Without U.S. military recruiters, there could be no Army. Without an imperialist army, there could be no imperialist war.
The plunging rate of enlistment in the U.S. Army is causing great concern among the warmakers in the White House
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Due to consistent failure to meet existing quotas, this year the Army greatly reduced its monthly recruitment projections. But faced with growing opposition to the Iraq war, they still fell short through the spring and summer.
According to the Pentagon, only 16 percent of young people say they plan to join the military: a historic low. Although 40 percent of mothers and 50 percent of fathers were willing to send their children to the Army in March 2004, now those numbers have dropped to 25 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
The drop in recruitment levels is most drastic in the African American community. According to Pentagon data, there were nearly 51,500 new black recruits for active duty and reserves in 2001. That number fell to less than 32,000 in 2006, a 38 percent decline.
The African American community has one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States, making it a main target for recruiters. Historically, African Americans—who make up 13 percent of the country’s population—have been disproportionately represented in the armed forces. In 2001, African Americans made up 20 percent of military recruits. That number is now down to 13 percent.
As the rate of enlistment continues to drop, the Army has resorted to ever more desperate tactics to fill its ranks and meet its fiscal year goal of 80,000 recruits.
To entice working-class young people, the military started offering greater financial incentives than ever before. With the “Quick Ship” bonus, recruits are promised a $20,000 bonus if they agree to ship out to basic training by the end of September. The program began on July 25; within three weeks, the Army had enlisted 3,814 new recruits. In addition, recruits have been bribed with iPods and backpacks to enlist right away.
Over the last year, the Army spent $1 billion in recruitment incentives. Still, the Army barely made its August quota.
Newer, lower entry requirements
As a way to lure in young people who have dropped out of high schools, the military has discarded or downplayed longstanding education requirements. A year ago, only 16 percent of enlistees had failed to graduate high school. Now that figure is up to 27 percent. These are teenagers with very limited job opportunities. They are the military’s easiest prey.
The latest desperate recruitment tactic is to recruit young people who have not even secured a GED. In the past, they would be discharged from the military, but now the National Guard will offer a GED educational program as part of boot camp.
To cope with falling recruitment numbers, the U.S. military has employed another tactic—manipulating the contracts of enlisted soldiers to make them stay in longer. With the stop-loss program, the military prevents soldiers from returning home once their enlistment is finished. Over 150,000 troops have had their tours in Iraq involuntarily extended in this way.
But soldiers have begun to fight back.
Evan Knappenberger, 1st BDE, 4th Infantry Division, challenged his officers when they told him he had to remain in service despite the completion of his four-year active-duty tour. For daring to stand up for his rights, the Army gave him a general discharge without benefits.
While in Iraq, Knappenberger stood guard for 97 nights in a tower at the edge of his base. Now he is back in the United States. As a protest against the stop-loss policies, he initiated a Tower Guard Vigil on a scaffold at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Knappenberger has referred to the stop-loss program a “substitute for conscription in a political war—under the pretense of a non-existent national emergency.” He pledged to maintain the vigil in military uniform for a full week.
The inability of the military to recruit clearly stems from the widespread anti-war sentiment reaching every corner of the United States. The people recognize that the war was based on lies, and have lost all belief in the president and his generals when they speak about Iraq.
A second factor in the military’s failure to recruit is the intervention of the organized anti-war movement, which exists in every city, and many smaller towns. Iraq war veterans have become some of the movement’s most prominent voices. Testimonials about their personal experiences inside the military pose the most direct challenge to the lies and tricks of military recruiters.
On Sept. 17, as part of the Sept. 15-21 Week of Actions in Washington, D.C. against the war, Iraq Veterans Against the War led a National Truth in Recruiting Day. IVAW and activists with the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) shut down Washington’s main recruitment center that day.
As Adam Kokesh, co-chair elect of IVAW, said in a July 21 open letter, “It is time to confront the lies that this war is based on with those whom they affect the most.”
