Just to put the clocks back on time :
Down economy boosts military
WASHINGTON - The faltering US economy is fueling a dramatic turnaround in military recruiting, with new statistics showing that the Army is experiencing the highest rate of new enlistments in six years.
The Army exceeded its goals each month from October through January - the first quarter of the new fiscal year - for both the active-duty Army and the Army Reserve, according to figures compiled by the US Army Recruiting Command.
Officials said it is the first time since the first quarter of fiscal year 2003, before the start of the Iraq War, that the Army has started out its recruiting year on such a high note.
In recent years the Army either missed its initial goals or barely met them, and was forced to accept increasing percentages of recruits who either did not graduate from high school, scored in the lowest category on the armed forces qualification test, or required a waiver for past criminal activity.
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Military Recruiting Numbers Climb in Weak Economy Armed forces recruiters say people are more willing to listen to the pitch
Washington ? Almost every day another company announces worker layoffs: General Motors, Starbucks, Sprint, Target, Caterpillar and Home Depot in recent weeks, all marching to the drumbeat of shrinking manufacturing and retail sales.
Neither small nor large organizations seem immune to the economic downturn, with one exception: the federal government. And within the government, the U.S. armed forces, in particular, are enjoying a hiring surge. The most recent year (2008) was the strongest military recruiting year in the past four. With the number of unemployed workers hovering around 11 million, all the services met recruiting goals in the initial weeks of 2009.
Each year, the military brings in more than 300,000 new recruits so it can maintain a 2.2 million force of sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines. But while the door to the military is always open, military recruiters are fielding more queries and meeting with a new receptivity from potential candidates.
Recruiters report that they are seeing older walk-ins as a result of a battered economy. Changes in recruitment rules ? the Army, for example, in 2006 raised its enlistment age limit from 35 to 42 ? are also behind interest from older candidates.
With conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army brought in more than 80,000 new recruits in 2008, while the Marines filled 38,000 positions.
It is a
?seller?s market,? according to anecdotal reports from Marine recruiters.
As for your quote from Heritage.org, I hope you realize that it is not the " fair & balanced " source :
A
conservative think tank promoting public policy research and analysis based on free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, ..