Army has a big ad on TV

whitehall

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The Administration just released a plan to downsize the Military ground troops by at least 100,000 in the next couple of years. Why does the government still spend money in expensive prime-time ads aimed at recruiting Soldiers? Is there a disconnect somewhere or is the Military instructed to pretend that it is still living in a different era?
 
US Military Recruiting 'Gangs, Nazis & Mentally Ill'...
:eek:
In the Army Now: Gangs, Nazis & the Mentally Ill
April 8, 2013 • Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror
Since the Vietnam War, America’s more successful interventions have been brief. That war engendered a legitimacy crisis in the United States military. Domestically, large numbers of young men resisted the draft or took advantage of deferments, but conscription still kept the armed forces supplied with men. In Vietnam, the military was riven by drug use, racial strife, and “fragging”—the assassination of unpopular officers by their troops. Operation Desert Storm in 1991 may be a model for a successful large-scale intervention post-Vietnam: the coalition allied with the United States dropped some bombs and sent an overwhelming ground force; Saddam capitulated while Lee Greenwood provided the soundtrack. If one ignores pesky issues such as the fate of Iraqi Kurds who were encouraged to rebel and the blowback from stationing U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, the first Gulf War was a big success.

armynow.jpg


The United States fares worse when our goals are more ambitious and the enemy doesn’t quickly fold. When a volunteer army becomes bogged down in an unpopular war, protesters don’t fill the streets the way they did in 1969, and soldiers don’t “frag” their officers—people simply stop joining the military. The quest to fill that enlistment gap is where the investigative work of English journalist Matt Kennard comes in. In Irregular Army, Kennard documents a series of disturbing trends in the military: lowered standards, inadequately treated mental-health and substance-abuse problems, and the enlistment and retention of white supremacists, Nazis, and gang members.

Irregular Army begins with an investigation of undesirable elements who in years past would have had difficulty entering and staying in the military, such as racists and Nazi skinheads. Such extremists have made it into the military before—I briefly served in the Marine Corps in 1986 with someone who described himself as a racist skinhead—but Kennard provides background on how today the military often looks the other way to keep the ranks filled. He interviewed one neo-Nazi who had tattoos (a Celtic Cross and a Nordic warrior) that recruiters are supposed to flag. Forrest Fogarty’s story somewhat undercuts Kennard’s thesis, however, since he actually joined the Army prior to the War on Terror. He is something of a celebrity as the leader of the skinhead band Attack; he took leave in 2004 to play two concerts in Dresden, Germany. A bitter former girlfriend alerted the military to his leanings by sending pictures of him at neo-Nazi events, but that didn’t derail his military career. After his discharge the Southern Poverty Law Center intervened to keep him out of a job with a private military contractor.

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You gotta laugh at the Navy ads that pretend the greatest sea going fighting force in history is really a caring "global force for good'. If the propaganda gets more recruits who am I to complain?
 
You gotta laugh at the Navy ads that pretend the greatest sea going fighting force in history is really a caring "global force for good'. If the propaganda gets more recruits who am I to complain?

Obviously you're (blissfully) unaware that the Navy does more humanitarian missions than all the other services combined. Not to mention protecting the world's shipping lanes, a tough job in some areas.
 
Because it's cheaper to push out higher paid soldiers and replace them with new ones. Happens every ten years or so.
 
Ever think that they keep the ads up because they're trying to get the best qualified applicants?

If they're going to downsize, then they're going to tighten the restrictions for enlistment.

Trust me.........................I worked in a MEPS for the Navy as Head Classifier and LPO.
 
You gotta laugh at the Navy ads that pretend the greatest sea going fighting force in history is really a caring "global force for good'. If the propaganda gets more recruits who am I to complain?

Obviously you're (blissfully) unaware that the Navy does more humanitarian missions than all the other services combined. Not to mention protecting the world's shipping lanes, a tough job in some areas.

Not only that, but the Navy is the baseline for the projection of military power. No Navy, no projection. It's as simple as that. Of all the services we have, the Navy is the most critical.
 
Because it's cheaper to push out higher paid soldiers and replace them with new ones. Happens every ten years or so.

It's not so much an issue of cost, but of age. Without constant recruiting and the successive tightening of both the eligibility and availability of slots for promotion, the Armed Forces would grow progressively older. If recruiting were curtailed, you'd soon find yourself in the same position as the Army in late 19th century: With 40 year old Privates unable to advance in rank, yet still required to perform the same duties as his 18 year old counterpart.
 
You gotta laugh at the Navy ads that pretend the greatest sea going fighting force in history is really a caring "global force for good'. If the propaganda gets more recruits who am I to complain?
Obviously you're (blissfully) unaware that the Navy does more humanitarian missions than all the other services combined. Not to mention protecting the world's shipping lanes, a tough job in some areas.
Not only that, but the Navy is the baseline for the projection of military power. No Navy, no projection. It's as simple as that. Of all the services we have, the Navy is the most critical.
The Navy recruiters were out at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore last week. I'm a veteran of the Navy from the Vietnam era, having made the decision to join up when my student deferment expired upon graduation from college in 1970.

Navy Recruiters on the Campus of Johns Hopkins University
 
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The so called Administration has also cancelled military air shows this year

Budget cuts ground military air shows
Flyovers for military funerals, service academy graduations and other official events also have been scrubbed.

story
 
The so called Administration has also cancelled military air shows this year

Budget cuts ground military air shows
Flyovers for military funerals, service academy graduations and other official events also have been scrubbed.

story


Well...God knows wasting expensive av gas is a real indicator of readiness!
 
The so called Administration has also cancelled military air shows this year

Budget cuts ground military air shows
Flyovers for military funerals, service academy graduations and other official events also have been scrubbed.

story

Go ahead..................thank the GOP..............................
 
whitehall, et al,

A reduction in force (RIF) does not hit new members at the entry level (officer or enlisted).

The Administration just released a plan to downsize the Military ground troops by at least 100,000 in the next couple of years. Why does the government still spend money in expensive prime-time ads aimed at recruiting Soldiers? Is there a disconnect somewhere or is the Military instructed to pretend that it is still living in a different era?
(COMMENT)

A RIF targets, as a general rule, more of the combat support and combat service support billets at the mid and upper levels; that are not needed when the force is not deployed.

While there will be some RIF impact on those in the combat arms, these RIFs will focus more on those that are passing retirement points along their career, or those not likely to be further promoted.

There will always be a need to fill the lower ranks, as a result of the up-or-out policy. In times of RIF, the military generally reduces the emphasis on reenlistment and retention.

There is no disconnect.

Most Respectfully,
R
 
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