Why do I get the sense that a draft is inevitable?
"Army to ask Guard for recruiting help; Soldiers to get a $2,000 bonus for each sign-up" by Lolita C. Baldor/Associated Press August 29, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Army, struggling to meet recruitment goals in the midst of a long and unpopular war in Iraq, is turning to the National Guard for help in signing up would-be soldiers in hometowns across America.
Army leaders are quietly working out final details of a program that would give bonuses of $2,000 per recruit to any National Guard soldier who brings somebody into the active-duty Army.
Army Secretary Pete Geren disclosed the plan in an interview with the Associated Press, calling it an innovative effort to get broader reach into local communities:
"[The Guard members are] much more in contact with the civilian population than the active-duty soldier is. So they give us reach into a larger segment of the community on a personal level, a one-to-one basis, than we get through our recruiting relationships."
National Guard "recruiting assistants" already earn bonuses for signing up new members of the Guard, and one former Marine was so successful that he earned nearly $100,000.
[All this money for war, but nothing for health care, education, etc, etc.
Don't you get sick of eating shit, Amurka?]
Under the new plan, a recruit would join the Guard but indicate that he or she is intending to shift to active duty. After the recruits finish basic training, they would either sign up for 30, 36, or 48 months in the active Army, or change their mind and simply stay in the Guard.
[What?]
The Army secretary said the impact of the new Guard program would be felt next year when Guard soldiers will "become an important part of the active recruiting force." The secretary said "they would recruit soldiers into the active component," adding that the recruits would then have continuing obligations in the Reserves.
The Army initially expects to gain about 1,600 recruits next year through what they're calling the Active First program, according to Lieutenant Colonel Ron Walls, chief of enlisted recruiting and retention for the Army National Guard.
Guard officials see the new plan as a boost for them, even though it could remove soldiers from the Army Guard ranks and shift them into active-duty positions for 30 to 48 months.
Walls: "It's a win-win for both the Army and the National Guard. [While the active Army gets a new soldier], we gain some [recruiting] growth immediately, and in the long run we gain a higher readiness level."
[Yeah, we are gonna need 'em once we are embroiled in a full-scale active war with Iran (after the bombing)]
Under the proposal, recruits who come in under the Active First program will be counted toward the Guard's recruitment goals. Also, the active Army would pay the bonus to the Guard soldier that got the new recruit.
Walls said that, in the end, "unless [the recruits] want to make a career out of active duty, they will return to the Guard."
Guard officials also see this as a way to reach people who might be open to a military career, but are looking for a full-time job, not just a part-time Guard position.
[And it will be the ONLY JOBS WE HAVE TO OFFER!
Soldiering or Slaving!]
Guard members who have gone through the recruiting assistant program receive a $1,000 bonus for each person they sign up and another $1,000 when the recruit leaves for basic training. More than 100,000 Guard soldiers have gone through the recruiter program.
Both the Guard and the active-duty Army have struggled with recruiting, as the United States heads into its seventh year at war."
[Yup, we are all tired of these fucking lying wars.
Seven fucking years already, with no end in sight!!!
Smelling the stinkshit of a draft, kids?]
