are reportedly 21% short of their annual goal for recruits. For the Reserves, however, the problems don’t stop at new recruits. There are additional problems in recruiting and retaining officers that has led to the head of the Reserves, Lt. Gen. James Helmly’s description of the Reserves as becoming a “broken force.” With only 70% of officer positions in the Army Reserve currently staffed, that description certainly rings true. The first problem is that officers in the Reserves are resigning at an increased rate. In 2001 there were 15 resignations by officers in the Army Reserves; in 2004 there were close to 400! On the other end of this spectrum are reports that Army ROTC enrollment numbers are also down a significant 16%, a trend that has maintained itself for the past two years! To try and offset this grim picture, the Army Reserves have increased their recruitment force by 700 new recruiters and the National Guard has done the same with an additional 1,400 new recruiters. To assist these new recruiters a number of tactics have been deployed in the form of enlistment bonuses. For the National Guard, they are offering a $2,000 “Quick Ship Bonus” for recruits who can ship to boot camp within 45 days of signing their contracts, and another program called the “Every Soldier a Recruiter” bonus of $2,500 for soldiers who refer qualified, prospective recruits to Guard recruiters. For the Reserves they have up to $20,000 enlistment bonuses available for first-time recruits and a re-enlistment bonus of $15,000. Both services this year have also raised the maximum age for recruitment from 34 to 39 increasing their pool for potential recruits by 22 million.
The Marine Corps is currently experiencing a recruiting shortfall they haven’t seen in over 10 years! Beginning in January and stretching past April, the Marines continue to miss monthly recruiting quotas by several hundred recruits. Despite this recurring shortfall, the Marines remain convinced they will meet their quota by year’s end, citing an improving economy, the war in Iraq and bad weather as possible reasons for the dilemma. We will have to wait and see how the Marines finish this year come September.
The largest branch of the military is currently experiencing the largest shortfall. For the US Army, the crack appeared in February with recruiters falling 27% short of that month’s quota, the first time a monthly quota had been missed in five years. The crack widened by a significant amount over the next two months, and by the end of April the Army reported a monthly shortfall of 42%. Army officials were quick to point out that recruiting tends to pick up over the summer and that overall Army recruiting is going well and the service is only 15% under their expected goal year to date.
Military officials and recruiters continue to downplay the recruiting situation, citing parental concern over the war in Iraq as the main reason why recruitment is lagging. To address this perception, the Army and Marines have decided to tailor their recruitment pitch to address the concerns of parents, and have announced their newfound strategies. The Army is producing four new television ads aimed at influencing parents; and they are making special efforts at pairing recent veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq with local recruiters as they go about their visits to schools and homes to sell the military. The Army has also recently raised the amount of money for college a recruit can receive through the Army Navy College Fund from $50,000 to $70,000. They are hoping that money for college and enlistment bonuses, along with parental approval, and a chat with a recent vet who happens to be a recruiter will sway people’s decisions. The Marines have taken a similar approach and have produced a short video called “Parents Speak,” which depicts the parents of Marines talking about how good the Corps has been for their kids. They are also beginning a direct mail campaign aimed at parents, promoting the benefits of military service and asking for the opportunity to speak with parents of juniors and seniors about possible enlistment. The Marines have even gone so far as to sponsor in-store running advertisements on all the television sets in 2,600 Walmart stores nationwide until the end of summer! The two Marine recruiting commercials that will be playing every hour from 7 am to 11 pm are titled “Family Photos” and “For Country.” The military is certainly no stranger to in-store advertising as we have recently seen the National Guard partnering up with Blockbuster Video, inserting recruiting brochures into DVD rental cases across the country; but this Walmart television idea is a new strategy.
In response, activists are adapting their strategies and in addition to organizing in schools and picketing the recruitment centers, people are starting to protest the war and recruitment outside of Walmart and Blockbuster stores. Counter-recruitment work has literally exploded onto the national scene this year. Kicked off in January with a well publicized photo of an Army recruiter being escorted off the campus at Seattle Central Community College, it was solidified on March 20 by hundreds of counter-recruitment actions at recruitment centers nationwide. Much of this new energy has been ignited by students in high schools demanding restraints be put on recruiters, and alternative viewpoints on war and the military be made available to them. College students have simultaneously been pressuring their schools to enforce policies of non-discrimination in regards to the military’s policy against homosexuals, and forcing recruiters to leave or stay off campus. Everybody wants to get involved with counter-recruitment work, it seems as if the anti-war movement has finally gotten over the 2004 election results and are back organizing and agitating an end to this war by stopping young people from enlisting. A counter-recruitment movement is quickly building momentum and with each day our numbers are growing exponentially. Certainly the last 10 years of doing this work is having some effect on recruitment as CCCO and other national organizations have sustained a counter-recruitment network in public schools across the nation, but of course it is not the only factor. In truth, there are a variety of factors that are causing the recruiting slump besides the war in Iraq, the concerns of parents, and the work of counter-recruiters. Let’s give credit where credit is due: honestly, youth of today are just smarter. Let’s have a quick examination of some of the recent headlines and news stories that might be contributing to the current slump in recruiting.
Verbal abuse and physical intimidation is something new recruits can expect during boot camp. Photo: Thomas Hoepker
CCCO is well aware of the physical and mental abuse, the indoctrination and the dehumanization process new recruits experience during basic training. We know that a small number of new recruits become fatally ill and sometimes die during their time in basic training. We also know that drill instructors scream verbal abuse and often take part in or encourage physical abuse of new recruits who may be poorly performing or those having trouble adapting to military training. On February 8, Jason Tharp, a 19-year-old Marine recruit died when he drowned during water survival training at Parris Island, SC. This story would not have seen the light of day had it not been for what was caught on videotape just one day before he died. In news footage captured by a local television crew, Jason is seen being assaulted by his drill instructor, at first grabbing and shoving Jason and then going on to strike him in the chest. Jason was afraid of water and was resisting the drill on the day he was assaulted. The very next day he gave in, and drowned during a 25-meter swim. According to his last letter home, he told his parents he felt he had “made a mistake in joining up,” that he “wasn’t cut out for it,” and that maybe he should “come home and try to get a grant”; he had joined the Marines to earn money for college. This particular story may not raise much concern taken on its own, but when coupled with more allegations of drill-instructor abuse, young people may begin to rethink any ideas of joining the military. The US Army has experienced two public scandals involving drill instructors this year alone. In January, four Army drill sergeants were punished for selling “PT insurance”—basically accepting bribes for giving passing grades to recruits for substandard physical training. These drill sergeants were also running a lucrative black market for items deemed as “contraband” during basic training. By early April another scandal involving four abusive Army drill sergeants and their unit commander made headlines. Apparently these drill sergeants thought it was acceptable to discipline a recruit by:
-making one drink water until he vomited and then forcing the recruit to eat the vomit.
- slamming recruits into walls and lockers.
- throwing recruits to the floor and dousing them with water.
- punching recruits in the chest.
- dragging them down hallways by their ankles.
After headlines like these, why is there even a question about why young people aren’t enlisting?
As if these revelations aren’t enough to impact recruiting numbers, perhaps we should consider the conduct of recruiters. It’s no secret that sexual assault, rape and violence against women in the military is rampant and out of control; but did you know it’s also a problem for military recruiters and potential recruits? A string of sexual assaults of potential recruits by their military recruiters has received absolutely no major media coverage, and no ties have been made between the sexual assaults and the falling recruiting numbers. Stretching from July 2003 to March 2005 there have been five major cases that have caught our attention:
-July 2003: an Army recruiter based in Moreno Valley, CA was sentenced to 16 months in prison for statutory rape of a 17-year-old female recruit.
-January 2004: a Marine recruiter based in Baltimore, MD was convicted of fondling a teenage recruit and was sentenced to probation and ordered to seek counseling.
-May 2004: a Marine recruiter based in Blooming Grove, NY was charged with six counts of rape, the recruit was only 16 years old.
-June 2004: a Marine recruiter based in Riverside, CA was sentenced to five years in prison for raping a 17-year-old high school student.
-November 2004: an Army recruiter based in Riverside, CA was charged with four felony counts of having sex with and providing alcohol to two 17-year-old girls.
-March 2005: a National Guard recruiter based in Castleton, IN faces 31 charges stemming from alleged sexual assaults on seven potential female recruits.
In each of these cases the victims claimed to have met their recruiter in their high schools, and in almost all of the cases claimed the assaults took place either in the recruiting office or in the recruiter’s vehicles! It is this type of activity coupled with other factors such as the high rate of female soldiers getting killed or wounded in Iraq, and women being placed in combat positions in direct violation of DoD policy that have contributed to a sharp decline in female recruits. This decline is most notable in the Army where in 2001 women made up 21% of new recruits but this year is accounting for a low 17%.
Racism in the military has also been in the headlines this year and may be having a similar effect on recruiting. Sgt. Asan Akbar was recently sentenced to death for killing two white officers on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. As the only African American soldier in his unit, and the only Muslim soldier in his unit, Akbar claims he killed his fellow soldiers because he was sick and tired of racism against himself and the frequent racist tirades against Muslims in general that he had to endure daily while serving in the military. Of course these allegations are not a factor in the case and no investigation will be conducted to substantiate these claims. In spite of this, allegations of racism within the military, and particularly in Iraq, has been confirmed by at least one other soldier. Aidan Delgado was an Army Reservist who spent some time working at Abu Ghraib prison and received a conscientious objector discharge from the military in 2004. In recent interviews with Aidan, he has recounted several incidents that confirmed the racist bias against Iraqis and Muslims that exists within the military. He witnessed his fellow soldiers mistreating and assaulting Iraqi children, civilians, and detainees with brutal zeal simply for being “hajjis,” which he claims is such a frequently used racial slur that it even appears in official Army documents! In 2001 African Americans made up 23% of new recruits compared to this year’s share, which has dropped to a low 13%. Could racism in the military be one of the factors impacting the current recruiting slump?
To make matters worse there are now confirmed reports of recruiters lying, forging reports, and threatening jail time in order to sign new recruits this past May. Army recruiters in Colorado were caught on audio and video tape advising a potential recruit on how to go about getting a fake high school diploma, as well as where to purchase a special concoction to drink in order to pass the drug test. Another Army recruiter in Texas was also recorded leaving a message for a potential recruit threatening them with an arrest warrant and jail time if they didn’t show up for a scheduled meeting with a recruiter. These high-profile cases of recruiter misconduct has forced the Army to cease recruiting operations nationwide on May 20, and reinforce the high standards in honesty and integrity the Army holds for it’s recruiters. One report released by the New York Times showed 480 cases of recruiter misconduct that have been investigated in the Army in 2005. Of those 480 cases, 90 have been substantiated, 98 recruiters have been punished, and eight recruiters have been relieved of duty. Recruiters are reportedly feeling the strain as well, often working long hours with little rest and poor results. The recruiting environment, recruiters say, has been especially hard ever since the “war on terror” began. Since October 2002, 37 Army recruiters have gone AWOL, many have requested other assignments and one had even applied for a conscientious objector discharge.
Unfortunately for the military, as with the occupation of Iraq, they are failing to understand the complexities of the problem. No amount of college money, enlistment bonus, or shorter enlistment plan is going to make up for the blatant problems that are causing the recruiting slump: an illegal and unjust war based on lies, a disregard for international law and compassion as seen with the abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, a disregard for human life as seen with the daily massacre of civilians at roadblocks in Iraq and the caught on tape murder of a wounded Iraqi in a mosque, the sexual violence, racism and homophobia that is rampant in the military, the stop loss orders, the extended deployment of National Guard and Reserve troops overseas, and last but not least the deceptive and aggressive tactics of military recruiters. Young people today are taking all of these factors into account and are overwhelmingly deciding that the military is just not for them.
So let’s continue to do the work where it counts the most: in our schools and communities supporting and informing today’s teens about the harsh realities of war, and the potentially hazardous opportunities involved with military service. The future of the counter-recruitment movement is bright, as we gear up this summer for an exciting school year to come. In a bleak forecast for 2006, the Army’s top recruiter, Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, told the New York Times that “the Army would most likely start its fiscal year this October with the smallest pool of recruits ready for boot camp in at least a decade.” He went on to claim “2006 would be even harder, and perhaps the toughest year for recruiting since the all-volunteer force began in 1973.” Perhaps next year the military can persuade the R&B group Destiny’s Child to record a remix to their song “Soldier,” and the chorus could go a little something like this:
We need some soldiers in here (Where they at, where they at)
They need to sign up for me (Where they at)
We need some soldiers in here (Where they at, where they at)
Would you please sign up for me (Where they at)
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