[Marxism] Re: Unemployment fuels military enlistments

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> washingtonpost.com
> Youths in Rural U.S. Are Drawn To Military
> Recruits' Job Worries Outweigh War Fears
>
> By Ann Scott Tyson
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Friday, November 4, 2005; A01

Isn't a better title for the Washington Post article "Military
Enlistments Decline despite Job Worries"?

<blockquote>The Army announced in October that, for fiscal year 2005,
the active-duty Army recruited 73,373 new soldiers, 6,627 short of
the goal of 80,000 (i.e., 92% of the goal); the Army Reserve accessed
23,859 soldiers, 4,626 short of the goal of 28,485 (i.e., 84%); and
the Army National Guard gained 50,219 soldiers, 12,783 short of the
goal of 63,002 (i.e., 80%). This has been, according to military
statistics, the toughest recruiting year since 1973, the first year
of the all-volunteer army. Americans don't want to fight this war,
and high school recruiting is the military's desperate hope.

<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ayers011105.html></blockquote>

The 20% decline in the Army National Guard enlistment is a pretty big
dip, and the Army's 8% decline in recruitment is very significant,
too.  If Americans can keep rejecting enlistment at these rates,
pretty soon, there won't be any Army!

The National Priority Project's database (on which the Post article
is based) is at
<http://www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=173&Itemid=61>.

Useful stuff for counter-recruitment work.

Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://montages.blogspot.com>
<http://monthlyreview.org>
<http://mrzine.org>
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/mahmoud-
ahmadinejads-face.html>;  <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez-
congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/
2005/06/iranian-working-class-rejects.html>



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