Pentagon can't get enough fresh blood

The U.S. military has warned that the stress of operations in Iraq and Afghan istan has raised the risk that the Pentagon will find it difficult to wage conflicts elsewhere in the world.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concluded in an annual “risk assessment” required by Con gress that the U.S. military is at “signi ficant risk” of being unable to prevail against enemies abroad in the manner that the Bush administration war plans mandate.

In the report, Myers offers the obligatory assertion that the U.S. military can accomplish any mission assigned to it. But he also tells Congress that, so long as U.S. troops are so heavily involved in campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, any additional mission will be longer and more difficult.

The United States has about 130,000 troops in Iraq and about 16,000 in Afghanistan as part of its global “war on terror.”

In an additional sign of the stress placed on U.S. forces, for three months the Army and the Marines have missed their recruiting targets. The numbers are alarming for military planners: The Army missed its April target by 42 percent. The targets for the Army Reserve and National Guard are also suffering.

Major Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, who directs the Army Recruiting Command, told the May 13 New York Times that the Army will likely begin next year with the fewest recruits ready for boot camp in at least a decade. He said that fewer than 10 percent of the approximately 80,000 new active-duty soldiers the Army needs next year are expected to be in the pipeline.

In response to the recruiting crises, abuses and misconduct by recruiters are on the rise. The Army has been forced to call an “Army Values Stand Down Day” across the country on May 20 in response to public outcry over revelations of unscrupulous tactics.

For instance, one Houston-based recruiter, Sgt. Thomas Kelt, left a message on a prospect’s cell phone telling him that he was obligated “by federal law” to meet with him and that if he missed his appointment, “we’ll have a warrant.”

Channel 11 News in Houston obtained a copy of the message and it was widely circulated over the Internet. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Houston refused to comment when asked about this practice. The audio of the message is available at www.nodraftnoway.org/recruiting.shtml.

This is not an isolated case. The Army has investigated 480 allegations of improper behavior by recruiters since Oct. 1, 2005. Eight recruiters have been relieved of duty and another 98 have been reprimanded.

Recruiting for Washington’s imperial wars is becoming a tough sell. Youth know now that enlisting in the military means that a tour of duty in Iraq is very likely. They also know that the Bush administration has lied about the justifications for the war. They see photos of young people their age who were killed in Iraq and they see young soldiers taking the fall for prisoner abuse policies that originated in the White House.

The Iraq War marks the first real test of the all-volunteer military in a lengthy combat environment. Some military analysts have begun arguing the case for the draft, which was abolished in 1973, if the military cannot meet its recruiting goals.

Lawrence Korb, an assistant defense secre tary in the Reagan administration, said that much depends on the success of recruiters. If they don’t succeed, it could force Congress to reconsider a draft—something no one, least of all the military, wants, he said.

The breaking point could come next year, Korb said, if troop levels in Iraq stay around 150,000 and there isn’t enough new blood in the Army pipeline.

As the Army continues to face this crisis in recruiting, counter-recruiting acti vists across the country are gearing up to shut down military recruiting and resist the draft.

No Draft, No Way has launched a summer campaign that will gather 100,000 signatures on the “I Refuse” anti-draft petition. They are also planning to produce thousands of Activists Toolkits, which will include a guidebook to counter-recruiting, an original DVD and new educational literature to be ready for the start of the new school year.