The Scramble for New Recruits
Amid an unpopular war, the Pentagon faces a formidable challenge in convincing young men and women to volunteer for military service. How are recruiters filling the ranks?
How is recruitment going?
After several bad years, all branches of the military reached their targets in 2006. The Army signed up 80,635; the Navy recruited 36,679; the Marine Corps, 32,337; and the Air Force, 30,889. This was a huge relief for the Pentagon because, with the Iraq war, recruitment has become steadily more difficult. And since the military is all volunteer, a shortage of troops has enormous military and political repercussions. Indeed, trying to refill the ranks solely through recruitment in wartime is rare. The Spanish-American War, the Mexican-American War, and the Gulf War are the only major conflicts since 1775 that did not rely, at least in part, on conscripts.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Why Roman epic Those About to Die has split the critics
Talking Point Sword and sandals miniseries starring Anthony Hopkins puts spectacle above story
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Why is China stockpiling resources?
The Explainer The superpower has been amassing huge reserves of commodities at great cost despite its economic downturn
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Paraguay's dangerous dalliance with cryptocurrency
Under The Radar Overheating Paraguayans are pushing back over power outages caused by illegal miners
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published