Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Tim Russert's Meet the Press was on this morning with Sen. Joe Biden (D-NJ) and Rep. Carl Weldon (R-PA). Part of what they talked about was this recruitment problem. May's figures are abysmal, especially considering that May is when kids graduate from high school. The original recruitment target was over 8,000. The Army reduced its goal to about 6,000. The total enlistees for the month was only 5,000, i.e. a 38% shortfall.

Of course recruiters are under a lot of pressure to fill their quota. There was a one day thingie to reassess recruitment strategy and tactics in mid-May. I read somewhere that 6 recruiters have been demoted and reassigned because of recruitment violations. So it is perfectly possible the article is true. These types of things do happen. Last month there was a piece on some news program about high pressure tactics and recruitment irregularities. One kid said he had visited a recruitment center and talked to the guy, but ultimately decided against enlisting. He was swamped with phone calls and threats of arrest if he didn't sign up.

The current numbers of killed and wounded are 1,600 and 12,000. This is obviously the reason for low enlistment. Biden and Weldon both said they are looking at measures to shore up enlistment benefits they hope will increase the numbers. Both said they were not considering the draft yet. I'm sure that is not exactly 100% true. A nearly 40% shortfall indicates that all options must be looked at.

Both agreed that US presence in Iraq will continue until 150,000 first-rate Iraqi troops are trained and ready to take over. They estimated that will take 1-2 years. I've read elsewhere that it takes about 2 years to fully train troops.

PS: Weldon has written a book about the 'next' major terrorist attack on the US. The conversation didn't focus on it, but they did talk about one plan that was foiled in '03. A group of about 20 were arrested in Canada. Their plan had been to hijack a plane and fly it into the Seabrook Nuclear Plant in New Hampshire with the goal of killing a couple of hundred thousand people.

[bucheon bum]

[Hater Depot]

[R. S. Refugee]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[wannago]

[Nowhere Man]

In honor of our great President, I'd like to ask what's up with the National Guard.

While I realize some of them were sent to Vietnam, I'm still very confused by this fact.

How is serving in Iraq (or Vietnam) guarding our nation?

Better yet, if this does constitute guarding our nation, why isn't the Coast Guard deployed to Iraq?

I await explanation from you boo-ya types.

Why is anyone "guarding" our nation, like the great Dubya, deployed half-way across the world?

[pharflung]

Nowhere Man wrote:

[wannago]

Do you really have nothing better to do than drag up threads that are 2 1/2 years old? Sounds like get-a-life time to me.

[The Bobster]

What you are actualy saying is that after 2 1/2 years you still don't have a justification for anyone to think that the war in Iraq constitutes guarding our nation from attack ... can we accept as given, then, that you've finally caught up with the rest of us?

[TheUrbanMyth]

[ddeubel]

The youth were long "kidnapped" before any of this.......that is the rub.

I find it bizzare, any nation that has to buy "its best". Slaves for the most part, seeking a way out. Slaves. Bought and branded and then brained. But kidnapped before by so much cultural mouthwash. Not "whisked" away but carried away by bravado, money, power and pretense.

Recently I looked at the past few years "BEST " photos of the year. From multiple sources. I compared them with 20 years ago. The major difference? Just that those of present were full of uniforms, full of guns, full of honor and saluting and patriotic garble. Really shows the power of Devolution....... Our culture and society is sick, really sick.

Kidnapped and apes unto apes....

DD

[igotthisguitar]

[igotthisguitar]

[Kuros]

What a wierd thread