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EDITORIAL

October 28, 2005

Original Article (English)

Why Don't America's Young People Want to Join?

According to information released by the U.S. Defense Department, as of October 25, the American death toll in the Iraq War rose to 2,000. This is in addition to the 15,000 injured and the over 7,100 too seriously hurt to resume their duties.

An Unfortunate Slogan

At a time when the Americans are suffering continuing losses and are in urgent need of a fresh source of troops, army recruitment has become a very difficult problem. With recruitment age troops increasingly unwilling to join, American enlistment targets have gone unfulfilled again and again. It is now a foregone conclusion that the annual quota will not be achieved for the first time in five or six years. The contrast of such a rise and fall in recruitment has given many people food for thought.

The turbulent situation in Iraq continues, and as expected, the violence has taken an increasing toll on U.S. forces. On September 7 of last year, that is a year-and-a-half after the start of the war, the number of dead U.S. officers and GIs was just over a thousand. A little over a year later, another thousand have died in a foreign country, showing that the frequency of U.S. troop deaths is rising. An investigation into the causes of the rise indicates that beyond the continuing instability, changes in the tactics of Iraqi insurgents and declining U.S. morale play an important role. It should be noted that not only are casualty figures in Iraq increasing, the situation in Afghanistan has also worsened, with casualties trending rapidly upward.

U.S. authorities have been racking their brains contriving one device after another to persuade and attract young people to join the military. U.S. army enlistment ads not only mention the traditional perks, such as "vacation with pay," “subsidized university tuition" and a "tour of the world," but now include such alluring promises as "free face-lift surgery.” The United States has also substantially increased the pay for active duty soldiers and the bereavement pay for families of the deceased, and didn’t hesitate to relax and lower the requirements for joining up.

For instance, it is stipulated that students entering officers' training school should be under the age of 30, but now the maximum age has been increased to 42. As long as people are willing to join, even those with criminal records can now be forgiven.

Jenna Bush: No Plans to Join Up.

But despite these steps, few people have been willing to respond. This puts U.S. military authorities in a very awkward position. To address the problem, some experts suggest that 22-year-old Ms. Jenna Bush, daughter of President George W. Bush, should join the army and set an example, to ease the enlistment crisis facing American forces. But Ms. Jenna Bush has yet to heed the call. Her mother, the "First Lady" only said: Whether Jenna joins the army or not is entirely her own decision, and we haven’t discussed the matter.

As a matter of fact, the Iraqi situation and the dangerous environment U.S. troops are exposed to are reasons, but not the main reason, that young Americans are avoiding the barracks and it is unfair to say that Americans dare not serve because they are afraid of death.

Remember that during World War II, the casualties of U.S. forces were much worse than what is now being experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan. Back then Americans competed with one another to join the military and head directly to the battlefield. Then why is it that young Americans today are so unwilling to join?

It is their view of the war.

It is fair to say that there have been dramatic changes in the way that people understand the Iraq War and the current mission of the military. The general public, including young people, increasingly take a suspicious attitude toward the "justness" of the U.S.-instigated war. The so-called Iraqi weapons of mass destruction warned of by U.S. authorities have failed to materialize, the possibility of a stable Iraq seems further and further away, and U.S. troops are seemingly unable to extricate themselves from the quagmire. How many people would be willing to join the military and risk their lives with such uncertainty?

American casualty figures will continue to rise as long as the Iraq War goes on. As long as the doubts and confusion in the hearts of the general public, particularly young people, are not dispelled, their identification with and confidence in U.S. forces will continue to plummet. This wild fluctuation in recruitment and its underlying causes really deserves the due attention of United States Government, or these emerging trends will only continue.