[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12577-12578]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     U.S. MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION, WHAT IS GOING WRONG?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I can remember what it felt like being here 
in this Congress as we were first debating the invasion of Iraq. And I 
remember asking the question, if it did not go well, as the President 
of the United States and Secretary of Defense said it would, who would 
assume the long-term burden of security and policing in that country? 
And I can remember some very respected Members of this Chamber saying 
to me privately, do not worry, Marcy. You can buy your way to victory 
over there. You can buy anything you want. You can even buy people. You 
can even buy troops.
  Now, 2 years later we witness daily the results of that arrogance. 
All the money being handed out, the billions of dollars on the streets, 
the Iraqi policing force cannot even get up three battalions to defend 
their own country. We ought to think about that. And filling the gap 
are our troops, God bless them, wanting to give to our Nation, 
upholding what this President and Congress has asked them to do, an 
administration that, in my judgment, has been far too careless and 
reckless with their lives.
  Now we are being told that 160,000 Iraqis have now been trained, and 
yet all the professionals tell us if you can count three battalions 
over there that are ready to fight, you are doing well.
  So tonight, Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the disturbing state of 
recruiting for our U.S. Armed Services, particularly in the United 
States Army, which is bearing the brunt of that conflict.
  The newspapers report this week also that the applications for our 
Nation's service academies are down all over the country. This is not a 
good sign for regular order in our military.
  While the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force met their recruiting 
goals just for the month of May, the Army fell woefully short. They 
were able to bring in just 75 percent of their monthly goal. Their 
target was 6,700, and they managed to recruit 5,039 young Americans. 
This is fully 1,661 recruits less than they need and that would meet 
the Army's goal to maintain their end-strength for this year.
  Without any public notice, the U.S. Army lowered its recruiting goals 
in May, by the way, from 8,050 to 6,700; and I calculate that the Army 
thus fell 38 percent short of their real recruiting goal. And we ask 
our services how are they going to meet their ultimate goal for this 
year. They are currently 39,036 recruits away from hitting their 
ultimate number. And they have not had a monthly target that exceeded 
8,000. So how on Earth do we expect that we can meet the goal of having 
units that are fully recruited?
  In terms of year-to-day mission achieved, the Army Reserve, Army 
National Guard, Naval Reserve and Marine Corps were all nearly 20 
percent below the number needed to achieve their yearly goals. So now 
we hear that the Army wants to offer an additional enlistment bonus of 
$40,000 per recruit. And Army Times reports that the Army is proposing 
a pilot program to provide up to $50,000 for home mortgages for those 
who sign up for active duty.
  I have to tell you, being from a family of Marines and infantrymen, I 
do not think that the people of this country want to be bought either. 
There is a code in the military of duty, honor, and country. That is 
priceless. And to see these kinds of numbers being waved around cuts to 
the quick for a Member like myself. And throwing more and more money at 
our college students who are indebted, there is something that seems 
rather coarse and against the military code of honor that we have all 
come to respect and what we see the current Department of Defense 
doing.
  I do not fault the young men and women of our country when they balk 
at joining the Armed Forces this year, be it active duty, Guard or 
Reserve. This is not what they had been led to believe would happen in 
Iraq. They have seen over 1,700 Americans perish, 12,861 soldiers 
terribly wounded. And we have seen 70 daily attacks on average now in 
Iraq.
  And 67 percent of our active duty Army troops have been deployed at 
least twice since 2001, and 30 percent of our National Guard and 24 
percent of our Reserve troops were deployed more than once in the same 
time frame. This has been so hard on families.
  Mr. Speaker, I will continue later this week with additional 
information on what is happening in our beloved Armed Forces in this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the disturbing state of 
recruiting for the U.S. Armed Services, particularly in the United 
States Army. Post reports today that applications are down at our 
nation's service academies as well.
  On Friday June 10th, the Department of Defense released the May 
recruiting and retention statistics for the active and reserve 
components. These numbers display a negative pattern for certain 
components of our forces--one that is very distressing to this Member 
of Congress.
  While the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force met their recruiting goals 
for the month of May, the Army fell woefully short. They were able to 
bring in just 75 percent of their monthly goal--5,039 of the target 
6,700.
  This is a full 1,661 recruits less than the Army needs and means that 
the Army must to maintain their end-strength for FY 2005. And this 
percentage is mild compared to what it should have been.
  Without any public notice, the U.S. Army lowered its recruiting goals 
for May from 8,050 to 6,700. Using these numbers, I calculate that the 
Army would have fallen 38 percent short of their recruiting goal. 
Thirty-eight percent Mr. Speaker. This raises many, many questions. Why 
was this target goal lowered with no explanation? How does the Army 
expect to meet their congressionally mandated end-strength totals in 
the last four months of this fiscal year?
  The Army is currently 39,036 recruits away from hitting this number. 
That is just under 10,000 new recruits per month. Mr. Speaker, the Army 
has not recruited this many people in a single month all year. They 
have not had a monthly target that exceeded 8,000. How on earth do they 
expect to make this happen?
  And this shortfall is just for the active duty component. The Army 
Reserve recruited 82 percent of their May monthly goal, the Marine 
Corps Reserve just 88 percent of their monthly goal and the Navy 
Reserve brought aboard 94 percent of their monthly goal.
  This is not a new trend. As of March 31st, four of the Reserve 
components were still falling significantly short of their recruiting 
objectives. In terms of year-to-date mission achieved, the Army 
Reserve, Army National Guard, Naval Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve 
were all nearly 20 percent below the number needed to achieve their 
yearly goals. This information should be frightening to every Member of 
Congress. Not only is the shortfall affecting the active duty 
components, it is tricking down to our Guard and Reserve as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that this speaks volumes. So what steps have 
been taken to increase recruiting for the services?
  The Army wants to double the enlistment bonus for certain hard to 
fill jobs to $40,000 (as reported by USA Today on June 10) and the Army 
Times reports that the ``Army is proposing a pilot program to provide 
up to $50,000 in home mortgage help for those who sign up for active 
duty.'' All this on top of having spent nearly $200 million on positive 
and upbeat television ads and increased their recruiter pool by 1,000. 
Moreover, the Army National Guard has announced that they will add 
another 500 recruiters for a total plus-up of

[[Page 12578]]

1,900 (to 4,600) in 2005. The Army Reserve is adding 734 for a total of 
1,774.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that simply increasing the number of 
military recruiters and throwing more and more money in the faces of 
our nation's high-school and college students is going to solve the 
recruiting shortfall.
  No, we need to dig deep to understand the factors that are causing 
these shortfalls and address the situation there.
  A Congressional Research Service report on this very issue notes that 
the United States has become embroiled in several major military 
operations overseas ``that have dramatically increased the operations 
tempo of the military services. This has been especially true in the 
Army, which has shouldered the bulk of the manpower burden associated 
with the occupation of Iraq. Additionally, more military personnel have 
been killed or wounded in Iraq than in any other conflict since the 
Vietnam War. Many observers have expressed concern that the current 
operations tempo, and the level of casualties in Iraq, might lead to 
lower recruiting and retention rates, thereby jeopardizing the vitality 
of today's all volunteer military.''
  There cannot be any disagreement that the Global War on Terror 
(specifically operations in Iraq and Afghanistan) has taken its toll on 
military recruitment and retention. And I'm not sure that anyone over 
at the Department of Defense is listening.
  I don't fault young men and women when they balk at joining the armed 
forces this year--be it active duty, guard or reserve. This is not what 
they had been led to believe would happen in Iraq.
  Not when we have seen more than 1,700 Americans perish in Iraq since 
March of 2003.
  Not when 12,861 soldiers have been wounded in action.
  Not when last month saw approximately 70 daily attacks by insurgents 
in Iraq.
  Not when 67 percent of Active Duty Army troops have been deployed at 
least twice between 9/01 and 1/05.
  Not when 30 percent of National Guard and 24 percent of Reserve 
troops were also deployed more than once in that same time-frame.
  Not when we are sending troops to Iraq without the best armor, 
vehicles and equipment possible.
  And not when this Administration routinely shortchanges the amount of 
money we should spend on Veterans in this nation all while mismanaging 
an unpopular war.
  Mr. Speaker, our recruiting problems stem directly from the 
Administration's poor plan for Iraq. The young men and women in this 
great nation are not opposed to serving our nation in times of need. We 
know they are quite willing to sacrifice for the greater good. But I 
think it is undeniable that they do not believe protecting the oil 
pipelines by Iraq and unilaterally and preemptively attacking a nation 
that posed no strategic threat to the United States is a part of the 
greater good.

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