Washington Post June 29, 2005
What the Army did in May was reduce the monthly goal from 8,050 to 6,700 - then they only recruited a little over 5,000. They did expect better results in the Summer, so the goal for June was lowered to 5,650 and they recruited 6,150. This was an anticipated monthly increase because school let out.
But for all the games they are playing with the monthly goals, the annual goal is still 80,000 by September 30. To meet their annual goal they need to recruit almost 33,000 recruits in July, August and September. The 5,000 a month they had in May is a realistic goal, so they will end the fiscal year about 15,000 recruits short on their need of 80,000. That will be an 18% shortfall in recruiting over the year, and the big drop has been in 2005.
The key is that we do not have the troops required to continue the Iraq war much longer. Our choice is to go to a draft or get out of Iraq. The first is not going to happen, so no matter how effective the Iraqi troops are, we will be drawing down our numbers in Iraq beginning in about January 2006.
Kos at Daily Kos discusses this, but he links to the New York Times, a publication which promises to become a great deal more internet unfriendly soon.
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