[R-G] Pentagon officials report strongest recruiting season in four years

[Richard Menec]

(who needs the draft when you have a recession, and when costs of higher 
education are unaffordable?)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28019406/

Associated Press         Dec. 2, 2008

Soldiers choose war over bleak economy

Pentagon officials report strongest recruiting season in four years

FORT RILEY, Kan. - Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly 
streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one 
died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his 
chances in this brutal job market.

Nyhus re-enlisted last Wednesday and in so doing joined the growing ranks of 
those choosing to stay in the U.S. military because of the bleak economy.

"In the Army, you're always guaranteed a steady paycheck and a job," said 
the 21-year-old Nyhus. "Deploying's something that's going to happen. That's 
a fact of life in the Army - a fact of life in the infantry."

In 2008, as the stock market cratered and the housing market collapsed, more 
young members of the Army, Air Force and Navy decided to re-up. While 
several factors might explain the rise in re-enlistments, including a 
decline in violence in Iraq, Pentagon officials acknowledge that bad news 
for the economy is usually good news for the military.

In fact, the Pentagon just completed its strongest recruiting year in four 
years.

"We do benefit when things look less positive in civil society," said David 
Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "What difficult 
economic times give us, I think, is an opening to make our case to people 
who we might not otherwise have."

Retention rate rising The retention rate of early-career soldiers in the 
Army has risen steadily over the past four years and now stands 20 
percentage points higher than it was in fiscal 2004. As for the Navy and the 
Air Force, early- and mid-career sailors and airmen re-enlisted at a higher 
rate in October than during the same period in 2007. The Marine Corps was 
not immediately able to provide comparative figures on re-enlistments.

Alex Stewart joined the Army two years ago, when the factory where he worked 
as a welder started laying off. He was sent to Afghanistan with the 82nd 
Airborne Division, which suffered 87 deaths last year, the highest total 
suffered by the 20,000-member unit since the fighting in Iraq and 
Afghanistan began.

When his hitch was up in earlier this year, the 32-year-old from Grand 
Rapids, Mich., didn't hesitate to re-up for five more years.

"I want a stable life for my wife in a very shaky economy," Stewart said. 
"There were no other options."

Stewart's new assignment will take him to Germany, where he will serve as a 
truck driver, though it is always possible he could be sent back into 
combat.

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