Free Republic

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq, Oct. 6, 2008 – He hasn’t always been a retention noncommissioned officer. In fact, he admitted he was a little leery at first about guiding soldiers down the path of re-enlistment. After all, he was on his first tour himself, and had no prior training to assume the vital role as retention NCO. Army Sgt. Mark Shamburger of Hattiesburg, Miss., works on a re-enlistment certificate. Shamburger serves as retention noncommissioned officer and equal opportunity leader in Multinational Division Baghdad with the 890th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Carmen Guerrero, Multinational Division...

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 11, 2008 – The Air National Guard has met its fiscal 2008 end-strength goal of 106,700 airmen, the first time it’s met its target end strength since 2003, National Guard Bureau officials announced yesterday. Recruiting and retention combined to produce the achievement. The Air Guard recruited 1,194 airmen in August, 107 percent of its goal of 1,116. To date for fiscal 2008, which ends Sept. 30, the Air Guard has retained 16,518 personnel, 107.3 percent of its goal of 15,390. Air Force Lt. Col. Randy Johnson, chief of Air Guard recruiting and retention, attributed the milestone to...

Dozens of California National Guard recruiters and support staffers were punished or remain under investigation for a variety of offenses that include forging criminal and other enlistment records, The Sacramento Bee has learned.

For nearly two years, the South Florida middle school art teacher forced the boy to have sex in a classroom supply closet. Sometimes, Aaron Mohanlal would call in sick to work, take the boy to his home for sex and drop the seventh-grader back off at school at the end of the day. To keep the abuse secret, Mohanlal bought the 13-year-old a cell phone and created nicknames for their genitalia. When police arrested him, the teacher was caught on hidden video trying to destroy letters threatening the boy if he ever told. Last summer, a Broward County jury convicted...

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 – Defense officials today pointed to the 13th consecutive month of recruiting success as a sign that the all-volunteer force, now 35 years old, remains solid. Recruiting and retention statistics for June, released today, show that all services met or exceeded their active-duty recruiting goals. The June figures mark more than a full year of across-the-board recruiting successes. Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said this trend, particularly during a protracted conflict, demonstrates the strength of the all-volunteer force. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed appreciation earlier this week for military...

A U.S. Army simulation game at Summerfest, shut down after complaints to festival officials, was replaced Wednesday by a modified version in which players shoot at still targets instead of virtual human beings. The decision to reopen “America’s Army” was announced late Wednesday afternoon in a joint news release from the Army and Summerfest faxed to the Journal Sentinel on Army stationery. --------------------- This is a followup to an earlier FR post at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039585/posts

UPDATE: Army shuts down warfare game At the request of Summerfest officials, the U.S. Army on Tuesday removed a virtual urban warfare game that allowed fest-goers as young as 13 to hop into a Humvee simulator and fire machine guns at life-size people displayed on a computer screen. "We're determining it's probably not something that we want to have shown at Summerfest," said John Boler, vice president of sales and marketing, said before the decision was made to request removal of the game, called Virtual Army Experience. The game drew criticism from Peace Action Wisconsin, which called it "totally inappropriate...

WASHINGTON, June 16, 2008 – The Army National Guard has been so successful recruiting and retaining citizen-soldiers that officials purposely slowed May enlistments, National Guard Bureau officials reported. The Army and Air National Guard continued a brisk recruiting pace in May that has filled out the ranks of the Guard across the board. A decade-long decline in recruiting doctors, dentists and physician assistants was reversed in 2007, with a 20 percent increase. Recruiters anticipate a 60 percent increase in 2008 as they execute a four-year recovery program for the field. The Army National Guard was at 102 percent of its...

Iraqis gathered in the Hayyaniyah district of Basra, Iraq to answer a recruiting call by the Iraqi army May 29. More than 3,000 Iraqi men from the area turned out for the event though the Iraqi army only had 1,000 positions available. BASRA — Soldiers with the 1st Iraqi Army looked to increase their numbers and support in Basra, Iraq May 29. Operation Charge of the Knights has been successful in rooting out criminal elements and restoring the rule of law to the city as well as increasing local support for the government of Iraq. The increased support for the...

A handful of Code Pink protesters were in front of the center at 64 Shattuck Square May 21 - their usual day of the week - but the turnout was extremely low compared with recent months when hundreds came out weekly to protest the military enlistment site. While the crowd has slackened, Code Pink officials say the weekly protests will continue until the recruitment center leaves town. A Marines spokesman said Tuesday that there are no plans to move the officer selection office from Berkeley. The lease runs until December 2009. Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Ted Garrett...

A South Carolina high school principal said he'll resign from his post after the district approved an organization for gay students that conflicts with his religious beliefs. Eddie Walker, the principal of Irmo High School in Columbia, S.C., announced his intention to step down to faculty and students on Wednesday, saying he'll end his tenure following the 2008-09 school year. The decision, outlined in a letter to Lexington-Richland School District 5 officials, said the reason was the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance Club for students.

The principal of a South Carolina public school has announced plans to resign rather than continue his work at Irmo High following a demand to launch a student club to promote homosexuality. "The formation of this club conflicts with my professional beliefs in that we do not have other clubs at Irmo High school based on sexual orientation, sexual preference, or sexual activity," Principal Eddie Walker, who identifies himself as "Class of 2008-2009," told the school community in a letter. His letter said he planned to announce his pending departure to students via the intercom today, but school officials told...

The U.S. is its own worst enemy when it comes to the desperately important task of recruiting immigrants as spies, analysts and translators in the war on terror, new Americans are telling intelligence officials. The government's policies raise suspicions and fear in the immigrants' home countries and disturb potential recruits here who might otherwise want to help. The U.S. knows it needs the help. At the heart of a Friday summit with immigrant groups was a stark reality: The intelligence agencies lack people who can speak the languages that are needed most, such as Arabic, Farsi and Pashtu. More importantly,...

CULTURE WATCH, Volume 15 by Nancy Morgan 'The British are coming, the British are coming!' Remember those historic words? Well today, one can substitute the word Muslims for British and it would be just as appropriate. As all eyes are on Iraq, we are at risk of being conquered from within. To wit: A project called the Islamophobia Observatory has been launched (by Muslims) in order to "eliminate the world-wide waves of fear of Islam." Another Muslim group has taken it upon themselves to enlist armies of paid workers in order to deliver an English copy of the Quran to...

The Department of Defense announced today its recruiting and retention statistics for the active and reserve components for the month of April. Active Duty Recruiting:April Monthly:All services met or exceeded recruiting goals for the month of April (below) and have surpassed goals for fiscal year 2008 to date.April 2008:Army Accessions:5,681 Goal:5,650 101%Navy Accessions:2,905 Goal:2,905 100%Marine Corps Accessions:2,233 Goal:1,577 142%Air Force Accessions:2,435 Goal:2,435 100%Active Duty Retention. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps met or exceeded their active duty retention objectives. Reserve Forces Recruiting: April Monthly. All six reserve components have met or exceeded accession goals through April 2008. April 2008: Army National...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2008 – Web-based social-networking and video-sharing sites such as “MySpace” and “YouTube” may be the best place to turn to entice the nation’s best and brightest young people to work for the Defense Department. That is among the conclusions of college business students who entered a contest to help the department increase its applicant pool for critical civilian jobs that require foreign-language abilities. The students, undergraduates at five U.S.-based colleges and universities, were recognized at a Pentagon ceremony today for their recruiting and marketing plans. “Sometimes we get down on young people,” Patricia Bradshaw, DoD’s deputy undersecretary...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2008 – All military services met or exceeded their recruiting goals for April, with the Marine Corps recruiting 142 percent of its goal, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said here today. The Army reached 101 percent of its goal, and the Navy and Air Force met their goals. In the re-enlistment arena, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps met or exceeded their active-duty retention objectives. “The Air Force still faces challenges, but they still seem able to meet their year-end strength goals,” Whitman said. All the reserve components also met or exceeded their recruiting goals, with the Air...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marine Corps far surpassed its recruiting goal last month and could eventually be more than a year ahead of schedule in its plan to grow the force to 202,000 members. All military services met or exceeded their monthly recruiting goals in April, with the Marine Corps signing 142 percent of the number it was looking for, the Pentagon said. The Army signed 101 percent of its goal, recruiting 5,681 against a goal of 5,650. The Navy and Air Force met their goals — 2,905 sailors and 2,435 airmen. The Marine Corps enlisted 2,233 recruits against a...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., April 22, 2008 – The military services continue to make their recruiting numbers despite the most difficult recruiting market in years, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told noncommissioned officers here today. However, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said at a quarterly NCO breakfast, there is concern in some quarters that the Army is letting in too many recruits with physical or criminal waivers. “We’re recruiting at the most difficult time,” he said. Mullen stressed that standards to enlist are high. Out of the total pool of 18- to 24-year-olds, only three out of 10 qualify...

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2008 – The Defense Department maintains stringent standards for its recruits, despite an increase in felons the military services accept. A senior defense official said waivers sometimes are granted to people who commit “youthful pranks that went way too far,” but not to dangerous criminals. The military granted waivers to 903 felons in 2007, 511 of them for the Army and 350 for the Marine Corps, Bill Carr, acting deputy under secretary for military personnel policy, told American Forces Press Service. These numbers, up from 249 in the Army and 208 for the Marine Corps in 2006,...

When a gay teenager was gunned down earlier this year at an Oxnard school, the violence resulted in the unexpected: Young people, gay and straight, rallied across the nation for civil rights. And even at an age when they're grappling with their own fragile sexuality, teens weren't afraid to stand up for the classmate who had been different. "In middle school, you don't think about your own sexuality so much as you think of what society thinks is normal for kids, and you try to blend in," said 18-year-old Luis Roman, a gay community college student and youth leader for...

On Wednesday, March 19, POG will be holding a torch-lit march to a modern day castle of abominations—our local military recruiting station. If the station remains open, we intend to evict it and everything inside of it, occupy the location, and transform it into something useful for the community. We'll also be bringing a movable cage in which to confine military recruiters until they no longer pose a danger to our friends and neighbors. Of course, the station may be closed and recruiters may flee or hide behind the police apparatus that enables the war to continue. That is often...

WASHINGTON, March 10, 2008 – All active and reserve components met or topped their recruiting goals for February, Defense Department officials announced today. The February successes marked the ninth straight month in which all four services met or exceeded their active-duty goals. The numbers came as particularly good news within the reserve components, which experienced some recruiting shortfalls in December and January following a strong November. The Army recruited 6,120 active-duty soldiers in February, topping its goal by 2 percent. It also recruited 5,793 new members into the Army National Guard and 3,599 into the Army Reserve -- 116...

SELDOM has the sacrifice of so many been so sneered at by such a worthless few. Barely a week goes by without one or more brave members of our Armed Forces giving their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan. We at The Sun SALUTE our heroic Boys and Girls – and today declare the ban on them wearing their proud uniforms in public an INSULT. Last night PM Gordon Brown slammed a barmy order that 2,000 RAF personnel must don civvies on a city’s streets to avoid confrontations with “antiwar” thugs. The same cowardly minority of hooligans have spat at and...

Clinton, Obama: Own up to feces throwers! The improvised explosive device went off at approximately 3:45 a.m., shattering glass and twisting the building's metal frame. Some will dismiss this as just another attack on our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. But, the attack didn't take place in the Middle East – the attack against our troops took place here on American soil. The bombing of the military recruiting center located at Times Square in New York City is still under investigation. Police report a hooded individual leaving the scene on a bike just prior to the bomb's explosion. Eight Democratic...

There's apparently no link between the bombing of an military recruiting station in New York's Times Square and letters sent to Congress saying "We did it," law enforcement officials said Friday. The lengthy anti-war letters — which arrived with photos of a man standing in front of the recruiting office before it was damaged — contained no threats and were sent to as many as 100 members of Congress, officials said. Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said an individual was questioned there about the letters to Congress and "there is no evidence linking the letters, which contained...

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2008 – No one was injured and only minor structural damage was reported after a bomb went off outside the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in New York City’s Times Square early this morning. The bomb went off at about 3:45 a.m., cracking the glass door, bending the door frame and shattering the large glass window in front of the station, said Army Capt. Charlie Jacquillard, the commander for the six Army recruiting stations in Manhattan. The station, jointly manned by Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps recruiters, is possibly the most well-known recruiting station in the...

** EXCERPT ** Latest Update, 10:15 a.m. | The police have attributed the blast to an improvised explosive device, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the device had been placed in an ammunition box like the kind that can be bought at a military supply store. Mr. Kelly spoke with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at a news conference at 9:30 a.m. in Times Square. The authorities are looking into a possible connection to two earlier bombings at foreign consulates in Manhattan, in 2005 and 2007. Officials said that in today’s attack, a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt was...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2008 – Though Army Reserve recruiting fell short of January’s goal, the component is meeting its fiscal year goal as recruiting initiatives continue to attract qualified men and women. The Army Reserve missed its goal of 3,389 by 132 recruits, or 4 percent, according to figures published today by the Defense Department. In a recent interview, however, the Army Reserve’s senior enlisted soldier expressed optimism about new recruiting programs that might usher in positive trends. Command Sgt. Maj. Leon Caffie indicated high expectations for the Army Reserve Recruiting Assistance Program, which compensates reservists $2,000 for each recruit...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2008 – All four services met or exceeded their active-duty recruiting goals for January, defense officials announced today. The January recruiting numbers represented the eighth consecutive month of across-the-board active-duty recruiting successes among the services, officials said. The Army recruited 8,693 active-duty soldiers, 101 percent of its goal, in January. This came as welcome news to Army officials, who had feared that the delayed passage of the fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization Act could hurt positive recruiting momentum. The legislation, which passed into law Jan. 28, includes authorities for a variety of special and incentive pays, including...

A week after blasting the Marines as "unwelcome intruders" in Berkeley, two City Council members want the city to back off the declaration that ignited the wrath of the nation's right wing and inspired a Republican senator to try to sever Berkeley's federal funding. Council members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli on Monday proposed that Berkeley rescind its letter to the U.S. Marine Corps that stated that the downtown Berkeley recruiting center "is not welcome in our city," and publicly declare that Berkeley is against the war but supports the troops. The City Council will vote on Olds' and Capitelli's...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2008 – Despite a challenging recruiting environment, all four branches of the military have met with significant recruiting success in the past year and are on target to continue that success, the services’ recruiting chiefs told a Congressional committee yesterday. In fiscal 2007, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all exceeded their active-duty enlisted recruiting goals, and only the Air Force fell slightly short of its goal on the reserve-component side, the officers in charge of recruitment for the four services said at a hearing of the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee....

Friday, January 18, 2008 WAUKESHA, Wis. -- Here in "Cheesehead" country, where Green Bay Packers fans go to Lambeau Field with snow shovels, military recruiting never has been much of a problem -- until now. "These are outdoors, patriotic people," a military recruiter told me as I prepared to speak at a Boy Scouts function here. "Young people up here are tough. They hunt, they ice fish, they go to football games in an open stadium in the middle of a blizzard. This used to be a great place to be a recruiter, but not anymore," he continued. "What's happened?"...

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A Midlands mother contacted us after finding an Army recruiter's card in a pair of pants she bought for her son. We called the recruiter to see if he was the one who hid the cards in the store merchandise. "I brought these in here and this is in the pocket of my son's pants. I was angry. It was very deceptive and underhanded," said Leigh Nichols. Nichols bought a pair of camouflage pants from the Target store in Lexington Monday. Her 13-year-old son Travis tried them on and found an Army recruiter's business card. He...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2008 – All four services met or surpassed their monthly active-duty recruiting goals for December, and five of the six reserve components showing similar success, Defense Department officials announced today. The Army recruited 789 active-duty soldiers last month, 105 percent of its December goal. On the reserve-component side, the Army National Guard recruited 4,985 members, 120 percent of its goal, and the Army Reserve, 3,280 soldiers, 107 percent of its goal. The Marine Corps recruited 1,992 active-duty Marines, 115 percent of its goal, and met its goal of recruiting 410 Marine Corps reservists. The Air Force...

EL PASO, Texas - A NASCAR race car, sponsored by the U.S. Border Patrol. Billboards hundreds of miles from the Rio Grande, promoting a career as a border agent. TV commercials for the federal agency, aired during Dallas Cowboys games. With the Border Patrol undergoing an unprecedented hiring boom, the agency is going to extraordinary lengths to compete with police departments around the country for an unusually small pool of qualified applicants. "We've not done anything this ambitious before," said Assistant Chief Michael Olsen. "Our biggest task, our biggest hurdle, is just getting our message out to parts of the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2007 – All military components met their recruiting goals in November, Defense Department officials said here yesterday. It was the sixth month in a row that all services made their recruiting goals, officials said. The military is recruiting in a difficult environment, defense officials said. Only three out of every 10 Americans in the targeted age group qualifies for military service. A good American economy and feelings against the Iraq war degrade the propensity of young Americans to enlist, officials said. Still, the military is doing well. On the active-duty side, the Marine Corps made 108 percent...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan , Nov. 5, 2007 – An Afghan and coalition forces operation yesterday in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province disrupted foreign fighter and Taliban recruiting networks. Six people were detained, one of whom was wounded, and two other militants were killed. Afghan and coalition forces conducted a search of several compounds in the Deh Yak district of Ghazni province, where intelligence reports indicated militant recruiting networks were operating. During the search of several buildings on one of the compounds, Afghan and coalition forces detained three individuals suspected to be linked with militant recruiting facilitators. While performing a search on...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2007 – Recruiting experienced pilots and implementing unprecedented training methods are the best ways to fast-track Iraq’s infant air force, a coalition commander said today. Members of 52nd Flying Training Squadron stand in formation as the first students arrive to the Iraqi air force flying training school at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq. This flight was officially the first sortie flown by the school as the four Iraqi air force students took control of the aircraft for a few minutes in transit to see what it is they are working toward. The school will instruct the students...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2007 – The Defense Department reported strong recruiting numbers for fiscal 2007 today, as all four active-duty components met their goals for the year. David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, answers a question during an Oct. 10, 2007, Pentagon news conference on the latest recruiting and retention figures for the military services as the service recruiting chiefs -- (left to right) Air Force Brig. Gen. Suzanne Vautrinot, Navy Rear Adm. Joseph Kilkenny, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Tryon, and Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick -- stand by to answer further questions. Photo...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2007 – Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard A. Cody swore in six new recruits and re-enlisted six soldiers in a ceremony yesterday celebrating the service’s success in recruiting and retention for fiscal 2007. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard A. Cody congratulates newly enlisted Logan Bilyeu of Bend, Ore., during a ceremony at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2007. Photo by Staff Sgt. Christina M. O'Connell, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Although the numbers won't be available for another week, the Army met all Active, National Guard and...

In June of this year I decided to reenlist in the US Army. By mid July I had finished my physical and all my requirements. At that time I realized that the Army was not my best option and that the US Navy Reserves would be. I made the switch. Almost 3 months later and I still do not have paperwork done. I don't want to go into the details of my frustration, but I am asking that you pray that the recruiter would get on the ball and get this done. I've given notice at work and had to...

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Ali Jassim al-Frejee, commander of the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, speaks with children of Luitifyiah, Iraq, upon the re-opening of their school Oct. 1. Al-Frejee's troops and those of the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., secure the Mahmudiyah, Lutifiyah, and Yusufiyah areas. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Angela Mc Kinzie. LUTIFIYAH — Attending schools with basic amenities such as libraries, restrooms and desks seems like a given to Americans.However, many Iraqi children have not been afforded the opportunity to attend...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2007 – All four services reported strong recruiting success in August, with the Army marking its second consecutive month exceeding its monthly goal, Defense Department officials announced today. The Army topped its August goal by 6 percent, bringing 10,126 new soldiers into the force. The Army made 102 percent of its goal in July. Officials expressed confidence that the consecutive successes mark a turnaround from May and June, when the Army fell short in recruiting. Army Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commander of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, attributes much of the rebound to the Army’s new...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2007 – The Army’s new “quick-ship” bonus program is showing success in getting prospective recruits to enlist and is expected to help the Army make its end-of-year recruiting goal, the Army’s recruiting chief told Pentagon reporters today. Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commander of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, credited the $20,000 quick-ship bonus with helping to motivate would-be soldiers who were “on the fence” into joining the ranks. The program was introduced in late July to provide a financial incentive for recruits willing to ship off quickly to basic training. In August alone, 200 recruits who were...

KALSU — As concerned citizens stand up and secure their homes and communities against terrorists and militias all across North Babil, they are also standing up and leading the push for legitimate security forces in the area. Iraqi Army recruiting has reached a near record in the city of Iskandariyah and the surrounding areas thanks, in large part, to concerned citizens wanting to do more to help their families, friends and neighbors in the fight against militants. “More than 1,400 people have made the decision to join the Iraqi Army during the five-day recruiting drive,” said 1st Lt. Tyler Mitchell,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2007 – All active-duty components made their recruiting goals for July, Defense Department officials announced today. After missing recruiting goals for May and June, the Army made 102 percent of its goal for July. For the reserve components, all but the Air National Guard made their goals. The Army’s goal for July was 9,750 recruits. The service enlisted 9,972, for 102 percent. The Marine Corps also exceeded its enlistment goal with 104 percent. The goal was 4,613, with 4,793 enlisting in the Corps. The Navy and Air Force made 100 percent of their goals, with 4,173...

The Seattle School Board unanimously approved new restrictions on military recruiters visiting high school campuses, though the changes didn't go far enough for student protesters. The Wednesday night vote capped a months-long debate, complete with protests by a group of students and community members. Students had lobbied board members, and occasionally disrupted several Seattle School Board meetings, held rallies and met with members one-on-one in to press their case. Students in the group Youth Against War and Racism even developed their own proposal, which would ban all recruiting in schools in lieu of an annual, districtwide recruiting fair. Despite their...

The Congressional Budget Office has released a major study#[1] of the U.S. military's demographics under an all-volunteer framework versus the draft. The idea of reinstating the draft was a hot-button issue last November when Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), a leader and committee chairman in the newly elected Democratic majority, vocalized his intent to once again make conscription the law of land. Called on by Congress to assess the matter, CBO offered new findings, which dispassionately deflate the notion that America's All-Volunteer Force (AVF) is inferior to a conscripted force by any measure: effectiveness, cost, troop quality, retention, morale, and even...