Down economy has been good for the military

The down economy is having at least one benefit: It is helping rebuild the U.S. military. The ongoing conflicts and Iraq and Afghanistan have been depleting military ranks. But more Americans are now joining the military, lured by a steady paycheck, benefits and training, the New York Times reported. All active-duty and reserve forces met or exceeded their recruitment goals last fiscal year, for the first time since 2004. And the recruitment numbers have continued to increase so far this fiscal year.

6 Comments

  1. Jed
    Posted January 21, 2009 at 6:51 am | Permalink

    Oh! So that’s why they wrecked the economy. They needed cannon fodder and a draft would have been cumbersome and unpopular.

  2. TomPaine
    Posted January 21, 2009 at 9:08 am | Permalink

    the wars are winding down, and for the most part the military is relatively safe

  3. Regular
    Posted January 21, 2009 at 9:17 am | Permalink

    I’m very proud of today’s military members. They are in a lot of ways, far superior because of training and technology compared to us older military members.

    As Obama stated in his speech, to be part of the military is to “sacrifice for something greater than yourself.” He was referring to service in general, but used the military as the beacon of the ultimate in being ‘part of something greater than yourself.”

    Medical people, those who provide food or shelter the needy in third world countries or here at home fall into this category.

    KansasSam falls into this category.

    Be part of something larger than yourself is the true spirit of service and sacrifice.

  4. Pleefer
    Posted January 21, 2009 at 9:25 am | Permalink

    Yawn.

    Youth brigades, compulsory service and arm bands.

    Gotta COMPLETELY disagree with you Tom, the wars will be getting a little bit larger.

    Iran or Bust!

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kerry-picket/2008/11/11/ben-smith-interview-rahm-emanuel-compulsory-service-plan-will-media-ig

    I look forward to saying “I told you so” once again.

    Sooner or later you people will wake up.

    First they came for the…

  5. TomPaine
    Posted January 21, 2009 at 9:52 am | Permalink

    Pleef, Iraq has already given us deadlines to leave, and the military is still relatively safe, it only took six years for the casualties in Iraq to equal one day of WWII, or WW1 or one of many obscure civil war battles. And a draft wont happen for alot of reasons

  6. Pleefer
    Posted January 21, 2009 at 11:47 am | Permalink

    Well, let’s wait and see what the dollar and our economy does.

    Hope you’re right.