Thursday, May 03, 2007

The Army We Have   [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]

Excellent piece by Brian Mockenhaupt in the current issue of The Atlantic.

Here are some of the highlights:

The Marines have a somewhat easier time recruiting [than the Army]; this is partly because they have religiously maintained their elite status, drawing many who want to see if they are good enough for the Corps, and partly because the Marines, as the smallest service branch outside the Coast Guard, need the fewest bodies. But the Army doesn't have the luxury of selectivity in filling its expanded rolls. It needs 80,000 new soldiers this year and must find them in a populace that is in many ways less willing and less able to serve than earlier generations were. Young people are fatter and weaker. They eat more junk food, watch more television, play more video games, and exercise less. They are more individualistic and less inclined to join the military. And with the unemployment rate hovering near historic lows, they have other choices.

...

Today's soldiers must synthesize more information than any American fighters before them, combining their knowledge of tactics with an awareness of the cultural landscape and an appreciation for the strategic implications of their actions.

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the numbers game is stacked against recruiters. In the prime age group for recruitment (17 to 24 years old), 7 in 10 are ineligible for military service, Army officials say. More than half the members of this youth cohort are disqualified for moral, mental, or medical reasons: They have had too many run-ins with the law, or they have gang-related or extremist tattoos; they have had psychiatric treatment for severe mental problems or antisocial behavior; or they have been diagnosed with one or more of a staggering list of medical conditions, from heart murmurs to obesity. Other potential recruits have too many dependents, scored too low on the Army aptitude test, or lack high-school or general-equivalency diplomas. Take out those already serving or joining other branches, those who are disclosed homosexuals, and those who are smart and healthy but have no intention of ever entering the military, and the pool shrinks further.

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"Most kids coming into the Army today have never worn leather shoes in their life unless it said Nike, Adidas, or Timberland. They've never run two miles consecutively in their life, and for the most part they hadn't had an adult tell them 'no' and mean it. That's bizarre," he says. "Our society says you can't count in a soccer match, because you might hurt somebody's feelings. Every kid is going to get a trophy, whether or not you ever went to practice or ever won a game." But these societal shortcomings can be leveraged in the training environment, Shwedo says. "If you go up and do something as simple as slap a soldier on the back and tell them they are doing a good job, you are giving them the recognition that society hasn't given them besides those cheap trophies."

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The less-threatening and more-respectful environment helps recruit new soldiers and lowers the attrition rate. About 6 percent of today's trainees fail to complete their first six months in the Army, down from 18 percent two years ago. Advanced-training programs that prepare soldiers for groups like the Army Rangers and Special Forces can afford washout rates of 60 percent or more. Applicants for these special units far outnumber available slots, and a high failure rate maintains the groups' elite mystique. Perhaps most important, the Army doesn't lose these washouts; it sends them back to their old units or to new assignments.

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Armies throughout history have used punishments — beatings and occasional executions — to maintain discipline. From the Romans to the Prussians to America's Civil War armies, soldiers knew and feared the whip, the stick, and the fist. But for as long as leaders have smacked and flogged their men, their contemporaries have urged a rethinking of the paradigm.

Read the entire piece.

Editor’s note: Please see this note.

05/03 02:25 PMShare