The Army’s “stand-down” order declaring Friday a day of ethics training for its 7,500 recruiters hints at how much rules have been bent to meet quotas.
It’s the first time recruiters have been told to stand down in almost two decades.
The war in Iraq, which has claimed more than 1,600 American lives, has been cited as a key factor in slumping recruiting figures.
Since the draft ended in 1973, the all-volunteer Army has worked reasonably well – until recently. According to Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, head of Army recruiting, only 9.9 percent of the 80,000 new active- duty soldiers needed for the 2006 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 have signed up. Normally, the Army has about a third of the recruits it needs lined up.
At the same time, recruiting abuses are way up: Of 480 cases probed since last Oct. 1, the Army has deemed 91 to be founded in fact, compared with 30 to 60 valid cases per year since 2000.
Recruiters in Colorado and other states have been accused of helping enlistees obtain fake diplomas, ignoring criminal backgrounds and disqualifying medical conditions, and telling wannabe soldiers how to thwart drug tests.
Also, some enlistees complained of being sent to Iraq after recruiters promised they wouldn’t. Such naiveté is as pardonable as it is astounding.
Cutting corners is a recipe for disaster. During the Vietnam War, for instance, Project 100,000 (an effort to add 100,000 soldiers to the ranks) proclaimed normally ineligible draft registrants fit for duty. Some of those draftees had such poor reading skills that manuals had to be printed in comic- book form. Sending such men into combat proved a cruel and, in some cases fatal, blunder.
Last week, the Army began offering 15- month active-duty hitches – shorter than the standard three- or four-year stints. After their 15 months on active duty, the soldiers will serve two years in the reserve or National Guard. They can finish out their eight-year obligations in the ready reserve (which doesn’t require attending drills) or by serving as AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteers.
Some critics say the short enlistments aren’t long enough to train a soldier for modern high-tech combat. Also, after basic and specialty training, that leaves little usable active-duty time. Unless, of course, the Army considers 15-monthers more expendable than other soldiers.
The Army’s manpower shortages are yet another example of the Pentagon’s failure to plan adequately for the war in Iraq, which has lasted longer than anybody expected. We hope that in its desperation to fill the ranks, the Army doesn’t yield to the temptation to lower standards or try half-baked recruiting gimmicks. And we hope the recruiters learn some good lessons on Friday.
