WASHINGTON -- For the first time in six years the U.S. Army is likely to miss its annual recruiting goals. The Army National Guard is facing its worst personnel shortages in a decade. An unnecessary and badly managed war based on false claims is sapping the willingness of young Americans to enlist.
So far the Pentagon is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The army is hiking benefits for priority jobs and bumping up the age limit for enlistees. The Army National Guard is adding recruiting centers and recruiters.
But "all of the services are competing for the same pool of people," admits National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Milord. And none of these palliatives address the primary reason enlistments are falling: a growing reluctance of young people, reinforced by their parents' fears, to serve in Iraq.