MILITARY RECRUITING

A lot of folks in the blogosphere and the MSM are weighing in on the issue of military recruiting over the last few days, mostly because of the recent reports about the shortfall in recruiting.

Today, Max Boot in the LA Times and Bob Herbert in the NY Times write about the problem from very different perspectives.

LT Smash has an extensive blog post today on the issue of counter-recruiting, a new strategy by the anti-war folks to bring the war to an end by ensuring military defeat.

These counter-recruiters often protest that they're just telling the students "the other side of the story." But in practice, they're actively campaigning to keep military recruiters away from potential recruits, by restricting their access to campus, and distributing literature designed to scare students away from considering military service. Here's a sample:

Recruiters don't talk a lot about war in their sales pitch. Many soldiers who were sent to the Persian Gulf, Somalia and the Balkans never thought they would end up risking their lives in such places. Recruiters never tell you how discrimination is a serious problem in the military. People of color are more likely to be assigned low-level jobs and passed over for promotion. They are more likely to end up on the front line in combat as well. In the military, women still are not treated as equals, and two out of every three of them are sexually harassed.

This is unmitigated bull****. Nobody signs up for the military with the expectation that they will never have to go in harm's way. This is absurd, and an insult to the intelligence of everyone who has ever worn the uniform.

The military is probably one of the most racially integrated institutions in the United States. As a military officer, I have followed orders of men and women from just about every race and creed. Indeed, when I first put on the uniform the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was none other than General Colin Powell.

The military is the closest thing to a pure meritocracy that most people will ever experience. The process of "boot camp" is universal; it breaks down all barriers of race, culture, religion, and wealth. The bonds forged under the pressure cooker of military indoctrination are much stronger than any of the pre-existing prejudices that recruits may harbor.

As a former Army enlisted man (1986-89) I can also attest to the fact that the Army is as close to a meritocracy as exists in society today. While people bring their prejudices with them into the organization, the Army works very hard to erase those prejudices, along with all sorts of other concepts that are acceptable in civilian life, but detrimental to the Army's mission. You don't like taking orders from a (Black, Hispanic, White, Asian, Female, etc.), too bad. We're all green, my friend. Your status in the institution can be seen on your uniform, not on your skin.

But, as LT Smash says, the goal of the counter-recruiters is not to spread the truth (although I don't doubt that many of them believe this stuff), but rather to deprive the military of recruits, forcing the political leadership of the country to either end the mission in Iraq, or re-institute the draft. Either way, the anti-war movement wins. Oh, and lest we forget, Osama Bin Laden, Zarqawi, and the rest of the head-choppers win, too.