Feeling better, huh Wayne? ;)

Gee...a lot of words to tell us that the cost of recruiting is up during a period of record employment and a shooting war....do you really think that is something odd? I imagine it is difficult to find highly motivated, available, drug free young men and women with high moral standards and no previous trouble with the law, in great physical condition, drug free and willing to live in a tent and get shot at....Not to mention competing with the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines for these folks. The rest of the article really only talks about the high costs of war....which really is not a surprise either.

Boy, what a statement coming from a traitor to the country who feeds him and his family every day!

Here ya go...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1166096679.jpg

Randy

A few months ago in the letters area of WSJ's A section a writer said the answer to Army recruiting is to pay them more.

When I used to do contract work with NASA that was our running joke with government run programs, you do one of two things, throw more money at it or throw more men at it.

NASA was really good at this and they were rocket scientists, imagine what the military does?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

fintstone - Do you really think a majority of the recruits are coming from area's that are booming? The recruiters are scouring places like Albany, NY and Detriot where the economy is bleek and the best way out is to enlist with promises of a better life.

MY sis-in-laws ex enlisted, 10 years ago he was living in his car with no real prospect of a good lfe, his mother threw him out of the house when he was 17 because he stood up to his pedophile step dad. He was a trained fire fighter and could not find a job. So he enlisted, now he is career and loving it. Although he is over here in the states now training others to send them over to Iraq. I am not too sure he would be loving it if he was in Iraq.

This still awes me. The love that dare not speak it's name:)

Yes, and that's only one of the issues. The Army's standards for recruits varies according to the part of the country they're recruiting from. Southern recruits, since more southern men have traditionally volunteered, are of a higher standard, recruits from California, New York, and large cities tend to be recruited from a lower set of standards because the military tradition is lacking or next to non-existent. You'd have a hard time getting any recruiting sergeant to admit that, but it's true.

One of the attractions of the military is they put you in charge of really expensive, neat equipment at a very early age. In my father's P-38 squadron they had a replacement pilot arrive, qualified in the aircraft, and all of 18 years old. That was in the european theater too.

I served with a helicopter pilot that flew missions in Vietnam at age 19, in a UH-1M gunship.

Of course, the military loves these young guys, they'll do dangerous, sometimes suicidal, actions without thinking about it.

There's a problem with your statement, Joe, IT'S A LIE.

Hehe, Wayne. We are trying to win a war by half-assing it. Does this sound like another war that took place in the 70s?

The soldiers are working hard, but the actions and decisions issued from the top destroy the progress.

Well good for you, you stopped cashing the checks then. At least you're a man of principle now...kudos.

I'm sure that there's more then enough blame to go around on why the US Army is "out of position" when it comes to equipment for the current conflict. I went to the Congressional web site to check some voting records.

1) Just last week a bill which would have required the Sec. of Defense to report on the relevence of Congressional spending inititives to the fundimental DOD objectives was voted down with bi-partison support. The message -- congressional politics will trump DOD requirements. :(

2) Looking at the most recent defense appropriations bill H.R.5122, that was passed by both the House and the Senate, you can see where they are chosing to send the money. For example, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE FUNDING.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1166108084.jpg

(Note: the table is in decreasing pareto order)

After allocating 48% of the money to the Navy and Air Force, they at least had the foresight to admonish the Sec. of Defense in section 116... Looking at the Navy spending, where's it going???
The headlines look like this... For the Air Force, they look like this... Now while many of these programs help us get to where we are (ie. Successfully invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and removing the powers that be from office in those countries), most of them (excepting the AF's strategic airlift structure and maybe the supporting KC135E) don't help the soldier on the ground stop a suicide bomber, or win the hearts and minds of the population. So almost half the budgets gone and they haven't gotten down to mission critical stuff.

So as I understand it, the DOD is directed by Congress to allocate the priority distribution of the CVN-21 carriers to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan??? What's (s)he going to do with that against suicide bombers?

Note that I didn't need any pundits to point this stuff out to me, only about 15 or 20 minutes of honest research at non-partisan (U.S. Government in this case) web sites.

This reminds me of the musings of another great general and politician:
- Otto von Bismarck (1815 - 1898)

Yea right he stopped cashing the checks every month from the US Govt that allows him to continue to spout off the way he does.

He does not have the balls to do the right thing but he sure is brave on a computer...

Well done, John, truth in black and white.

I think it's pretty easy to see that these procurements are of the type desired during the height of the Cold War, and have nothing whatsoever to do with defending America, and everything to do with managing a worldwide empire.

Which is why we Americans need to cut this funding by about 90%.

Nah, I believe him. If Pat says he stopped cashing his goverment checks then I believe him. He's goofy but I don't think he's dishonest.

What government checks?

Further, if I were "cashing a government check" it would be earned, like from any other business. Contractual obligations are just that, contracts.

You seem to have difficulty with that concept, but do try to grasp it.

Now, if the government, federal or otherwise, ceased to exist, then I'd deal with that, it certainly does not exist so that it can pay money to me, or anyone else. If anything, the federal government does that in order to have a captive support group. Among which I do not count myself.

In short, you should approve of my desire to eliminate a constant drain on your resources, what is the reason you do not?

I just want some of that killer cheese they give out.

I agree about the contract, but you said the government doesn't help feed your family......Which if you cash their checks is a lie. There's no shame in it Pat, if you're on the governement take then so be it. I and others like me are more than happy to help you out.

Clearly, that's not true, that you can't usderstand that isn't my problem, it's yours.

Quote:

There's no shame in it Pat, if you're on the governement take then so be it.

Such vitriol underlying that statement, for shame.

Quote:

I and others like me are more than happy to help you out.

Relative you you, I have an excess of charity available, generated by my own labor, to give to you if I chose to do so. Your largest deficit is ignorance, which can be cured. If I thought your problem was stupidity, I'd not have the time to write this for you.

It took you that long to write that? I'm disappointed.

Anyway, you're welcome. I hope the extra bucks we give you make your life a little easier.

I know it's hard for some people to say thank you, so I won't hold its' absence against you.