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The anemic job market, an increase in sign-on bonuses and new attitudes towards military service are proving to be a winning combination for recruiting NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The nation's armed services wrapped up a record year for recruiting as a withering job market and bigger bonuses trumped two unpopular wars. The Department of Defense said it met or exceeded recruitment goals for all branches of the armed services for fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, for the first time since 1973, when the draft ended and U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam. "We're pleased to report that for the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

Savannah, NY (--The parents of a Central New York soldier who recently finished training at Fort Leonard Wood are seeking to block her overseas deployment, alleging that an Army recruiter misled the family. the parents of Hillary J. Poole of Savannah, filed a federal lawsuit Friday in Springfield, Mo. Poole is scheduled to be shipped Thursday to St. Louis. From there, she is slated to go to Germany before arriving in Afghanistan in October. The suit says Poole's mother signed her name and her husband's name to enlistment papers in February after being told that the paperwork simply allowed the...

A Korean Invasion Blindsides the U.S. Army -- but in a Good Way Immigrants From Peninsula Swamp Program Offering Citizenship; Other Groups Squeezed By MIRIAM JORDAN LOS ANGELES -- Suk Joon Lee, a South Korean immigrant, feared his days in the U.S. were numbered. His ice-cream shop wasn't doing well, and if it failed, his investor visa could be revoked. Then Mr. Lee stumbled upon a Korean-language Web site that described a way out: a program that the Army was about to launch that offered a shortcut to getting U.S. citizenship. The site was created by another Korean immigrant, James...

Amid all the shocking details in the disrupted plot to bomb Bronx synagogues and fire missiles at American military aircraft, one component of the case should come as no surprise - three of the alleged culprits converted to radical Islam in prison. Radical Islamists have targeted prison populations for recruitment for years. That's where Jose Padilla, suspected of plotting to detonate a dirty bomb and convicted of conspiracy to murder people overseas and of providing material support to terrorists, converted and was radicalized. That's where a California man, Kevin James, created his own cell, called the Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS),...

The possibility that the alleged New York bomb plotters converted to Islam in prison and adopted radical views could provide evidence of how the criminal-justice system can be fertile ground for terrorist recruitment. Authorities said they believed all four men charged in the attack were Muslim and that some may have converted in prison. It isn't clear whether these conversions were linked to the radical views officials say they espoused while plotting to bomb two New York City synagogues and shoot down U.S. military planes... According to New York state corrections records, alleged ringleader James Cromitie and David Williams gave...

President Obama's speech on homeland security was 6,072 words long. Curiously, he chose not to spare an "a," "and" or "uh" on the New York City terror bust that dominated headlines the morning of his Thursday address. Did the teleprompter run out of room? After a yearlong investigation launched by the Bush administration, the feds cracked down on a ring of murder-minded black Muslim jailhouse converts preparing to bomb two Bronx synagogues and "eager to bring death to Jews." They also planned to attack a New York National Guard air base in Newburgh, N.Y., where the suspects lived and worshiped...

The possibility that the alleged New York bomb plotters converted to Islam in prison and adopted radical views could provide evidence of how the criminal-justice system can be fertile ground for terrorist recruitment. Authorities said they believed all four men charged in the attack were Muslim and that some may have converted in prison. It isn't clear whether these conversions were linked to the radical views officials say they espoused while plotting to bomb two New York City synagogues and shoot down U.S. military planes. The men were arrested Wednesday in a months-long undercover operation that ended with them allegedly...

The four men charged with plotting to blow up two New York Synagogues and shoot down Military Planes converted to Islam while behind bars, a place terror experts say is a cauldron for islamic radicalism

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - A suburban Philadelphia man who used to work as a camp counselor is accused of having sex with five teenage boys. Bucks County First Assistant District Attorney David Zellis says the 20-year-old Quakertown man asked two boys at Camp Men-O-Lan about having sex in the summer of 2007.

The Army last month stopped accepting felons and recent drug abusers into its ranks as the nation's economic downturn helped its recruiting, allowing it to reverse a decline in recruiting standards that had alarmed some officers. While shunning those with criminal backgrounds, the Army is also attracting better-educated recruits. It is on track this year to meet, for the first time since 2004, the Pentagon's goal of ensuring that 90 percent of recruits have high school diplomas. The developments mark a welcome turnaround for the Army, which has the military's biggest annual recruiting quota and had in recent years issued...

Greetings fellow South Florida riders, South Floridians, and Americans, here we are for another monthly installment of our Wheels on the Road political assessment. Just have to tell you, I am freaking mad as hell and implore you all to not take this anymore. If this means I shall be castigated as a “right wing extremist” so be it. Today I received an email containing a story on the US Department of Homeland Security unclassified report, dated 7 April, titled, “Right-wing extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”. Now most of the mainstream media is...

Having forcibly taken over Buner district adjoining Swat Valley, Taliban militants have begun using mosques in the area as "recruitment centres" to attract youths to join their ranks. Almost all mosques in villages in Buner district are being used by the Taliban to recruit local residents for their cause of enforcing Sharia or Islamic law in the Malakand division, which includes Swat, and the rest of the country, media reports said on Monday. The entry of Taliban into Buner, which is just about 100 km from the federal capital, has raised alarm throughout Pakistan as to the intentions of the...

WASHINGTON: For decades, high-skilled professionals from across the world, particularly India, have fought their way to US citizenship through legal immigration channels — a process that can take up to a decade or more. Now, Uncle Sam is making it easy. Fight your way — literally — to American citizenship in as little as six months. In a far reaching proposal, the US military will open its doors to skilled immigrant guest workers (such as those who hold H-1B visas) who have lived in the US for a minimum of two years. The move is aimed at offsetting the poor...

The United States army is to accept immigrants with temporary US visas, for the first time since the Vietnam war, according to the New York Times. Until now immigrants have had to have permanent residency - a "green card" - in order to qualify for the services. But those with temporary visas will be offered accelerated citizenship if they enrol, the Times says. The Pentagon hopes the scheme will cover shortages in areas like medical care and language interpretation. Many temporary immigrants will have been granted visas on the basis of their education or skills, so the defence department expects...

U.S. Military Will Offer Path to Citizenship By JULIA PRESTON Stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants who are living in this country with temporary visas, offering them the chance to become United States citizens in as little as six months. Immigrants who are permanent residents, with documents commonly known as green cards, have long been eligible to enlist. But the new effort, for the first time since the Vietnam War, will open the armed forces to temporary immigrants if they have lived in the United States for a minimum of two years,...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2009 – All active duty U.S. military services and reserve components met or exceeded their January recruiting needs, Defense Department officials reported today. The Army signed up 9,658 new active-duty soldiers, 107 percent of its target number of 9,000 enlistees. The Navy signed up 2,948 new active-duty sailors, 100 percent of its target number. The Marine Corps signed up 3,720 new active-duty Marines, 109 percent of its target number of 3,406 enlistees. The Air Force signed up 2,600 new active-duty airmen, 100 percent of its target number. The active Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy also...

A NEWLY appointed Australian Navy submarine commander is in hot water for suggesting that women sailors wearing bikinis might help to boost recruitment. Commander Tom Phillips, appointed to the helm of Collins class submarine HMAS Farncomb last year, also said the submarine equivalent of the "mile-high club" is the "going down club". In an interview with men's magazine Ralph he revealed the naval uniform works to "either pull a chick or get in a fight", The Daily Telegraph reports.Asked by the magazine "if female sailors all had to be hot and had to wear bikinis, would that help recruitment?", Commander...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009 – December was a recruiting success for all active-duty and reserve-component U.S. military services, which all met or exceeded their goals, according to a Defense Department news release issued today. -- The Army signed 860 new active-duty soldiers, 115 percent of its target number of 750 enlistees. -- The Navy signed 2,306 new active-duty sailors, meeting its target number of enlistees for the month. -- The Marine Corps signed 2,392 new active-duty Marines, 113 percent of its target number of 2,116 enlistees. -- The Air Force signed 2,967 new active-duty airmen, meeting its target number...

Dozens of young Somali men in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have disappeared in recent months, causing community members and U.S. intelligence officials to fear that they are joining jihadist groups in Somalia. Officials are especially concerned that some of the men may be destined to return to the U.S. after they have received terrorist training.

11/13/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force officials announced Nov. 12 that it will begin a new NASCAR partnership with Gillett Evernham Motorsports when it sponsors the No. 10 car driven by Reed Sorenson for the 2009 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. The Air Force's advertising agency, GSD&M Idea City, organized the sponsorship and will roll out a multimedia advertising campaign to support the partnership in early 2009. The Air Force is both a primary and associate sponsor for the No. 10 car driven by Reed Sorenson, a 22-year-old three-time winner in the Nationwide Series. As a...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2008 – Recruiting successes in fiscal 2008 continued into the first month of the new fiscal year, with all active and reserve components meeting or exceeding their October goals, defense officials reported today. Recruiting remained solid across the board, with the Army leading the effort by exceeding its active-duty goal by 1 percent, its Army National Guard goal by 16 percent and its Army Reserve goal by 10 percent, officials said. The Army signed on 5,324 active-duty soldiers in October, as well as 6,487 National Guardsmen and 3,049 reservists. The Marine Corps topped its October active-duty...

A wave of public support for the Armed Forces has swelled recruitment and contributions to military charities such as the Poppy Appeal. The number of men and women seeking to join the Army, Royal Navy and RAF rose by about 12 per cent even as British Forces continued to suffer casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thousands of people are attending parades to welcome military personnel home and parish ceremonies to pay their respects to servicemen and women killed in battle. In the 12 months to the end of June, 17,860 men and women joined the Services – 2,250 more than...

All military services, including their reserve components, met their recruiting goals for fiscal 2008, marking one of the strongest recruiting efforts in four years, senior Defense Department officials announced today. “This is the strongest recruiting year we’ve had overall … since fiscal year 2004,” said David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Notably, the Army and Marine Corps had raised their recruiting goals for fiscal 2008, as both services continue to grow their ranks to meet the demands of the wars on two fronts. In fact, the Army was the sole active-duty service to exceed its goal...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Army is establishing a suicide prevention board to examine the mental health of its recruiters around the country after the fourth suicide in three years by Houston, Texas-based recruiters, according to Army officials. The board will look at how to handle the high-stress climate facing recruiters who may be both under pressure from their job and victims of post-combat deployment stress, according to Douglas Smith, a spokesman from the U.S. Army Recruiting command. "The United States Army Recruiting Command is deeply concerned by the instances of suicide within the Houston Recruiting Battalion," said a statement...

For years, Veronica Diaz-Guerra had told her mother that she was going to join the military. But when Diaz, still a few weeks shy of her 18th birthday, finally asked her mom to sign the papers permitting her enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps, Ofelia Guerra was hesitant. "I was hoping that she would change her mind," said Guerra, whose home in West Valley City is adorned with photographs of all of her children, including a large portrait of her stern-faced daughter in her Marine dress blues. "I wanted her to be an attorney."

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...

For the American Left, there are many reasons to withdraw from Iraq: we're caught in the middle of a sectarian civil war, the Iraqi government is a perfidious ally, Iraq is a diversion from the real war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and so on. Some of these arguments are strategically shortsighted, others are based on false premises (such as the fact that the sectarian civil war is over in Iraq and bin Laden is in Pakistan, not Afghanistan), but at least they are more or less logically coherent. What makes almost no sense is the proposal that we turn...

Hasn't the MSM learned anything from the unfortunate episodes of John "stuck in Iraq" Kerry and Stephen "if you don't read you've got the Army" King? Apparently not. Once again, the liberal media, this time in the form of the AFP, has perpetrated the canard that the our military is the last resort of the poor and uneducated. An AFP article of May 16 reported the story of Army sergeant Matthis Chiroux, who has refused deployment to Iraq, claiming he considers it "an illegal war." Chiroux has said that he was "from a poor, white family from the south, and...

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 (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...

(WASHINGTON) — Soldiers who need special waivers to get into the Army because of bad behavior go AWOL more often and face more courts-martial. But they also get promoted faster and re-enlist at a higher rate, according to an internal military study obtained by The Associated Press.

Gathering of Eagles has just announced Recruiter Appreciation Day, Saturday, May 17 or there abouts. Being a Saturday, some recruiter stations have shortened hours or are closed. Friday or Monday might be a better day. As in other Support the Troop Events, one organization steps forward to be the main coordinating organization. GoE has once again stepped up to the plate this year. Check out the GOE site for pertinent info. Hopefully no one doubles up on a Recruiter Station while one across town is neglected.

CLEARWATER — This month's death of Army Spc. Arturo Huerta-Cruz in Iraq cast a spotlight on troops serving in the U.S. military who are not American citizens. Huerta-Cruz, 23, was born in a small town in rural Mexico and moved to Clearwater with his family when he was 10. He was a legal permanent resident, or a "green card" soldier. That made him an exception. Noncitizens account for about 5 percent of the troops in all the branches of the U.S. military. Noncitizens now must have green cards to enlist. But as the nation fights wars on two fronts, some...

All military services met or exceeded their recruiting goals for March, Defense Department officials reported today. This makes the 10th straight month the services have hit their recruiting marks. All of the services have surpassed their recruiting goals for fiscal 2008 to date. The Army brought in 101 percent of its 6,000-recruit goal for March, and the Marines finished with a two-month streak of 137 percent of its 1,632-recruit goal. The two services recruited 6,066 and 2,234 new members, respectively. The Air Force and Navy both hit 100 percent of their respective goals of 2,093 and 2,909 recruits. In the...

LONDON (AFP) - Teachers will call Tuesday for a ban on all military recruitment in schools after accusing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of 'sophisticated' tactics to attract youngsters into the armed forces. Delegates from the National Union of Teachers will debate a motion regarding the recruitment of pupils in England and Wales amidst claims that children are not made fully aware of what they are signing up to. However, the MoD, which is invited to around 1,000 schools a year, claims that they make the visits to raise awareness rather than to recruit. "They are too young to vote,...

Story Created: Mar 19, 2008 Story Updated: Mar 19, 2008 People driving by the Army Recruiting Station on Milwaukee's east side are finding it boarded up with a vandal's message on the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War. Vandals put graffiti saying "War Is Offensive" and broke windows at the facility on the 3100 block of North Oakland Avenue, near the UWM campus. Officials there later boarded up the windows. A man who works in the area said he saw anti-war slogans written on the windows also. This is not the first time the place has been vandalized. Last year,...

Please use this thread to link to other threads detailing today's attacks on US Military Recruiting Stations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One year ago, as President Bush decided to send more troops to Iraq, the conventional wisdom in Washington among opponents of the war was that the U.S. Army was on the verge of breaking. In December 2006 former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell warned, "The active Army is about broken." Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, in a much-cited memo to West Point colleagues, wrote: "My bottom line is that the Army is unraveling, and if we don’t expend significant national energy to reverse that trend, sometime in the next two...

Staff Sgt. Jason Eck has been flipped off, cussed at and told to get out of town for doing his job. The abuse hasn't deterred the two-time Iraq war veteran from donning his uniform, sliding behind the wheel of his government-issued Chevy Malibu and hitting the road almost daily in search of new soldiers. Still, as a recruiter, he faces a daunting task. Almost nowhere in the nation is it harder to find willing and able enlistees than in the Bay Area. The region's nine counties have the lowest enlistment rate of any large metropolitan area other than in and...

WASHINGTON, March 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nation's largest pro-troop organization, Move America Forward (website: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org ) will hold a news conference this Friday, March 14, 2008, calling attention to, and denouncing, the rising trend of violence against military recruiting centers. The news conference takes place in the Murrow Room at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 14th at 9:30 AM. Move America Forward will provide detailed accounts of these attacks, including photographs and documents, to members of the media in attendance. A new national television ad campaign calling attention to these attacks will also be unveiled....

Attacks against military recruiters and their offices are growing around the United States, spurred by anti-American anarchists who thrash the centers, assault and batter people, and intimidate those who want to serve their country. Attackers throw rocks, chain themselves to doors, punch and kick, spray paint graffiti, break windows, yell, and generally vandalize recruiting centers across the nation in repeated attacks. "Counter Recruitment" UNC Video-02/05/08Code Pink, an anti-war group that gave more than $600,000 to terrorists’ families in Iraq, is calling for anti-military agitators to escalate attacks on U.S. Government offices where the military work with potential recruits on their...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2008 – Following the growth of Iraqi Interior Ministry forces from about 350,000 members to 410,000 in 2007, the coalition’s focus is shifting from police recruitment to improving overall operational quality, a senior officer said from Baghdad yesterday. While the growth of the forces accounts for all functions under the ministry, success recruiting provincial-level Iraqi police last year makes up a significant portion of the increase, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michael D. Jones, commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq’s Civilian Police Assistance Training Team, told online journalists and “bloggers” in a teleconference. A major development that...

DC Chapter of Freerepublic it was Mission Accomplished in showing support for our Armed Forces Recruiters at 13 and L Streets! It was my pleasure and I am thankful for all the members and supporters who showed up on yesterday to support the rally. The Navy and Army Recruiters(Marines and Air Force were out on mission)were pleased to see us there as gifts and cards were given out. Several members went in and talked to the recruiters, thanking them for their service and for what they do in recruiting. I extended my personal apologizes as a DC Resident for the...

DC Chapter of Free-Republic and all lurkers in good standing are encouraged to join fellow members, veterans, lurkers and citizens this coming Monday February 25th from 3pm-6pm to show support for our Armed Forces Recruiters and to send a direct message to the cowards who attacked our Armed Forces Recruiting Station. Our rally seeks to send a clear message to the leftists terrorists that we will not permit their actions to go unanswered and that City Officials need to explain to the public why police officers did not take corrective actions to stop the senseless attack upon federal government property...

https://secure.donationreport.com/donation.html?key=0E6KU1WLTPV6 Video on the site of recent Berkley Marine Recruiting station protests and police response, finally.

Yesterday, February 15, about a dozen or so hard-core leftists gathered outside of the Armed Forces Recruiting Station at 8202 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring MD, from 4-6pm. There to counter them and support the troops was Free Republic. World Can't Wait staged a series of protests at 6 military recruitment centers across the US. Here's the background on this group from David Horowitz' Discover The Networks website Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, World Can't Wait (WCW) is a direct action movement seeking to organize "people living in the...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2008 – The Marine Corps’ mission and mystique continue to attract high-quality recruits who join up to fight America’s enemies, that service’s senior officer said here today. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway (right) discusses military issues with National Journal Magazine correspondent and author James Kitfield (center) and Timothy B. Clark, editor-in-chief of Government Executive Magazine, during a Government Executive-sponsored event at the National Press Club, Feb. 14, 2008. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. All of the military services continue to meet their recruiting quotas. Yet, while some services...

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...

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates offered Friday to help the U.S. Marines leave town by negotiating an end to the lease for their recruiting station, even as he backpedaled on a City Council resolution declaring the Corps "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" in the city. In the face of an onslaught of pro-military criticism from around the country, Bates, a retired Army captain, also issued a statement that said the City Council's resolution Tuesday night "did not adequately differentiate our respect and support for those serving in the armed forces and our opposition to the Iraq war policy." He said he would...