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Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Our depleted military--------------------	CeeBee2	06/08/07
from the Internet: Col. Andy Bacevich, America's foremost writer on military affairs, documents in the current issue of The American Conservative that Bush's insane war has depleted and exhausted the US Army and Marine Corps: "Only a third of the regular Army's brigades qualify as combat-ready. In the reserve components, none meet that standard. When the last of the units reaches Baghdad as part of the president's strategy of escalation, the US will be left without a ready-to-deploy land force reserve." "The stress of repeated combat tours is sapping the Army's lifeblood. Especially worrying is the accelerating exodus of experienced leaders. The service is currently short 3,000 commissioned officers. By next year, the number is projected to grow to 3,500. The Guard and reserves are in even worse shape. There the shortage amounts to 7,500 officers. Young West Pointers are bailing out of the Army at a rate not seen in three decades. In an effort to staunch the losses, that service has begun offering a $20,000 bonus to newly promoted captains who agree to stay on for an additional three years. Meanwhile, as more and more officers want out, fewer and fewer want in: ROTC scholarships go unfilled for a lack of qualified applicants." ******************* One of my library volunteers was wooed by the Navy. Twenty-six y/o Barlaham is from Colombia and was promised a quicker route to citizenship, healthy paychecks, college, and was told about the benefits of the GI Bill if he signed up for the requisite four years. He did so, wanting a better life for himself, his wife, and his two stepdaughters. He had met with recruiters from all military branches and deliberately chose the Navy with the hope he won't end up getting killed in a conflict with a Middle Eastern country. He told me he would never have signed up with the Army or Marines.
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 06/08/07 7:18 pm: so he signed up just so long as he did not have to fight ? why bother ? Clarification/Follow-up by CeeBee2 on 06/08/07 7:31 pm: One is supposed to sign up to fight? (He has finished training in Pensacola and will be repairing Navy planes. He has been told he will remain stateside.) Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 06/08/07 7:33 pm: btw ;most of us have migrated to askmehelp desk this week . Clarification/Follow-up by CeeBee2 on 06/08/07 7:35 pm: Is that where the wild parties are now? Excon is in charge of entertainment? Should I emigrate? Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 06/09/07 10:40 am: I'm going to give it a try . There is some new faces there to exchange ideas with and it seems to be cordial and well managed. Clarification/Follow-up by CeeBee2 on 06/09/07 6:27 pm: I migrated over there yesterday and am pleased to see so much activity and such a wide variety of questions to answer. I've already been booed, but have been given some cheers too. Thanks for the suggestion to go there. Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 06/11/07 1:44 pm: I didn't miss the point about him being a non-citizen. It's in the second sentence of the final paragraph of your original post. I saw it the first time I read it. I just don't believe it to be a relevant fact to the topic, which is the fact that you believe that your friend was 'duped' into military service, while I believe he either made an educated decision or else must be lacking in intelligence. You say that he's highly intelligent, and I will asume that you are correct about that. Which means he knew EXACTLY what he was signing up for and decided to do it anyway. He wasn't tricked, lied to or cooerced against his will and knowledge into joining the US military. He chose to do it. And considering that the majority of combat in the Middle East is taking place in deserts in countries that are mostly lacking any credible naval forces, it seems unlikely that even if he is deployed to the Middle East he will see any combat. So if he doesn't want to see combat, he made the right choice of service. You know the Navy's first rule of combat don't you? Call the Marines. Elliot Clarification/Follow-up by CeeBee2 on 06/11/07 4:56 pm: Elliot -- No, I don't think Barlaham was duped. If anyone did research before signing up, it was he! In fact, he loves the Navy, has signed up for a fifth year, and is talking about maybe making a career out of it. He will become a citizen while serving and looks forward to "seeing the world". He realizes he could see combat someday, in that he will be on a warship in a combat area. He's sharp, smart, and looks real cute in his Navy blues.

Summary of Answers Received	Answered On	Answered By	Average Rating
1. Military Meets, Exceeds Recruiting Goals By PAULINE JELINEK...	06/08/07	tomder55
2. Ceebee, You are aware of the fact that the US military numb...	06/08/07	ETWolverine
3. Young people are attracted to the military for various reaso...	06/09/07	Yiddishkeit
4. Indeed, it is apparent that the Democratic Party's leftwa...	06/11/07	Dark_Crow
5. Col. Andy Bacevich is 100% wrong. Do the research! ...	07/04/07	HANK1

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