Bleak U.S. job market boosts military recruitment

[lovuian]

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59C5O320091013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

The United States already has 67,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 119,000 in Iraq.

Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

"For the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components, active and reserve, met their number as well as their quality goals," said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.

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We won't need a draft

[earth mom]

1. So where all those great jobs Obama was going to bring to the country?

:grr:

[Triana]

2. well that may explain the "ho-hum", "do-nothing" attitude about it then...

..keeps the level of cannon fodder high.