We're getting real close to the draft now. The media and the Pentagon are pushing the stories that will soften up the Congress. This one talks about the poor Army recruiters, who are going AWOL and going nuts.
NY Times Frame: we need the draft, because the recruiters are having a stressful time.
Pentagon Frame: All-volunteer Army is finished, the volunteer force was never meant to be used in a prolonged war.
My frame: The media and the Pentagon knew all this BEFORE the election and covered up the fact that staying in Iraq through 2006 means a draft by June.
For Army Recruiters, a Hard Toll From a Hard Sell
The Army's recruiters are being challenged with one of the hardest selling jobs the military has asked of them in American history, and many say the demands are taking a toll.
A recruiter in New York said pressure from the Army to meet his recruiting goals during a time of war has given him stomach problems and searing back pain. Suffering from bouts of depression, he said he has considered suicide. Another, in Texas, said he had volunteered many times to go to Iraq rather than face ridicule, rejection and the Army's wrath.
An Army chaplain said he had counseled nearly a dozen recruiters in the past 18 months to help them cope with marital troubles and job-related stress.
"There were a couple of recruiters that felt they were having nervous breakdowns, literally," said Maj. Stephen Nagler, a chaplain who retired in March after serving at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, where the New York City recruiting battalion is based.
Two dozen recruiters nationwide were interviewed about their experiences over four months. Ten spoke with The New York Times even after an Army official sent an e-mail message advising all recruiters not to speak to this reporter, who was named. Most asked for anonymity to avoid being disciplined.
A handful who spoke said they were satisfied with their jobs. They said they took pride in seeing awkward, unfocused teenagers transform into confident soldiers and relished an opportunity to contribute to the Army effort.
But most told similar tales: of loving the military, of working hard to complete a seemingly impossible task, of struggling to carry the nation's burden at a time of anxiety and stress.
The careers and self-esteem of recruiters rise and fall on their ability to fulfill a mission, said current and former Army officials and military experts who were also interviewed.
Recruiters said falling short often generates a barrage of angry correspondence, formal reprimands, threats or even demotion.
"The recruiter is stuck in the situation where you're not going to make mission, it just won't happen," the New York recruiter said. "And you're getting chewed out every day for it. It's horrible." He said the assignment was more strenuous than the time he was shot at while deployed in Africa.
At least 37 members of the Army Recruiting Command, which oversees enlistment, have gone AWOL since October 2002, Army figures show. And, in what recruiters consider another sign of stress, the number of improprieties committed - signing up unqualified people to meet quotas or giving bonuses or other enlistment benefits to recruits not eligible for them - has increased, Army documents show.
"They don't necessarily have real bullets flying at them," said Major Nagler. "But there are different kind of bullets they need to contend with - the bullets of not producing numbers, of having a station commander shoot them down."
The Army is seeking 101,200 new active-duty Army and Reserve soldiers this year alone to replenish the ranks in Iraq and Afghanistan, elsewhere around the world and at home. That means each of the Army's 7,500 recruiters faces the grind of an unyielding human math, a quota of two new recruits a month, at a time of extended war without a draft.
37 recruiters AWOL since 2002!
I believe these stories mean the President will soon go to the Congress, and with a new Skills Draft law, ask for reauthorization of the draft. On March 31st, the Director of the Selective Service reports to the Pentagon that the agency is ready to open all 1,980 offices within 75 days of reauthorization and that, FOR THE FIRST TIME, the Alternative Service will be ready to induct COs within 96 days of reauthorization.
http://sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html