Interesting news.
The Pentagon says it has just finished the best recruiting year since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973.
Defense Department head of personnel Bill Carr says all services met their goals for active duty and reserve recruiting and that the quality of recruits improved during the budget year that ended Sept. 30.
He told a Pentagon press conference that it's because the department continued to spend strongly on finding recruits as fewer jobs were available in the civilian world due to the nation's economic problems.
2005 was the Army's worst recruitment year in two decades. The Army, the largest military branch, met its targets for 2006, but only after it dramatically loosened standards (like requiring a high school diploma). This year, the number of recruits with high school diplomas was 95 percent -- an 11 percent increase from 2008.
Can all that really be explained by the poor economy (it's been poor for a while) or better Pentagon PR and marketing?
Obama is a factor. Bank on it.