Army aims to coax back former troops

[Judi Lynn]

Army aims to coax back former troops
Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:01 PM ET

By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, fresh off missing its latest annual recruiting goal, has launched an unprecedented effort to coax former troops to sign up again for active-duty military service, officials said on Tuesday.

The Army this month began contacting 78,000 people who previously served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to pitch them on the idea of leaving behind their civilian lives and returning for another stint in uniform, said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon.

Unlike in the past, they now can return to the Army without giving up their previous rank or undergo the rigors of basic training, said Hilferty, who described it as the first program of its kind for the Army.

The Army fell about 7,000 short of its goal of sending 80,000 recruits into basic training in fiscal 2005, which ended September 30. Officials attributed the shortfall to the Iraq war and other factors. The fiscal 2006 recruiting goal again is set at 80,000.
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-29T230102Z_01_SPI982564_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-RECRUITING.xml

[LSparkle]

1. NO basic training? After HOW MANY years out of the service?

This does not make it look like we're serious about "winning the war." Like a previous post about a 53-year-old former reservist being called up, this proves that we are scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with troops for this quagmire. If people think this is such a "noble cause," they ought to bring back the darned draft and at least ACT like they want to win this mess.

[MADem]

8. Other service veterans will have to go through OSVET training

Unlike in the past, they also will be exempted from basic training. Those who previously served in the Navy, Air Force and Marines would have to participate in a four-week course to transition them to Army service from their previous branch of the military.

Bonuses ranging from $5,000 to $19,000 are being offered and the Army also dropped a rule that had blocked former soldiers from getting training in a different career field than they previously had worked.

Former Coast Guard personnel also can take part in the program.

The Army provides the bulk of ground troops fighting in an Iraq war in which more than 2,100 U.S. troops have died in the 2-1/2 years of fighting.

[matcom]

2. can't WAIT to get MY letter

:eyes:

waste the paper boys. go ahead. i'll have a UNIQUE response for you

[LiberalFighter]

3. Are you sure it will be unique??? Maybe many will have the same thoughts

[Renew Deal]

4. C'mon, how many others will send back

a buttcrack smiley? :7

[LiberalFighter]

14. That?? Probably few

[sarcasmo]

31. Me too Matcom. I was released in 89 and have a motor pool related MOS.

I know they would want me back, but no bonus in the world is worth putting up with those idiots again.

[High Plains]

5. Fat chance n/t

[Orsino]

6. In my day, one could return after up to five years...

...and not have to go through Basic again, but your former rank would have dribbled away. I went through my advanced training with a few former E-5s who had come back as E-3s and E-4s.

[Stand and Fight]

7. Now I know why they've been contacting me!

I got an email on Monday from some Master Sergeant. S/He told me they needed my current address and phone number. I work for a defense contractor, so that's how s/he was able to find me so easily. This was amusing, considering the fact that I've been out for a while. I'm not even a member of the Inactive Ready Reserves.

It gets even stranger though. I had a recruiter call me last week and say, "Sergeant B -- how would you like to get back into the Army?" So, I politely told him, "No way in hell, Staff. This war in Iraq is bullshit, the president is an idiot, and the only way I'd ever sign up again is as an officer. No dice. Thank you and good night."

Now I know why. They've really got to be unorganized if one office has my email address and the other my phone number. I got out nearly two years ago and I have not looked back since. At 27 years old, I simply am not looking to die in a war that is illegal, immoral, and likely to only get worse.

[MADem]

9. Not unorganized--ya know what I think happened?

I think, given that you say that you are a fresh faced 27 year old, that you are PRIME MEAT. Odds are good you'd pass your physical, ship with no problem, and the successful recruiter who rounds you up gets a pat on the head for that month--good job!! Now get your ass back out there!!!

I think those two folks that called you BOTH had the list with your name on it (it is entirely likely that one STOLE IT from the other--it is a recruiting term known as "poaching" and when one is DESPERATE to make goal, it happens!!). I'll bet everyone else on that list got double-called, as well!

[Stand and Fight]

15. I'm sure you're on to something.

However, I pulled out my DD-214 to verify if I owed the Army any time whatsoever. Guess what it said?

RESERVE OBLIG. TERM. DATE
Year 0000 | Month 00 | Day 00

Plus, I am also a disabled veteran, so they'd have to fudge the paperwork a lot to get me back in!

[trogdor]

26. I'm 42 years old and 35 pounds overweight.

Doubt they'd take me back...or would they? The idea of doing PT twice a day and eating nothing but rabbit food doesn't appeal to me one single bit, though.

Actually, it's not the rigors of Basic Training that puts me off; it's getting treated like a new private, peeling potatoes, scrubbing floors with a toothbrush, getting dropped for pushups for having a piece of lint on my otherwise flawlessly spit-shined boots, etc. I think if I were to fall on my head and sign up again, I'd probably demand some kind of refresher training before getting thrown to the lions.

[smb]

22. Contact Info? I Got Your Contact Info Right Here!

S/He told me they needed my current address and phone number.

Really, now, how hard is it to find a current address and phone number for a local massage parlor or something?

[Stand and Fight]

27. Funny stuff...

Feeling a little dense this morning. Had to read that several times to get your point.

:rofl:

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

Former soldiers: Uncle Sam wants you, again

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10257413/from/RS.2/

Updated: 9:48 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2005
<snip>
WASHINGTON - For former soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who might be toying with the idea of getting back into uniform, the Army has a new offer: Join us and regain your old rank without repeating basic training.

It’s the latest twist in the Army’s pitch for recruits at a time when wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making it increasingly difficult to enlist young people and meet the Army’s need for 80,000 new soldiers a year.

“It’s common sense,” says Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman. For the cost of mailing a brochure to targeted former service members, the Army can open a door that had been jammed shut before.

The Army previously had welcomed back former service members, but only under conditions that made it an unattractive proposition to most, namely that they would lose their prior rank and were required to take basic training again. Starting this month, the Army sent mailings to 78,000 people who left the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps less than five years ago, including 7,000 officers, as first reported Monday by the private Army Times newspaper.

<snip>

[aquart]

10. So their best offer is 'get killed quicker'?

Does this seem like a good deal?

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

11. Shows just how desperate the military has gotten to get "new"

recruits.

[zann725]

25. They closed a Recruitment Office near here...that had been there 20 yrs+

(No "forwarding address" could be seen on the windows of the now empty building.) Guess they just couldn't meet their rent "goal" anymore.

[Hyernel]

12. Calling all young Republicans!!!!!

Oh wait....none of them ever served in the first place.

Hyernel

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. How is operation Yellow Elephant doing? Lots of young Repubs

enlisting?

Oh, really? That's too bad.

[sofa king]

16. This isn't good for new recruits, either.

If they're trying to sucker previous servers back in with the promise of no basic and restoration of rank, that means that all the people who just joined up are that much more likely to go straight into combat jobs.

To my mind, this makes signing up as fresh meat even less attractive.

Operation Yellow Elephant doesn't seem likely to get a boost out of this, since so many of our Republican friends missed the call the first time.

[symbolman]

17. Hell, if they'll give me my old rank and job

and 20 grand I might even go join up.. give them a bunch of shit and have them throw me out again with 20 grand in my pocket..

could be fun, and I could get my back fixed first..

No reason to send me to Iraq, I was in Procurement, between me and Finance we OWNED the base and everyone on it..

I once got a purchasing document to buy carpet for a general's doghouse so I called the General up from my office in Purchasing and said, "Ah, General, this is Purchasing and we aren't going to buy any DAMN Carpet for your dog's house with military money.."

The General said, "Do you KNOW WHO you are talking to son?"

And I said, "Yes, you're General such and such.. do YOU know who YOU are talking to?"

He said, "No.."

So I said, "Then FUCK YOU General.." and hung up the phone :)

I immediately RAN to my Major's office and said, "I think I sort of screwed up, but here's the purchasing document - are we supposed to buy carpet for a General's doghouse?"

Then I explained what had been said.. he half grinned and said, "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of this.."

One of my best days in the Service - I was trying to get out anyway and it seemed like a good opportunity :)

[chknltl]

24. Best post I've read all day symbolman!

....and in hindsight: How dare you keep that poor dog from having wall to wall in doggie den? You should have allowed the General his canine carpet and sent along an investigative reporter from the local newspaper to cover the grand opening ceremony. Who knows, this, "General in the Doghouse" story might have made "60 Minutes"... I am sure the good General would have been quite pleased with THAT!!!

Thank you for posting this symbolman, and thank you for your service to our country. Looks to me like your pay was money well spent by the American tax-payer.
:patriot:

[Earth_First]

18. Not me.

I just barely recieved my 214 before the stop loss. No way in HELL are they going to indefinately reenlist me to fight some politician's war. I was nearly railroaded out of service to begin with, so if my enlistment wasn't worth it to you the first time, tough sh*t, eat sh*t.

[TiredOfLies]

19. a different story then Rummy

tells, he claims people are tripping over each to re-inlist.

[BiggJawn]

20. We got a local boy just itchin' to get back there...

Saw him on Teeeee-Veeee this AM. How they got the Kool-Aid stain off his lip, I can't say.

Wants to go back, said we haven't been hearing the "whole story" about what's going on over there.

Why, in the year he was there, they buit THREE schools, supplied a local market with gennies, and got power resotred to a WHOLE village!

How many thousands were killed and maimed while he was playing "Bob the Builder"?

[0007]

21. It takes all kind. Like the freepers being in love with John Wayne

and hating Cindy Sheehan in the same breath.

Support the WAR Donate a Son

[VaYallaDawg]

23. I'm sure there'll be a stampede of young republicans.

But as so many of these folks pointed out - they never served anyway.

[superconnected]

29. It may be the old rw nutjobs who served for a few years in their

early twenties who stampede to get in, for patriotic and "Christian" beliefs.

I bet a lot of them will be gleeful they get a chance to go in again.

[superconnected]

28. isn't this nice.

I read how they take entrance test scores as low as 20 now, a few weeks ago in the news. Anyone can get in the military and it no longer takes a h.s. diploma.

So basically the people already IN the army, got in under better standards, and now get to have co-workers who are idiots, and bosses that are probably physically slothish rw nutjobs who re-joined to get to kill muslims for patriotism.

Our poor troops.

[No Exit]

30. Good! Then the heroic ex-servicemen GW Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld

can re-up and get over there and lead their troops in battle!

I can definitely picture Twatmouth Rumsfeld "riding a tank at a general's rank, while the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank."