Elite US Army Academy Lures Kids With Mud and Duty

Elite US Army Academy Lures Kids With Mud and Duty

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/27/9923/

by Claudia Parsons
Published on Friday, June 27, 2008 by Reuters

WEST POINT, New York - Climbing ropes and crawling in the mud under
barbed wire, dozens of American high school kids at an unusual summer
camp vied to see who could get most dirty as they tackled an Army
obstacle course.

And as they ran between obstacles in the woods, the kids shouted Army
chants. Asked by a cadet if they were motivated, they shouted back in
unison: "Motivated, motivated, downright motivated. Ooh, aah, ooh,
aah, I want to kill somebody."

Each summer, 800 high school kids hoping to become soldiers spend a
week at West Point to see what life is like at the prestigious U.S.
military academy for future army officers.

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan straining the U.S. military and
public support low for the Iraq war, recruiting future officers might
seem a tough sell. But officials say applications to the summer
program are at a record high.

West Point says it recruits "scholars, leaders and athletes." Kids at
the Summer Leadership Seminar, a week-long residential program held
over two sessions, have top grades and are strong in sports and
extra-curricular activities.

Alex Imbriale, a 17-year-old from North Carolina who is captain of
his school's rifle team, attributed his interest in West Point to his
father, who is in the army. But there were plenty of students on the
program who are not "army brats."

Kathleen Engle, 16, from Fairfield, California, said she had looked
into the Peace Corps and other options but decided on the military.

"I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened and that's when I decided
the best thing I could do for my country was this," she said, playing
a video game called "America's Army."

"I guess it's going to be hard to kill someone, but if that's your
job and that's what our commander tells us we need to do, I'm going
to do that in order to protect my country."

IMMIGRANTS AND ADVENTURERS

Mario Vazquez, 17, from El Paso, Texas, hopes to be a neurosurgeon
but first he says he has a duty to America.

"My Mom is actually the one that found out about it," he said of the
West Point summer program. "My mother is from Mexico … she said it's
a good place to get discipline."

"I owe a lot to this country because of what it's given me, because
of what it's given my family, but I also have fears because it's a
lot of sacrifice," he said. "You put your country before yourself and
you sacrifice your family and a lot of other privileges."

Austin Fullmer, 17, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, said he was
attracted by the prospect of moving around the world and seeing new
places, and although he would be nervous about deploying to a combat
zone, "it's just another adventure."

"I didn't quite realize there were this many kids like me," he said,
grinning as he sat in the doorway of Blackhawk helicopter parked in a field.

Graduates of the academy founded in 1802 include former President
Dwight Eisenhower, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led U.S. forces in
the first Gulf War, and astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

During their week at the picturesque campus on the banks of the
Hudson river in New York state, the high-school students are immersed
in cadet life.

They are woken at 5 a.m for physical training, they march in
formation under the command of current cadets, take academic
workshops and spend a day in the field.

"We're able to pick the most competitive students," said Lt. Col.
Dean Batchelder, who handles admissions. There were 3,674
applications for 800 places on the high-school program.

Those who attend are not guaranteed admission to the academy ­ which
offers a four-year college education in return for a commitment of
five years active duty and three years as a reservist ­ but they
stand a good chance, he said.

"I'm not here to screen them," Batchelder added. "We're not trying to
weed out the weak, we're trying to give them the information so they
can make a better choice."

NATION AT WAR

Her jeans and pink shirt caked in mud, her face daubed with
camouflage cream, 17-year-old Elise Fink put on a flak jacket,
stuffed her blonde ponytail under a helmet, and climbed up into the
gun turret of a Humvee to check out the machine gun.

"In Iraq you'll be carrying about 40 pounds more than that,"
Specialist Justin Fletcher, a 10th Mountain Division soldier who
returned from Iraq late last year, told her.

The grand-daughter of two brigadier generals and daughter of a
lieutenant colonel, Fink says her family was supportive of her
interest in West Point or the Reserve Officers' Training Corps
(ROTC). Her friends in Wilton, Connecticut, less so.

"My town doesn't do military," Fink said. "My town is very anti-war
right now, so to join the military means you're pro-war, and a lot of
my friends are anti-war."

"When I said that I was planning on doing ROTC or coming to West
Point, they said 'I don't want you to get killed.'"

Fink says support or disapproval of the war in Iraq is irrelevant to
her military ambitions. "I feel it's my duty, and it's people's duty
to serve their country in some way," she said. "This is the way I chose."

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Wilson, who runs the summer academic program, said
applications for the Summer Leadership Seminar were at a record high this year.

"I'm not sure how the fact that we're a nation at war has influenced
the motivation of any particular student to apply," he said. "I think
that there is a strong sense of service in this generation."

YELLING AND HAZING

Life as a cadet at West Point is highly regimented, with every detail
from how to fold your underwear to the position of personal items on
your desk dictated by regulations.

Jordy Kronshag, a 17-year-old from Callumet, Michigan, whose skill at
the pole vault made her the equal of much larger males on the
obstacle course, said she enjoyed the teamwork and leadership
training but was still unsure about applying to become a cadet.

"This is the fun part," she said, her clothes muddy from the low
crawl under barbed wire. "But also a part I don't like is all the
yelling and the hazing, that's going to be tough."

On a day set aside for academic workshops, students in one group
staged a mock murder trial. Others built a light-seeking robot in an
electrical engineering class.

A third group played "Double Philosophy Jeopardy," with pop culture
categories showing how characters in "Star Wars" or "The Simpsons"
illustrate stoicism or the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche.

At a panel discussion with 10 current cadets one evening, the
students asked about free time, punishments for alcohol use, how much
cadets work out, whether they have online courses, how cold winters
are and how much sleep cadets get.

Cadet John Williams said he applied to West Point for the wrong
reasons and didn't know much about it in advance.

"I know a lot of you are doing it for the wrong reasons," he told the
students. "You want people to be proud of you, it's pretty
prestigious, you don't want to let people down," he said. "That might
not be a bad thing."

"I came for the wrong reasons, I've definitely stayed for the right reasons."

.

Aptitude Test Helps Students Find Strengths

Aptitude Test Helps Students Find Strengths

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50333

By Meghan Vittrup
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – High school can be a challenging and
sometimes daunting time for many teenagers who find themselves
trapped between childhood and adulthood. But a program that uses the
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery could help teens find
their strengths and help them set goals for their future.

The Defense Department created the ASVAB Career Exploration Program
as a tool to help students figure out their strengths and better
understand themselves while also motivating them and helping them
plan their future.

The ASVAB program provides tools, including the test battery and
interest inventory developed by the Defense Department to help high
school and post-secondary students across the nation learn more about
career exploration and planning, according to the program's Web site.

The ASVAB consists of eight tests that measure strengths in
mathematics and in verbal, science and technical skills. The results
of the interest inventory and the academic and vocational parts of
the test will help students identify suitable career options and
identify their strengths, officials said.

Many students, families, and school administrators think the ASVAB is
a test for students interested only in military careers, but that's
not the case, a Pentagon official said.

"Parents as well as many teachers misunderstand the program and think
that it's only focused on the military, when, in fact, it isn't,"
said Jane Arabian, assistant director for enlistment standards for
the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "The ASVAB
Career Exploration Program links to something called 'O-net', which
is sponsored by the Department of Labor, and it has all sorts of
information about occupations and careers.

"It would be wonderful if parents had a better sense of what the
ASVAB Career Exploration Program has to offer," she added.

Although the ASVAB does have the ability to help students interested
in pursuing military careers, it is not a strictly military test, and
taking the test does not mean a student will be enlisting or pursuing
a military career, Arabian said. The ASVAB test and Career
Exploration Program are independent of Junior ROTC and ROTC programs
found in many schools, she noted.

She also pointed out that although recruiters use the ASVAB, they do
not administer the test. In fact, she said, officials try to keep
recruiters away from the test as much as possible.

"We try to keep recruiters at arm's length from the test, because we
are very careful about compromising the contents of the ASVAB,"
Arabian said. "The primary proctor for the test is a contracted
person that we provide from the office of personnel management."

When a student takes the ASVAB, the results are not automatically
sent to a military recruiter, Arabian said, though sending the scores
to a recruiter is an option the student can choose.

"The Career Exploration Program is a step removed from the actual
recruit program," Arabian explained. "Certainly, recruiters can use
the ASVAB scores that students have, and if that student is
interested in the military, can talk about military opportunities and
money for college and the new GI bill and whatever incentives they're
offering. But there is no requirement or commitment on the part of
the student to even talk to the recruiter after they've participated
in the ASVAB or CEP."

According to the ASVAB program Web site, last year about 14,000
schools administered the ASVAB test, and about 600,000 students took
the test. Only about 9 percent of the students who take the test
decide to enlist in the military based upon their ASVAB scores, Arabian said.

"The vast majority of students who participate have no intention of
going into the military," she said. "Approximately two-thirds of
students who participate in the program will say that they are going
to college, or they're going to a junior college or vocational
program; the military is not in their plans, necessarily."

The ASVAB program Web site says two-thirds of the students who
participated in the ASVAB program found it to be useful, helping them
find career options they had not considered.

"This program will offer something to every student," Arabian said.
"I think it will help the student identify the skills they need to
improve in high school, depending on what they elect to do after they
graduate, but it's really designed to be a useful program for
students of all skill levels."

Related Sites:
ASVAB Career Exploration Program
http://www.asvabprogram.com/

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CNO Praises Navy Recruiters

Pull quote:

"...find the Navy. Because once you find it, the future explodes."
--

CNO Praises Navy Recruiters

http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/cno-praises-navy-recruiters.html?col=1186032311124

June 19, 2008
Navy News|by Mass Comm. Spc. 1st Class Doug Kimsey

NEWPORT, R.I. - Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead
praised the work recruiters of the sea services are doing to assure
the Navy and Marine Corps continue to attract quality people, June 17.

Roughead's comments came during a media availability following his
keynote address at the Current Strategy Forum (CSF), which is being
held at the Naval War College. CSF invites more than 1,400 public
servants, business leaders, military scholars and active, reserve and
retired officers to enter into a discussion about future strategy and
policy for the maritime services.

"(Recruiters) are meeting their goals and bringing in quality people.
I can't say enough about the work they do in a very demanding
environment," Roughead said. "It is hard work. Only 28 percent of men
and women in America today even qualify for military service. And all
branches have to compete."

Earlier this year, Roughead said attracting good recruits is key.

"To me the biggest challenge is to make the young people of our
country aware of the opportunities and the excitement that exists in
the United States Navy," Roughead said. "The term that I use is that
we have to make it possible for young people, diverse young people,
to find the Navy. Because once you find it, the future explodes."

The CNO also commented on the motivation of today's Navy and Marine
Corps recruits.

"Fifty-one percent of today's Navy came in after 9-11. That tells me
there still are young men and women who see purpose in serving and
are excited to serve."

.

Weed Waivers

Weed Waivers

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20080620.aspx

June 20, 2008

The U.S. Marine Corps wants to know if potential recruits have used
marijuana even once. If they have, the recruit must get special
permission (a "moral waiver") to get in. Last year, about half the
37,000 new recruits needed such moral waivers, mostly for the one
time use of weed. This is pretty intense, but not that unusual. The
recruiters have become much better of determining who's just been
naughty, and who is beyond redemption when it comes to drug use.

As a result, the U.S. military, particularly the army and marines, no
longer turns down recruits who have criminal records. For the last
sixty years, recruiters turned down most recruits with a criminal
record. The reason was that, since an army depended on discipline to
function, anyone who broke the law had already demonstrated problems
with following orders. Before September 11, 2001, the U.S. Army found
that 27 percent of recruits with criminal records (and given a "moral
waiver" to enlist), didn't finish their enlistment because of
misconduct (refusing to obey orders, or just a bad attitude). This
was twice the rate of troops who did not need a moral waiver. Back
then, less than four percent of recruits got moral waivers. That
usually required references from teachers, clergy or employers
attesting to how the applicant had shaped up, and was worthy of
acceptance. But since 2004, the percentage of recruit getting in with
moral waivers has tripled to 13 percent. Yet there has not been a
noticeable decline in troops quality. There is still a higher
percentage of moral waiver recruits getting discharged early, but not
double the rate of those without moral waivers.

All the services have been looking at potential recruits more
carefully, and experimenting with new screening and training methods.
This, in turn, has led to more careful study of exactly how well, or
poorly, recruits do during their military service. These new methods
have improved the quality of troops, while also expanding the number
of potential recruits.

.

Army Launches Recruiter Assistance Program

Army Launches Recruiter Assistance Program

http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/06/19/10207-army-launches-recruiter-assistance-program/

Jun 19, 2008
BY Elizabeth M. Lorge

Active-duty enlisted Soldiers and future Soldiers in the Delayed
Entry Program can now serve as assistant recruiters and earn extra
money in their off-duty hours.

The Army Recruiter Assistance Program, which became effective Monday,
will pay these Soldiers $1,000 when a recruit they refer enlists and
another $1,000 when that recruit ships to basic combat training.

That's often months sooner than the bonuses all Soldiers,
active-duty, reserve-component and retired, and Department of the
Army Civilians, are eligible to receive under the $2,000 referral
program. Under the $2K program, these bonuses, also in payments of
$1,000, are not available until the recruit starts basic training,
and then completes advanced individual training. Soldiers can
participate in both recruiting programs, but not by referring the
same prospect twice, officials said.

"(A Soldier) is kind of like a walking billboard," said Al Green, the
chief of the Recruiting Policy Branch at the Office of the Deputy
Chief of Staff for G-1 (Personnel). "He has a big impact because
people trust Soldiers…So if this Soldier is telling me how the Army
was for him, he's a living testament of how the Army works. He can
address and overcome some objections or concerns that a prospect
would have, so once he gets to the recruiter, he probably has his
mind made up."

In addition to actually referring people, Soldiers in the A-RAP
program are expected to spend time with potential recruits, encourage
them and answer any questions they might have about the Army.
According to Green, Soldiers need to go with their prospects to see
recruiters, and should attend Delayed Entry Program meetings with
them after they enlist.

"You are walking this applicant through this process, from the day he
joins until he ships, because if you do that, you probably will get
him to ship," said Green. "There is a little bit more work involved
(than the $2K program), but I think one of the things that would
enhance participation would be the timeliness of pay. Some
individuals, depending on their specialty, can't get into basic
training for seven or eight months because of space availability and
things of that nature…it has an impact. The bottom line is that they
will get $1,000 immediately."

To be eligible for the program, Soldiers also must complete training
about the basics of screening individuals to determine their
eligibility, and need the approval of their unit commander. Soldiers
can only participate in A-RAP when they are off-duty, because they
are technically working for a private contactor to provide recruiting
assistance, and they can't wear a uniform or use government
resources. For legal reasons, commissioned officers and warrant
officers cannot participate in A-RAP, although they are still
eligible for the $2K program.

Average Soldiers, Green said, can make a real difference to the Army
and its recruiting goals through programs like A-RAP, because they
are telling the Army story in a way that will resonate much deeper
than recruiters working on their own.

He also added that the participation of future Soldiers in the
delayed entry program is key because they can encourage their former
classmates and other friends who may still be deciding what to do
with their lives. In turn, that future Soldier, may have more friends
to serve with.

For additional information or to apply, visit
http://www.2k.army.mil/armyrap.htm.

The Army Reserve has a similar recruiting assistance program called
AR-RAP and the National Guard has G-RAP.

.

Army sweetens re-up deal for linguists

Army sweetens re-up deal for linguists

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_09Lima_062108w/

09 Limas offered fatter bonuses as demand grows

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Jun 23, 2008

The Army has begun offering re-enlistment bonuses of up to $29,000 to
09L interpreters and translators, a move made because of the rising
demand for soldiers fluent in critical languages.

The 09 Lima program puts native speakers of Arabic, Dari, Pashtu,
Farsi or Kurdish in uniform to serve alongside troops in combat. The
retention bonuses for 09 Limas ­ recently classified as a critical
military occupational specialty ­ were first offered in March. There
are two re-enlistment options for 09 Limas under the Army's Enhanced
Selective Reenlistment Bonus program. Depending on the category,
bonuses range from $3,000 to $29,000.

When the program began in 2003, "the Army had contract linguists and
Army-trained linguists, but the Army really needed a faster way to
gain more proficiency in language," said Errol Smith, the Army's
assistant deputy for foreign language programs.

The Army has recruited more than 1,260 09 Limas since August 2003. As
the demand for these soldiers continues to grow, officials are
offering fat bonuses to new soldiers in addition to the re-enlistment
incentives.

Recruits can earn up to $35,000 in enlistment bonuses, depending on
the component, and up to $400 a month in foreign language proficiency
pay, according to Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman.

The 09 Limas are force multipliers, Smith said.

"The difference between a 09 Lima and a civilian contractor is, a 09
Lima is in uniform," he said. "They're considered more trustworthy.
They're in uniform and they've been screened by the Army. They will
do what soldiers do."

An 09 Lima is trained to immediately identify a hostile situation by
observing a person's clothing and gestures. An 09 Lima understands
local slang terms and sayings. An 09 Lima gives his commander a
deeper understanding of the people and culture they are immersed in every day.

"The most important thing in this program is their ability to save
lives, whether it's their fellow soldiers, their commanders or
civilians," Smith said. "They bring an essential skill."

Sgt. Rush ­ he withheld his full name for security reasons ­ deployed
to Iraq from December 2005 to December 2006 with 4th Brigade Combat
Team, 4th Infantry Division, as the brigade commander's linguist. A
native of Morocco and fluent in Arabic, French and English, Rush
enlisted in 2004.

"It meant something to me to put the uniform on, having the flag on
my shoulder," Rush said. "I'm giving back to this wonderful country
that has given me so much. What means so much to me is the difference
we made in the field, being deployed to Iraq, being the bridge
between two different cultures, helping our [noncommissioned
officers], our officers."

The initial goal was to recruit 85 people into the program, according
to Edgecomb. In fiscal year 2003, 58 soldiers were recruited. Every
year since, the annual recruiting goal has been 250 soldiers, and the
Army has met or come close to meeting that goal. So far this fiscal
year, 179 people have enlisted to become 09 Limas.

More than 700 09 Limas have been mobilized for combat in the last
five years, Smith said. Only a small percentage of soldiers who
graduate from basic and advanced individual training don't deploy,
and it's not unusual for 09 Limas to go directly to Iraq or
Afghanistan to join a unit already in theater, Edgecomb said.

Attrition rates for 09 Lima recruits were not available, but those
rates tend to be higher because the soldiers come from a different
cultural background from that of most other new soldiers, compounding
the traditional "culture shock" associated with basic training, Edgecomb said.

A move to consolidate all 09 Lima training at Fort Jackson, S.C., has
decreased attrition, she said.

About 2.5 million Arab Americans are living in the U.S., but not all
of them are eligible for enlistment. Candidates must be U.S. citizens
or permanent residents, and recruits must meet the same
qualifications as any other soldier. They also must score well on
tests measuring their skills in English and their native language.

To boost recruiting and better target its efforts, the Army is
delving into the Arab-American community, Smith said.

Recruiters have conducted outreach programs with imams and local
leaders in New York, Michigan, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

In 2004, the Army hired 21 contract linguists to assist recruiters
across the country.

"They have contributed significantly to our success in reaching out
to the Arab-American communities, which has allowed Army leaders and
recruiters to build relationships with community leaders," Edgecomb said.

The Army also has produced commercials in Arabic. A new commercial is
scheduled to be unveiled later this year, Smith said.

Rush, who is assigned to the Atlanta Recruiting Battalion, is now
part of the recruiting effort.

"Now we play a different role," he said. "We are the ambassadors of
the Army within the community."

He visits places such as mosques, cultural centers and Arabic grocery stores.

"Coming from the field, being deployed, I have credibility when I
stand before them," he said.

Challenges the program faces include a small qualified pool of
applicants and the demand for these language skills from the
military, various government agencies and private contractors who pay
much more than the Army, he said.

"In a perfect world, we'd like to have thousands [of 09 Limas]," Smith said.

.

Teenagers, the U.S. Army Wants You

Teenagers, the U.S. Army Wants You

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/teenagers_the_us_army_wants_yo.html

by Mike McAndrew
Sunday June 22, 2008

Tenth-graders swarmed around recruiter Dwayne DeVane as he handed out
American flags, water bottles, bumper stickers, key chains and the
most sought-after treasures -- decks of cards bearing the U.S. Army logo.

It was career day at Corcoran High School in Syracuse.

While students paid scant attention to representatives of some big
local employers, such as National Grid and Iroquois Nursing Home, the
fatigue-wearing DeVane drew a steady crowd for two hours.

"When you go into the Army, do they really pay for your school?"
asked 16-year-old Phylicia Coley.

"Your schooling will be covered," DeVane assured her.

The Army's pitch is resonating with young men and women in Upstate
New York, even as the war in Iraq drags into its sixth year and
becomes increasingly unpopular.

The Army's Syracuse Recruiting Battalion persuaded more people to "Go
Army" in each of the last two years -- about 2,300 in 2006 and 2,200
in 2007 -- than it did in 2003, 2004 or 2005.

"This part of the country has done very well for us," said Maj. Gen.
Thomas Bostick, the Army's national recruiting commander, during a
Feb. 29 visit to the region.

With regular Army troops and reservists routinely being deployed
multiple times in combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan, recruiters are
under pressure to build the Army this year by 80,000 new regular
troops and 26,500 reservists.

Recruiters pitch the Army as the place to find adventure, receive
cash bonuses and pay for college. But with more than 4,100 American
military personnel killed in Iraq, it's not always an easy sell.

"Parents always want to protect and guide their kids," said Sgt. 1st
Class Peter Palumb, a recruiter from Chittenango. "Our recruiters
have to overcome a lot of misconceptions about the risks. Today, it's
still a good deal; there's just a little more risk involved."

"To recruit an all-volunteer force in a time of war and maintain a
decent quality individual coming in, it's hard," said Palumb, the top
recruiter of Army reservists in Upstate New York.

Later this summer, the Army plans to tempt Syracuse-area residents
with $40,000 bonuses to help them buy a house or start a business if
they sign up for a five-year hitch with Uncle Sam.

High school seniors already are receiving $1,000 per month, up to
$10,000, if they enlist before they graduate.

The Army also is accepting more recruits with arrest records.

In the Syracuse Battalion, the number of recruits with records has
tripled since 2003. Last year, one in 10 of the battalion's recruits
needed a "moral waiver" to join.

Recruits with moral waivers are not hardened criminals, said Col.
George Lumpkins, commander of the Syracuse Battalion for the past two years.

He said he recently approved a waiver for a young man who, as a high
school junior, had helped steal 18 pumpkins from a farmer's field
while joy-riding with friends.

"I generally call the applicant and ask, 'What were you thinking
about? Why did you do that?'" Lumpkins said. "Then I say, 'Yeah, I
think you should enter' or 'No, you have more growing up to do.'"

Lumpkins commands a force of about 200 recruiters who cover a
28,000-square-mile territory stretching from Utica to Buffalo and
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Potsdam. His battalion faces a stiff challenge:
by the end of the fiscal year, on Sept. 30, sign up more new soldiers
than it has in any year since the United States invaded Iraq. From
Upstate, the Army wants 2,015 new regular enlistees and 652
reservists, for a total of 2,667.

The battalion probably won't meet those targets, Lumpkins said.

The Army gave the Syracuse Battalion a tougher mission -- an
unrealistic one, Lumpkins said -- because of the successes it has had
in the last few years.

The battalion's past results are due in part to this region's strong
ties to the military, he said.

"There was a military influence here," he said. "There was an Air
Force base in Rome for a long time. There are Lockheed Martin,
Department of Defense contracting agencies. And of course you have
Fort Drum 70 miles up the road."

Recruiters find most of their prospects using lists from school
districts containing the names, phone numbers and addresses of high
school juniors and seniors. Districts were required by the 2002 No
Child Left Behind law to provide that information to the military.
Parents and students can sign a form preventing school officials from
releasing the information, but most don't.

In the Syracuse City School District, 10 percent of the city's 2,000
juniors and seniors told the district not to release their contact
information to the armed forces.

Like a telemarketer, recruiters make dozens of cold calls to
teenagers each day.

"Some people, we get them on the phone, and they are not friendly,"
Lumpkins said. "Some of these 17- and 18-year-olds can be pretty harsh."

"When the young person says, 'No, I'm not interested,' we take their
name off," Lumpkins said. "If they say, 'I'm not interested now,
maybe later,' we code it for follow-up."

DeVane said he also mines for potential recruits at community
centers, Syracuse Crunch games and high school sports events, rock
concerts and at Wal-Mart, K-Mart and convenience stores. He said he
usually talks to about 25 young men and women per day. His target is
two sign-ups per month.

If it's the last day of the month, and he's coming up short, DeVane
heads to Carousel Center.

"You run into the most people at the mall," DeVane said.

Cicero-North Syracuse High School has been one of the Army's most
fertile recruiting sites in Upstate New York, Lumpkins said. In the
C-NS class of about 727 seniors expected to graduate Friday, five
students enlisted early in the Army.

David D'Eredita Jr., 18, who will report July 9 for basic training at
Fort Benning, Ga., said a recruiter first contacted him after he
signed up to receive a free Army T-shirt on the Army's Web site,

www.goarmy.com.

Recruiters for the armed forces and military academies are invited
into C-NS every Monday so that students can talk to them during lunch.

Recruiters rely on high school guidance counselors to steer students
to them. At Corcoran, the Army can count on counselor Steve Snook, a
Vietnam-era veteran.

The Army sent Snook and 24 other teachers and guidance counselors
from Upstate New York on an all-expenses-paid, four-day trip in March
to Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. The event showcased the training
and job skills the Army offers teenagers just out of high school.

"For disadvantaged inner-city kids, it's great," Snook said of the
Army. "For someone who needs money for college, it should be at the
top of things you should consider. They're giving away crazy money now."

The Montgomery GI Bill is one of the biggest selling points the Army
has, Lumpkins said.

Nine out of 10 people the Syracuse Battalion recruited into the
regular Army last year had no college degrees.

The Army markets itself to high schoolers as a way to pay for
college. That's why Coley, the Corcoran 10th-grader with an A
average, said she is considering the Army.

"That's the most important consideration," said Coley. "I want to be
a psychiatrist. I want to go to a good school."

The GI Bill provides soldiers who have served at least three years
with an average of $6,600 per year in education benefits, said
Kimberly Hunter, press secretary to Sen. James Webb, D-Va., who
introduced the latest expansion of GI Bill benefits that passed
Congress in the last month.

Soldiers can receive a maximum of $39,636 for four years of education
benefits through the program, the Army says.

But tuition, room and board, and fees at the State University College
at Oswego cost $15,605 per year.

In most cases, GI Bill benefits don't come close to covering the
costs of attending college full-time, said John View, director of
financial aid at the State University College of Environmental
Science and Forestry.

That's not the message DeVane gave Corcoran students.

''He said the Army pays for everything," Coley said after talking to
the recruiter.

DeVane, who is 27, served in Iraq for a year and has been a recruiter
in Syracuse for two years. He's been taking classes online through
the University of Maryland. He said he has not had to pay a dime for
his college classes.

"You get enough money for school each year," DeVane said.

A spokesman in the Army Recruiting Command's public affairs office
said recruiters should not imply the GI Bill would cover all the
costs of college without knowing what school a potential soldier
plans to attend and the price of attending that school.

In recent weeks, the Senate and House have approved increasing GI
Bill tuition benefits from $1,101 per month to a level that covers
four years of college up to the level of the most expensive in-state
public school, projected to be a monthly average of $1,700.

D'Eredita said he eventually hopes to take advantage of the GI Bill,
go to college and become a history teacher.

But he said he signed up for an eight-year hitch as an airborne
Ranger without paying much attention to what his Army salary would
be, the amount of his bonus, or what education benefits he can earn.

"I always wanted to do it. Since I was a kid," D'Eredita said. "It's
the most opportunity for excitement."
--

Mike McAndrew can be reached at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016

.

Economy, War and Military Recruiting

Economy, War and Military Recruiting

http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/19/recruiting/

Michael May
JUNE 21, 2008

All branches of the U.S. Armed Forces -- with the exception of the
Army Reserve -- have been either meeting or exceeding their monthly
recruiting goals. With so much debate about how the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan are going, it's a wonder that so many people are enlisting.

Professor Cindy Williams teaches political science at MIT and has
studied military recruiting trends. She says there is more to the
numbers than people think:
--

Bill Radke: How is recruitment going today for armed services?

Cindy Williams: Well, recruitment is going very well for all of the
services. The Army is the one exception -- and there, the Army is
actually making its numbers. It's getting the number of people that
it's trying to bring in. But it's fallen off sharply since the Iraq
War started in the quality of the troops that it's able to bring in.
About last fiscal year, the Army was only able to bring in 79 percent
of its recruits who had graduated from high school.

Radke: What kind of person is joining the military these days?

Williams: Well, one of the interesting things that's been going on is
that since about 1994, Hispanics have made up a larger and larger
fraction of the military, and particularly of the Army. Probably the
biggest change since the Iraq War began is the drop-off in the
participation by African Americans in the military, and in
particularly in the Army.

Why is that?

It looks as though a lot of the reason has to do with a drop-off in
parental support for black young people joining the Army. And that a
lot of that drop-off in parental support can be attributed to the
fact that the war is very unpopular among African Americans in this
country, and much more unpopular among African Americans than it is
among whites.

How have the services changed the way they advertise themselves to
young people?

Well, I think the biggest thing that's going on right now is how much
they're advertising to parents rather than to young people. The Army
has this big campaign right now that's "You made them strong, we'll
make them Army strong." This is targeted directly at the parents. The
reason they're doing that is that parental support across the board,
across America for... all of the services has declined in recent years.

What do you think is likely to affect military recruitment the most
in the next year or so?

There are really two big players. One is what goes on in Iraq -- if
we see a resurgence of violence... it will put a big damper on
recruitment. The other thing, the other big player, is the economy.
If the economy continues to go south, if unemployment rates rise, I
think that will be a boost for recruiting that may be able to offset
some of the drain on recruiting that's going to come if there is
resurgence of violence in Iraq.

I noticed you didn't mention the November election.

The November election... I'm not sure. You know, if the new president
decides that we're out of Iraq, I think that would be enormous boost
to Army recruiting. But I think short of getting out of the war, this
is going to continue to drain recruiting. And the only way to offset
it is through the problems that we're having with the economy.

Dr. Cindy Williams of MIT... Thank you so much.

Thank you, pleasure.

.

No isle youth should die for recruiter’s lie

No isle youth should die for recruiter's lie

http://starbulletin.com/2008/06/22/editorial/commentary.html

6/22/08

I was shocked and dismayed by the recent account of deceptive
military recruitment tactics employed on Kapolei High School students
("Deception allegedly lures 2 boys to Navy," Star-Bulletin, June 15).
I am especially concerned because many young people induced into
military service are targeted through our public schools.

Our students deserve accurate, complete and comparative information
about military service before they sign a contract that could result
in them killing another person or being killed.

Enlisting into military service has provided many young adults
opportunities they would not have had otherwise, such as traveling to
other countries, engaging with other cultures, and learning and
utilizing technical skills. Unfortunately, for too many young adults
these opportunities also include premature death, serious bodily
injury or long-term psychological distress.

There is no question that the war in Iraq is one of the most divisive
issues facing America today. The Board of Education has a
Controversial Issues Policy, which states in relevant part: "Teachers
shall refer students to resources reflecting all points of view.
Discussions, including contributions made by the teacher or resource
person, shall be maintained on an objective, factual basis. Stress
shall be placed on learning how to make judgments based on facts."

Accurate and complete information means telling the whole truth - the
good, the bad and the ugly. How many troops are killed every year?
How many people are discharged with injuries? What are the
psychological effects of going into war? Is everyone who enlists
eligible for all benefits, college tuition, health care; or are there
additional requirements written in small print?

Critical thinking also requires access to comparative information.
Students deserve to be provided with nonviolent alternatives to
serving their country and preparing for their future.

The Department of Education may be "mandated" to provide military
recruiters with the private information of students who do not
opt-out; however, the DOE is in a position to formalize guidelines to
ensure greater precautions are taken when military recruiters make
contact with our students at our public schools. With 4,100 American
military casualties so far in the Iraq war, the stakes are too high
to continue allowing recruiters to go unchallenged and without accountability.

It is devastating to imagine how many of those 4,100 soldiers
enlisted after being misled by the commander in chief that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction and was intending to use them against the
United States.
--

Kim Coco Iwamoto is an at-large member of the Hawaii Board of
Education, representing Oahu.

.

Army General Cites Challenging Recruiting Environment

Army General Cites Challenging Recruiting Environment

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50255

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., June 18, 2008 – The Army is now exceeding its
recruiting requirements, but that force may contain more soldiers who
needed waivers to sign up in the years ahead, a senior U.S. military
officer said here today.

But, he added, that may not be as bad as it sounds.

Each year, the Army recruits about 80,000 new soldiers who join an
all-volunteer force that also includes sailors, airmen and Marines
and is universally recognized as "a national treasure," Army Lt. Gen.
David P. Valcourt, deputy commanding general and chief of staff of
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, told attendees at the 2008
Joint Warfighting Conference.

However, although the Army currently is exceeding its recruiting
goals for active duty and reserve component soldiers, a looming
recruiting crisis is on the horizon, Valcourt said.

"Today, seven out of 10 American citizens between the ages of 17 and
24 that are walking the streets of America can not qualify for entry
into our services without some form of a waiver, … and that is a
national crisis," the three-star general said. Prospects within that
group, Valcourt said, require medical, physical or moral waivers to
enter the military.

The Army has received criticism from some quarters, Valcourt said,
because soldiers being enlisted today have twice as many waivers
compared to soldiers who enlisted a year ago. Valcourt indicated such
criticism may be misplaced, especially if someone wants to serve his
or her county during wartime.

"If somebody has 'a little stain on their shirt' and they want to
raise their hand and come serve their country in a time of war --
knowing not if, but when they are going to deploy in harm's way --
where would you rather them be?" Valcourt asked.

Such enlistees, he said, can benefit from Army training "under the
watchful arm of one of our sergeants who is a professional at
instilling values and discipline and taking care of business that
hadn't been done in the last 18 years."

Another way to look at the waiver issue, Valcourt said, would be to
thank the armed services "for giving those folks who may have a
slight stain on their shirt an opportunity to come in our services
and find their way to fulfill their call of duty and serve and
protect our freedom."

Existing programs, such as the Junior ROTC, help young people to
consider joining the military or to make it a career, Valcourt noted.
There's also a new proposal being coordinated with the state of South
Carolina, he added, to establish an Army preparatory school for young
people without high school diplomas.

The bottom line, Valcourt said, is that the current recruiting
environment for a volunteer force is what it is.

"And, the answer is not the draft," Valcourt emphasized, noting that
his experience with a conscripted Army that ended in 1973 "was not a
fun thing."

.

Deceptive recruiting methods damage the military

Deceptive recruiting methods damage the military

http://starbulletin.com/2008/06/17/editorial/editorial01.html

6/17/08

THE ISSUE
A Navy recruiter has been accused of making false promises to enlist
two Kapolei teenagers.
--

Misleading young men and women in order to sign them up for military
service makes no sense for anyone involved, including the tricky recruiter.

When enlistees discover they have been deceived, they aren't likely
to view their stints favorably, the military gains service members
who are disgruntled and the recruiters -- though possibly reaching
their enlistment quotas -- get bad reputations that can prevent them
from doing their jobs effectively. In addition, the military and
recruiters in general are tainted by the bad practices of a few.

Parents and young people as well as older people considering
enrolling in the armed forces should make sure they know in detail
what's ahead before they agree to enlist. While a career in the
military can provide an education, a range of opportunities and other
benefits, potential recruits need to enter the services with eyes wide open.

Two recent Kapolei High School graduates and their families have
found that a recruiter's promises of college benefits weren't exactly
as billed. They were told that the Navy would pay for them to go to
college for four years before having to serve four years, but it
turned out the sequence was reversed; they were to serve on full-time
active duty before earning any college benefits.

The mother of one of the graduates told the Star-Bulletin's Susan
Essoyan she was skeptical of the promises and went with her son to
assure herself everything was in order and to verify the terms of
enlistment. But they turned out to be otherwise.

The recruiter, Petty Officer 1st Class Jimmy Pecadeso, apparently had
been the source of previous problems. The school's principal said he
had banned Pecadeso from recruiting on campus for being "overly
aggressive" and "doing things that appear not to be ethical." The
recruiter's supervisor was advised of problems several times, the
principal said.

Recruiters can meet with students at the school only if parents have
given permission and if a counselor is present. However, the
resourceful recruiter managed to track down one of the teenagers off campus.

Granted, the teenagers should have known what they were doing, but it
appears they were rushed into a decision without the benefit of
talking with their families.

A 2006 government study showed that while hard-sell tactics by
recruiters were rare, claims of recruiter misconduct were increasing
and, because the military did not track all allegations, the problems
likely were underestimated. The study also showed that the majority
of recruiters, who are involuntarily assigned the duty, are
dissatisfied with the task, which has become increasingly difficult
because of the war in Iraq.

.

Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs

[2 articles]

'Disposable Heroes': Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5180437&page=1

An ABC News and Washington Times Investigation Reveals Vets Are Being
Recruited for Government Tests on Drugs with Violent Side Effects

By BRIAN ROSS and VIC WALTER
June 17, 2008

Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being
recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to
suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News
and The Washington Times has found.

The report will air on Good Morning America and will also appear in
The Washington Times on Tuesday. (click here to read the Washington
Times coverage of "Disposable Heroes")

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug
Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three
months before warning veterans about the possible serious side
effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper
James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the
Veterans Administration.

Elliott, 38, of suburban Washington, D.C., was recruited, at $30 a
month, for the Chantix anti-smoking study three years after being
diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He served a 15-month
tour of duty in Iraq from 2003-2004.

Months after he began taking the drug, Elliott suffered a mental
breakdown, experiencing a relapse of Iraq combat nightmares he blames
on Chantix.

"They never told me that I was going to be suicidal, that I would
cease sleeping. They never told me anything except this will help me
quit smoking," Elliott told ABC News and The Washington Times.

On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott
says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun.

His fiancee, Tammy, called police and warned, "He's extremely
unstable. He has PTSD."

"Do you think that he is going to shoot or attack the police?" the
911 dispatcher asked.

"I can't be certain. I don't know," she said. (click here to hear
part of Tammy's 911 call)

"He was operating as if he was back in theater, in combat theater,"
she told ABC News. "And of course, a soldier goes nowhere without a gun."

When police arrived, they found Elliott in the street, with the gun
in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

"Are you going to shoot me? Shoot me," Elliott said, according to the
police report. (click here to see the police report)

Police used a Taser gun to stun Elliott and placed him under arrest.

It wasn't until three weeks later that the Veterans Administration
advised the veterans in the Chantix study that the drug may cause
serious side effects, including "anxiety, nervousness, tension,
depression, thoughts of suicide, and attempted and completed suicide."

The VA's letter to the veterans, on February 29, 2008, followed three
warnings from the FDA and Chantix' maker Pfizer, that were issued on
November 20, 2007, January 18, 2008 and February 1, 2008. (click here
to read the FDA warning and click here to read Pfizer's statement on Chantix)

"How this study continued in the face of these difficulties is almost
impossible to understand," said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center
for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Doctors at the Veterans Administration say they acted as quickly as
they could.

"This didn't justify an emergency warning at that level," said Dr.
Miles McFall, co-administrator of the VA study.

Dr. McFall said there is no proof that Elliott's breakdown was caused
by Chantix and he sees no reason to discontinue the study. Some 140
veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder continue to
receive Chantix as part of a smoking cessation study.

Dr. McFall says the VA decided to continue the Chantix study because
"it would be depriving our veterans of an effective method of
treatment to help them stop smoking."

Caplan, one of the country's leading medical ethicists, said he was
stunned by the VA's decision to continue the Chantix experiment.

"Why take the group most a risk and keep them going? That doesn't
make any sense, once you know the risk is there," he said.

Chantix is one of the drugs being used in an estimated 25 clinical
studies using veterans by the VA.

Pfizer maintains that "the benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks"
and that it continues to do further studies on the drug.

The FAA has prohibited commercial airline pilots from using Chantix
because of its possible side effects.

--------

Test nearly lethal, veteran says

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jun/17/test-nearly-lethal-veteran-says/

Anti-smoking medication linked to psychotic, suicidal episodes

Audrey Hudson
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

James Elliott thought his recurring nightmares of exploding bombs,
dogs eating corpses, a child's head blown off its body and other war
horrors from his Iraq tour had ended in 2004 when he returned to his
home in Silver Spring.

The Army veteran sniper was earning high grades in college and got
engaged to be married. His post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had
disappeared.

He even signed up for a Veterans Affairs experiment to kick his habit
of nearly three packs of cigarettes a day using the drug Chantix, and
was succeeding.

But after two weeks on the drug, his night terrors returned with a
vengeance, and his fiancee built a wall of stuffed animals across
their bed to serve as a security buffer.

"I just thought she really liked stuffed animals," said Mr. Elliott, 38.

Within a few weeks of his taking Chantix, VA officials learned the
drug was causing serious side effects across the nation, including
psychotic behavior, suicides and suicidal tendencies. But the agency
took three months to get that warning through its system and to the
veterans in the study.

Night after night, Mr. Elliott violently thrashed against the plush
toys in his sleep, shouting for air strikes, replaying the horror of
watching friends bleed to death.

"This went on for 2 1/2 months. It just got worse night by night,"
Mr. Elliott said.

He stopped eating and drank massive amounts of coffee or Mountain Dew
to stay awake. Then the nightmares turned to hallucinations. He saw
strangers in the neighborhood wearing suicide vests and was certain
that nearby cars were tagged with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

"They couldn't come and get me if I was awake and waiting for them,"
Mr. Elliott said.

His fiancee called the police on Feb. 5, concerned he might hurt
himself. She called police a second time when she discovered his
pistol was missing from its holster. As a skilled marksman, he was an
even bigger threat to the police, she thought.

"I don't want him to hurt anybody," she told the 911 dispatcher, but
added "he has talked in the past about killing himself."

After spending several days in jail and weeks in a veterans hospital,
Mr. Elliott now says it was a miracle the police did not kill him.
Instead, officers used a Taser to subdue him. In his pocket, they
found a loaded .40-caliber pistol with one live round in the chamber.

In an interview with The Washington Times weeks after he was
arrested, Mr. Elliott pondered his actions that lead to his being
Tasered - "why did I put the gun in my pants, suicide by cops?" he asked.

JAMES ELLIOT PHOTOGRAPHS Iraq war veteran James Elliott of Silver
Spring is seen here in Baghdad. Mr. Elliot was taking the
prescription drug Chantix to help him stop smoking. The drug has been
linked to psychotic and suicidal behavior.

According to the police report, Mr. Elliott shouted, "Are you going
to shoot me? Shoot me!" after the officers ordered him to show his
hands. As Mr. Elliott was being transported to a nearby police
station, he asked the cops why they did not shoot him.

"I would have shot me," he said.

Mr. Elliott stopped taking the drug and received several weeks of
treatment, blaming the drug for his outburst. He pleaded guilty to
criminal charges resulting from the confrontation with police and was
given probation this month.

Though hallucinations and suicidal tendencies have been declared
potential side effects of Chantix, VA officials involved in the study
are unwilling to blame the drug for Mr. Elliott's breakdown.

Dr. Miles McFall, director of the VA's programs for PTSD sufferers,
told The Times and ABC News during a joint investigation that "we
don't know that Chantix was the cause of this, first of all. And it's
presumed that that's the case. We don't know that to be a fact."

"Suicidality and aggressive impulses [are] part and parcel of their
disorder," Dr. McFall said of PTSD patients.

Mr. Elliott's fiancee called the police on Feb. 5, concerned he might
hurt himself. As a skilled marksman, he was an even bigger threat to
the police, she thought.

After Mr. Elliott's breakdown, he and his fiancee reached out for
help to retired Marine Lt. Col. Roger Charles, editor of
DefenseWatch, the Internet newsmagazine of Soldiers For The Truth
(SFTT), www.sftt.org, a nonprofit educational foundation founded by
the late Col. David H. Hackworth and his wife, Eilhys England, to act
as an advocate for front-line troops.

"This idea that you would take people that already are diagnosed with
mental issues and then give them a drug that appears early on to have
some likelihood of exacerbating such issues. I understand why they
want vets to quit smoking - for financial, health and moral issues -
but I don't understand why they would give it to men and women
struggling for mental normality," Col. Charles said.

"For veterans who serve their country, and in doing so, picked up
mental issues, I would think you would go the extra mile to keep them
from jeopardizing their ability to function normally," Col. Charles said.

Mr. Elliott says "the carrot they dangled in front of my face" to
join the study was $30 a month for the three-year program, which he
initially began with the use of nicotine patches and chewing gum.

"I knew it was a research project, but I also needed the money," Mr.
Elliott said.

Veterans are now warned that Chantix "may make current psychiatric
symptoms that you are experiencing worse, or may make old psychiatric
symptoms return."

But that warning came three weeks after Mr. Elliott suffered his
breakdown and tangled with police.

.

Soldiers risk ruin while awaiting benefit checks

Soldiers risk ruin while awaiting benefit checks

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25194600/

Injured vets draw reduced Army pay while claims are processed

June. 16, 2008

SAN ANTONIO - His lifelong dream of becoming a soldier had, in the
end, come to this for Isaac Stevens: 28, penniless, in a wheelchair,
fending off the sexual advances of another man in a homeless shelter.

Stevens' descent from Army private first-class, 3rd Infantry
Division, 11 Bravo Company, began in 2005 ­ not in battle, since he
was never sent off to Iraq or Afghanistan, but with a headfirst fall
over a wall on the obstacle course at Fort Benning, Georgia. He
suffered a head injury and spinal damage.

The injury alone didn't put him in a homeless shelter. Instead, it
was military bureaucracy ­ specifically, the way injured soldiers are
discharged on just a fraction of their salary and then forced to wait
six to nine months, and sometimes even more than a year, before their
full disability payments begin to flow.

"When I got out, I hate to say it, but man, that was it. Everybody
just kind of washed their hands of me, and it was like, `OK, you're
on your own,'" said Stevens, who was discharged in November and was
in a shelter by February. He has since moved into a temporary San
Antonio apartment with help from Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization.

Reduced pay
Nearly 20,000 disabled soldiers were discharged in the past two
fiscal years, and lawmakers, veterans' advocates and others say
thousands could be facing financial ruin while they wait for their
claims to be processed and their benefits to come through.

"The anecdotal evidence is depressing," said Rep. John Hall, a
Democrat from New York who heads a subcommittee on veterans
disability benefits. "These veterans are getting medical care, but
their family is going through this huge readjustment at the same time
they're dealing with financial difficulties."

Most permanently disabled veterans qualify for payments from Social
Security and the military or Veterans Affairs. Those sums can amount
to about two-thirds of their active-duty pay. But until those checks
show up, most disabled veterans draw a reduced Army paycheck.

The amount depends on the soldier's injuries, service time and other
factors. But a typical veteran and his family who once lived on
$3,400 a month might have to make do with $970 a month.

Unless a soldier has a personal fortune or was so severely injured as
to require long-term inpatient care, that can be an extreme hardship.

Change in policy
The Army, stung by the scandal last year over shoddy care at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, has been working to help
soldiers during the in-between period, said Col. Becky Baker,
assigned to injured soldier transition at the U.S. Surgeon General's Office.

In a change in policy that took effect last August, the Army is
allowing wounded soldiers to continue to draw their full Army
paychecks for up to 90 days after discharge, Baker said. It is also
sending more VA workers to Army posts to process claims more quickly,
and trying to do a better job of informing soldiers of the available
benefits and explaining the application process.

"We make certain that we've covered all the bases before we discharge
the soldier," Baker said.

She acknowledged, however, that the changes have been slow to take
hold across an Army stretched by war. "It's definitely a practice
that is new. It takes awhile for new practices to be
institutionalized," the colonel said.

Stevens was moved to the Operation Homefront apartment after a social
worker at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, acting on her own
initiative, rescued Stevens from a homeless shelter there.

"This is a situation where someone used their common sense, and they
did the right thing, versus saying, `This is the rules. We can't do
this,'" Tripler spokeswoman Minerva Anderson said of the social worker.

Typically, the first 100 days after discharge are spent just
gathering medical and other evidence needed to make a decision on
disability, VA officials say. If paperwork is incomplete, or a
veteran moves to another state before the claim is decided, the
process can drag on longer. Disagree with the VA's decision, and the
wait time grows.

"The claims are a lot more complicated than people think," said
Ursula Henderson, director of the VA's regional office in Houston.

'You're on your own'
Amy Palmer, a disabled veteran and vice president of Operation
Homefront, which helps newly disabled servicemembers, said: "Nobody's
assigned to them. You're on your own once you get out."

Hall is pushing legislation that would force the VA to use compatible
computer systems and more consistent criteria and to reach out to
veterans better.

"A veteran goes and serves and does what the country asks them to
do," the congressman said. "But when they come back they're made to
jump through these hoops and to wait in line for disability benefits."

Simon Heine served three tours in Iraq as a tank mechanic before he
was discharged with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

His wife quit college, and the family, including four children, was
trying to survive on less than $1,000 a month. Eventually, they moved
into an Operation Homefront apartment while they finished navigating
the bureaucracy and waiting for their Social Security and VA benefits.

"It is like giving you a car and taking the steering wheel off. They
say, `There is the gas and the brake. Just go straight,' and
hopefully, you are going in the right direction," Heine said.

.

Dead Marine's family says he didn't get proper care

Dead Marine's family says he didn't get proper care

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/15/0615marine.html

Chad Oligschlaeger was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder
when he was found in barracks, parents say.

By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, June 15, 2008

Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger returned from Iraq in early 2006 haunted by
the memory of a fellow Marine he thought he should have saved.

He began drinking himself to sleep to dull the flashbacks and the
nightmares, friends and family say. He told them he was accused by a
superior of faking to avoid his next deployment.

After a second tour in Iraq, Oligschlaeger came home to Round Rock on
leave and slept for days, a shell of the McNeil High School student
who had pushed his friends into every kind of mischief imaginable,
giggling all the way. He told his family the dead Marine was talking to him.

In the spring, two years after the nightmares began, he told his
family that doctors had diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress
disorder and put him on at least six types of medication. The Marines
sent him to alcohol rehab and were arranging treatment at a mental
health clinic.

But weeks before his death, Oligschlaeger declined to re-enlist, and
his unit left him with no supervision and nothing to do for days on
end, according to family and friends, who say he called them at all
hours, slurring his speech, unable to recall what medications he had taken.

He was found dead in his room at the Twentynine Palms Marine base in
California on May 20. He was 21.

First Lt. Curtis Williamson, a Marine Corps spokesman, said the
Corps' policies prohibit commanders from discouraging mental health
treatment or leaving physically or mentally wounded troops uncared
for. He said an investigation is under way, during which details,
records and the cause of death cannot be released to the family or
the public. "These allegations," he said, "will be taken very seriously."

But Oligschlaeger's family is alleging that two years of obvious
problems and calls for help from Oligschlaeger were ignored. Their
complaints echo those of veterans' advocates, who say that even with
new government policies, better treatment and increased public
awareness, there are still barriers separating soldiers and Marines
from proper care for conditions such as PTSD that affect mental health.

"They wouldn't give Chad the help he needed. But he was wounded,
every bit as wounded as someone who lost an arm or leg," said his
father, Eric Oligschlaeger of Round Rock.

Oligschlaeger was found dead at a time when studies are showing that
more troops are dealing with mental health problems than previously
thought. The most comprehensive independent study, published in April
by the RAND Corp.'s Center for Military Health Policy Research, found
that one-third of service members sent to Iraq or Afghanistan return
suffering from a combination of severe depression, PTSD and brain injuries.

Only half the troops who need care seek it, often fearing
stigmatization or retribution, according to the report, which also
found that "only slightly more than half who receive treatment get
minimally adequate care."

Moments of war left haunting memories

Chad Oligschlaeger, his family says, saw things in Iraq that he could
not leave behind.

His first day in Ramadi ­ a densely packed city where the streets
rang with gunfire ­ he saw a nearby Marine killed by a mortar lobbed
onto the base, he told his family. A lieutenant handed him a body bag.

On Feb. 18, 2006, during a night patrol, a friend and mentor to
Oligschlaeger, 2nd Lt. Almar Fitzgerald, was riding in a Humvee that
was attacked. The blast from a roadside bomb left "Fitz" severely
wounded, according to military releases. Eric Oligschlaeger said his
son's Humvee arrived shortly after the attack and Oligschlaeger
helped load Fitzgerald's stretcher into the back. But it was too wide
to fit, momentarily delaying their departure, Eric Oligschlaeger said.

Fitzgerald died three days later at a U.S. military hospital in
Germany, according to the releases.

Eric Oligschlaeger said his son described a delay that lasted at most
a few moments, but Chad was dwelling on those seconds. When
Oligschlaeger came home on leave that April, his friends say they
noticed subtle changes.

At age 10, he'd met Brad Blackaller, and it took only a day for him
to ask, "Are we best friends yet?" When Blackaller said he already
had one, Oligschlaeger replied, "Why can't you have more than one?"
After Ramadi, Blackaller said, the burly, brown-haired hockey player
with the sly smile and more best friends than he could count was
jittery about standing in a grocery line.

Oligschlaeger's mother, Julie Oligschlaeger, who lives in Phoenix,
says her son made the 275-mile trip from Twentynine Palms most
weekends with a few Marine buddies. Sunday mornings, mother and son
had breakfast together. She and Oligschlaeger's fiancée, Adrianna
Avena, who also lives in Phoenix, say he spent months brushing aside
questions about Iraq.

Then, six months after returning from Ramadi, he learned he was being
sent back.

He started having flashbacks. He drank Seagram's Seven whiskey until
he passed out. He thrashed violently in his sleep, crying out about
Fitzgerald. Avena learned the safest way to wake him was a light
touch on the heel.

"Chad told (the Marines) he couldn't go back in his condition," she said.

Oligschlaeger told his family that he saw a military psychiatrist and
laid out the drinking and the nightmares. But later that day,
Oligschlaeger told his family, he was called in by a superior and
accused of making up problems to avoid deployment. Julie
Oligschlaeger said her son worried about a dishonorable discharge ­
and that no decent employer would hire him.

Williamson, the Marine spokesman, confirmed the identities of
superiors accused by the family of discouraging Oligschlaeger from
seeking help. But they are not allowed to give interviews during the
investigation, he said. Their names are being withheld from this
article because they did not have the opportunity to comment.

Williamson would not comment on Oligschlaeger's case specifically but
said any attempts to discourage him from seeking mental health
treatment, as is being alleged, would be "not acceptable or
condonable under Marine Corps standards."

Stigma inhibits mental health treatment

Across the military, standards are changing. The Defense Department
has been scrambling to hire psychiatrists in the wake of a yearlong
Pentagon study, which concluded in May 2007 that the number of mental
health professionals in the military is "woefully inadequate." Last
month, as part of a larger initiative to eliminate the stigma
associated with mental health care, Defense Secretary Robert Gates
visited a new PTSD treatment center near El Paso and declared that
security clearances could no longer be denied to troops seeking
treatment. Some commanders have also been encouraging their troops to
think of the mind like a piece of equipment, something that may need
maintenance when used in harsh conditions.

But change takes time. In February, during a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing about soldiers allegedly deployed against doctors'
orders, Army Secretary Pete Geren testified that troops unfit for
duty shouldn't be sent to war zones but couldn't be sure they
weren't. Meanwhile, troop surveys consistently find the main barrier
to treatment is fear that careers will suffer.

"There's more help available," said Paul Sullivan, the executive
director of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense. "But it's
got to get a lot better, quickly, or we're going to have a social
catastrophe among returning veterans."

After diagnosis, a host of medications

In April 2007, Oligschlaeger and Ramadi had changed. The city had
calmed. Amid the pace of life there, Oligschlaeger seemed stable to
family members during phone calls home, they say.

He returned on Thanksgiving from his seven-month tour in Iraq
optimistic about his post-military life, his family says. While
visiting Avena in Phoenix, he proposed at P. T. Cook's restaurant, so
nervous that he got on his knees and almost forgot to pop the
question. Oligschlaeger toured the firefighters' academy in Phoenix.
Avena bought a house in nearby Scottsdale.

But when Oligschlaeger went home on leave to Round Rock, he would not
leave the house. He told his father that he didn't like how people
stared at him.

In February, Oligschlaeger told his family that he was having
hallucinations of Fitzgerald sitting next to his bed in the evenings,
talking to him. He began to dream about killing Adrianna in anger.

At some point, he was diagnosed with PTSD, according to the family.
But without medical records, determining when is difficult. The
family says that he saw several psychiatrists in February but did not
mention being diagnosed with PTSD until early May.

Julie Oligschlaeger said that during a brief visit in March, her son
left behind an empty bottle of zolpidem, a prescription sleep aid,
dated March 7, as well as bottles of trazodone and fluoxetine (both
prescription antidepressants) dated March 20. His family says he
later told them he was also taking lorazepam (a panic-reducing
sedative) and seroquel (an antipsychotic).

In early April, the Marines sent Oligschlaeger to an alcohol
rehabilitation center in Point Loma, Calif., his family says. He
spent nearly a month there, but he complained of flashbacks so vivid
that he would run terrified from the room. He thought the sergeant
picking him up from treatment accused him of faking symptoms.

But, he told his family, the Marines were planning additional
treatment: a stay in a mental health facility in Napa Valley. They
were waiting until a bed opened up.

The medications mentioned by Oligschlaeger's family are nothing to be
alarmed about, said Dr. Erin Silvertooth, an Austin psychiatrist who
has counseled PTSD patients. Silvertooth said PTSD medications are
often used in concert to target specific symptoms, because "there is
no magic PTSD pill."

But she and Dr. Arthur Blank Jr., one of the nation's leading
authorities on PTSD, said patients on that many medications must be
monitored closely. Blank said doctors often rely primarily on pills
to deal with PTSD, but he said they should only supplement regular
private counseling. Silvertooth and Blank, who had no involvement in
Oligschlaeger's case and could speak only in general terms, also said
alcohol can amplify or interfere with PTSD medications, creating a
dangerous combination.

Mixing alcohol, pills

On May 10, Oligschlaeger's older brother, Chris, and his girlfriend,
Sara Pawlowski, visited Phoenix. Chad Oligschlaeger, obviously drunk,
complained he couldn't find his pills.

"I just saw you take them," Pawlowski recalls telling Chad Oligschlaeger.

The family's worries deepened. Eric Oligschlaeger, who paints houses
for a living, took a job delivering newspapers in Oak Hill in
anticipation of paying for the post-military treatment.

The Marines encouraged Chad Oligschlaeger to renew his contract. He said no.

In the days after that, the family says, Oligschlaeger would call
from different points on the base, wandering in a haze. He told his
mother no one asked or cared why he wasn't going to work. His new
roommate in the barracks was house-sitting off base.

On Friday, May 16, Oligschlaeger told his father Napa Valley was
still full. He then called Blackaller and said he wasn't visiting
Avena in Phoenix to save on gas.

On Monday, Avena bought her wedding dress. Her call went to
Oligschlaeger's voice mail.

On Tuesday, voice mail again. In a panic, she called her fiancé's old
roommate and asked, "Can you check on Chad?"

Hours passed.

At 11:30 p.m. in Round Rock, Eric Oligschlaeger's doorbell rang.

"By then," he said, "I knew what it was about."

The Marine told Eric Oligschlaeger his son was dead but said he could
not give any details.

Two days later, on a breezy desert morning, the Marines held a
memorial service for Oligschlaeger at Twentynine Palms. There, Julie
Oligschlaeger says, she asked the lieutenant colonel commanding her
son's battalion, "What happened to eyes on your Marines?"

Oligschlaeger's funeral was May 31 in Austin. At it, the family
played Johnny Cash's rendition of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," a song
about a disillusioned Pima Indian who helped raise the U.S. flag at
Iwo Jima. In the song, Hayes turns to whiskey after the war, hoping
to dull the nightmares and survivor's guilt. He died at 32.

Eric Oligschlaeger knew it was an unusual choice for a funeral. But,
he said, during the first deployment, his son's unit had listened to
it every morning.

To the family, it seemed a fitting choice.
--

mtoohey@statesman.com; 445-3673

.

Cut loose stop-loss

Cut loose stop-loss

http://savannahnow.com/node/516548

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Army's stop-loss policy is a backdoor draft that must end.

CREDIT SOLDIERS from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division for bravery
last week, but not for standing up to America's enemies abroad.

Instead, they had the guts to grill their top brass about stop-loss -
a morale-killing, family-wounding Army policy that forces volunteers
to stay in the service beyond their enlistment agreements.

Stop-loss needs to stop, at least in its current form. It makes it
too easy for the Pentagon and politicians to avoid tough decisions
about sending soldiers into war zones.

Until that happens, Uncle Sam should have the decency to do one
thing: Give soldiers who are retained a little extra in their paychecks.

For seven years, the Army has used stop-loss to keep soldiers in
uniform, even though they had reached their separation or retirement
dates. That's why stop-loss is sometimes called a backdoor draft.
Volunteers are required to extend their service, no questions asked.

This unpopular policy is legal - it's in the fine print in enlistment
papers. It also benefits the Army over the short term by keeping
field-ready, battle-tested soldiers on the job. This prevents a
manpower crunch that compromises effectiveness, especially during
15-month-long deployments.

But over the long term, it does more harm than good. It makes it
tougher to convince young men and women to enlist. It serves as a
crutch for the Pentagon, allowing it to overextend the Army instead
of using it more judiciously.

Within the ranks, stop-loss creates hardships among families and
triggers much grumbling among soldiers. Commanding officers, however,
don't like to talk about it. They'd rather point to the positives and
advance their careers.

But about 600 non-commissioned and junior officers at Fort Stewart
who just returned from Iraq - including many who have done four or
five tours to that country and Afghanistan - weren't reluctant to speak up.

Last Wednesday, they popped Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, who visited Fort Stewart, with a stop-loss
question: When will it end?

His answer: Not anytime soon.

"I would like to see an end to the stop-loss policy," the four-star
admiral said, "but I don't see it happening in the near future." The
reason is Iraq. "The mission in Iraq is ... the priority," he said.

But maintaining good morale and a healthy, all-volunteer Army must be
priorities, too. The Army is shooting itself in the foot if it thinks
stop-loss is the best way to meet its manpower needs.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has introduced a bill
that would pay $1,500 a month to soldiers on active duty who are
involuntarily extended under stop-loss. He would make payments
retroactive to the start of the Iraq war.

We encourage Georgia's two senators to support this measure.

It would compensate soldiers for putting their lives on hold while
they are "drafted" to serve their country.

But more than that, it would put a real price tag on the cost of
requiring soldiers to continue their military service. Instead of
making soldiers stay put, leaders would be forced to take harder
looks at deployments and reconsider how the military is used.

Seven years of stop-loss hurts the Army on the front end with
recruiting and on the back end with morale. National security is
affected. That's why stop-loss should cease.

It makes it too easy for the Pentagon and politicians to avoid tough
decisions about sending soldiers into war zones.

Young people deserve second chance to excel

Young people deserve second chance to excel

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/OPINION01/806140331/1008

By LT. COL. SAMUEL E. WILLIAMS • June 14, 2008

During the current fiscal year, the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion
Nashville has granted 680 waivers to young men and women throughout
Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Virginia.

Each of these waivers represents a second chance to a deserving young
person who wants to serve this country. We are pleased to offer this
opportunity to our area youth, because we believe they deserve it.

There are several factors that come into play in this issue over
waivers. They range from a protracted war to the battle many young
people face every day to get an education and grow up in often
less-than-ideal circumstances.

So many grow up in broken homes where no one is there to love,
nurture and guide them. They may not know any better and can commit
acts as a young teenager that make it challenging for them to join
the military.

The pool of young people who are eligible for military service is
shrinking. Current data tell us less than 30 percent of men and women
ages 17-24 qualify for military service. Many are right on the edge.

Our recruiters encounter these young men and women every day. They
come into our recruiting stations looking for a glimmer of hope and a
shot at redemption in many cases.

Take recruits, build soldiers

The waivers process they must go through is an extensive one. We try
to find only those who truly want to make a change and join our Army.
More serious waivers applications are reviewed by as many as 10
leaders and are approved at the general officer level.

The criterion we use is simple: "Is this a young man or a young woman
someone I want serving beside me in combat?" I don't want my
recruiters or my staff approving any individual's waiver if they
can't look me in the eye and give me a resounding, "Yes, sir!"

The Army takes recruits and builds soldiers, making them stronger
leaders and people and preparing them for life's challenges.

Using waivers has not compromised the quality of our Army. We are
still the best-manned, best-trained, best-led and best-equipped force
in history.

Recruit quality can't be measured by waivers, test scores and
diplomas alone. Recruiting is a screening process, but you can't
measure the heart it takes to be a soldier.

I'm proud of the lives that are changed every day when my recruiters
go out and talk to young people. Many will come back from their time
in the Army older, wiser and better equipped to be good citizens and
great Americans.

We found soldiers who had enlisted with waivers re-enlisted at a
higher rate, advanced to sergeant faster, and had a higher ratio of
valor awards ­ with only a marginally higher misconduct rate. The
quality of raw recruits is important, but the finished product ­
soldiers ­ is what really counts. The Army takes recruits and builds
leaders. Overwhelmingly, soldiers with conduct waivers perform well.

Army Strong!
--

Lt. Col. Samuel E. William, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting
Battalion in Nashville, is a Jacksonville, Fla., native who has
served in the Army 24 years.

.

Better ways to boost ranks than lowering standards

Better ways to boost ranks than lowering standards

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/OPINION01/806140329/1008

Military broadens recruiting pool

6/14/08

Our View

With signs that the war in Iraq is entering a critical new phase,
there is a new focus on troop readiness.

However, the trend toward granting waivers for recruits who have
records of crime or other misconduct could damage that readiness.

The last of an estimated 30,000 U.S. troops sent as the "surge" last
year are tentatively scheduled to return from Iraq this summer. But
if the Bush administration completes a security arrangement with the
Iraqi government, a U.S. troop presence in Iraq will be assured for
some time to come. Even with Defense Secretary Robert Gates'
extension of tours from 12 to 15 months, fresh troops will be needed
over the next year and possibly longer in the war zones of Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Increasingly, Army recruiters are casting a wide net to bring in
potential fresh troops. As a result, the number of recruits needing
waivers to join the Army has more than doubled to one for every eight
new soldiers.

Waivers are required for recruits with one felony or serious
misdemeanor or more than three minor misdemeanors, according to an
Associated Press report. Minor offenses range from disorderly conduct
to trespassing and vandalism.

According to Gates, Army regulations make no exceptions for those
with records of violent sexual crime or drug offenses. However, the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released data in
April showing that a small number of recruits received waivers who
had committed sexual crimes, manslaughter or drug offenses. Others
were inducted despite records of robbery, aggravated assault and
vehicular homicide.

Gates and Army recruiting officials have said the system is sound,
and that potential recruits are all thoroughly vetted. Still, the
fact that waivers are on the rise should be of concern to everyone,
as opportunities for errors in judgment increase.

Often, there are mitigating circumstances. Many of the recruits'
offenses were committed years earlier, when they were juveniles. As
Douglas Smith, the public information officer for the Army recruiting
command, said last year, "We understand that people make mistakes in
their lives and they can overcome those mistakes."

But a stressful, dangerous combat zone is probably not the best
environment for young adults to get their lives on track. And as the
military strives to modernize and become more adaptable to complex
and rapidly changing styles of conflict worldwide, a relaxing of
standards could do more harm than good.

Perhaps, instead of granting conduct waivers or offering cash bonuses
that do little good for the recruits in the long run, military
recruiters should try to boost enlistment by emphasizing something of
real value: education. Gates says that all who enter the Army, for
example, must have a high school diploma or GED. If true, then
passage of the already-popular legislation to extend GI Bill benefits
would give recruiters a powerful tool. With the prospect of having
your college education paid for, more young men and women would
enlist who do not require waivers.

And there is another opportunity presenting itself: worsening
unemployment in the U.S. Perhaps recruiters should turn the tables on
a well-known old military slogan to say: "It's not an adventure ­ it's a job."

.

Hawaii teens contend they were duped into Navy

Hawaii teens contend they were duped into Navy

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080615/NEWS/547213806

June 15, 2008

HONOLULU ­ Two Hawaii 18-year-olds claim they were scammed into
joining the Navy.

Cory Miyasato and Joseph Mauga Jr. said a Navy recruiting officer
promised them they would be able to get a free, four-year college
education before going off to sea.

But the two recent graduates from Kapolei High School soon found out
they would be going off to boot camp and then full-time active duty,
scrubbing and painting ships.

"The full-ride scholarship really interested me," said Miyasato, an
honor student. "I am a very trusting person. I thought the U.S.
government would be truthful to me."

They didn't find out the truth until they had already enlisted in the
Navy's Delayed Entry Program on May 29.

The military is under pressure to keep producing fresh troops, and
Hawaii recruiters are expected to produce 30 new enlistees for the
Navy this month, said Petty Officer 1st Class David McKee, a
spokesman for the Navy Recruiting Station Los Angeles, which includes Hawaii.

The recruiter, Petty Officer 1st Class Jimmy Pecadeso, will be
investigated, McKee said.

"Nobody should be railroaded into buying a car, a house or joining
the military under false pretenses by being misled," McKee said.
"When it comes out that a recruiter has misled an applicant, it
reflects poorly on all recruiters and the Navy and the military. The
military does take this seriously."

Both Miyasato and Mauga can opt out of enlistment with no penalty
before going to basic training, McKee said. Their families are
seeking immediate discharges and written assurances that the boys'
careers won't be affected.

They were about to graduate and had already enrolled at local
colleges when Pecadeso signed them up.

Miyasato's mother, Jayne Arasaki, was skeptical of Pecadeso's pledges
so she met with him at the recruiting station.

"He did lie to me," she said. "He said the Navy would pay for four
years of college, and then Cory would be obligated to serve four years."

The day after she met Pecadeso, he picked up both boys and paid for
them to spend the night at an airport hotel, saying they needed to
get an early start on medical testing and security clearance at Pearl Harbor.

He promised to have them back by noon, but they weren't returned
until nearly 24 hours later, late for graduation practice. Both of
their mothers tried to reach them by phone, but their cell phones
were confiscated on base as a security measure.

"They were just going to see what they had to offer," said Gloria
Mauga. "I did not know my child was going to come back enlisted. They
couldn't even call to ask us advice. It's like they kidnapped our sons."

There were 2,456 claims of recruiter "irregularities" among 22,000
recruiters and nearly 318,000 new enlistees in 2006, according to the
U.S. State Department. Most problems involved "concealment,
falsification or undue influence." About one in five claims was substantiated.

.

Army Imitates Apple To Draw New Recruits

Army Imitates Apple To Draw New Recruits

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/technology-finance/e3i5597024fecf11e33a55a40695b480511

June 13, 2008
By Timothy Fields

The U.S. Army, experiencing a stagnant recruiting situation, is going
experiential.

The Army plans to unveil a pilot concept recruitment center in late
August that was inspired by the interactivity of Apple Stores. The
center, opening in a city that's yet to be determined, will be built
around virtual simulations and other experiential marketing
techniques to engage visitors.

Seeing the success of Apple retail centers­as well as attractions
like the ESPN Zone­prompted Edward Walters, CMO of the U.S. Army, to
make a tactical change. "In the past we've focused on traditional
media vehicles. [But] the millennial generation is used to engaging
in interactive assets and we need to adapt to them."

If the test proves successful, many centers will be opened around the country.

The effort comes as the number of new recruits for the active Army
decreased minimally last year, per the Dept. of Defense.

"It is getting tougher and tougher to do personal recruiting," said
Robert Passikoff, ex-military man and president of Brand Keys, a
brand customer loyalty planning consultancy based in New York.

"This is a way of engaging possible recruits in a way that may get
someone interested and eventually convinced. It makes a lot of sense
given how the media environment has changed. It isn't just a matter
of providing information, it is a matter of experiential outreach
that is really able to provide a broader range of connectivity."

The first new recruitment center is designed to be less intimidating
and more "like walking into a NASA center," said Walters. It will
consist of three large simulators with full-scale mock-ups of Army
equipment and wrap-around 270-degree video screens.

"The modeling command and control systems are like those used in
Iraq," said Maj. Larry Dillard, U.S. Army marketing exec.

The Apache simulator allows a pilot and co-pilot to experience the
aircraft and its weapons systems. The Black Hawk helicopter simulator
provides four door gunner positions. And, the armored HMMWV vehicle
simulator has positions for a driver and several gunners. The centers
also will include an area where visitors can compete in America's
Army, a videogame released in 2002.

"If you think of a classic recruitment center, [all of] its forms and
brochures are about as exciting as the post office," said Marc Babej,
partner at Reason Inc., a marketing consultancy in New York. "Why
talk about it when you can demonstrate it."

Walters agreed. He said, while the U.S. armed forces have high
awareness, the centers "show people what Army is about. We want to
convey to young men and woman the most meaningful benefits of joining
the Army."

The effort isn't the first time the Army has gone experiential. Since
February 2007, the Army has worked with Los Angeles-based ad shop
Ignited on a 20,000 square-foot tour that lets potential recruits get
a 20-minute simulation experience that mimics being a soldier. Amy
Lindstrom, a rep for Ignited, said that more than 100,000 people have
taken the tour. Since recruiters aren't typically on site, though,
she said it's difficult to track how many of those people signed up.

"We are trying to overcome preconceived notions. People are generally
surprised at the activities that you can do in the Army," said
Dillard, referring to the new recruiting centers. "We are trying to
generate some kind of engaging experience that will give you an 'aha moment.'"

Despite the continuing unpopular war in Iraq, the Army has been
making a comeback in retentions so far this year. Further, last week,
the Defense Dept. announced it exceeded its recruiting goals (5,568
accessions) for the month.

Richard Laermer, author of 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade,
said the new centers could stir up controversy. "With everything
going on with the war effort, you think they would be a little more
buttoned up. Right now there is nothing cool about the Army."

Laermer doubts the test will succeed: "I'll bet you that in a very
short amount of time they will get rid of [the recruitment centers]
because of a public outcry. People are going to get mad about it."

Last year, the U.S. Army spent $172 million in advertising, and $37
million in the first quarter this year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

.