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Jeremy Staat was a college roomate of Pat Tillman. Like Tillman he moved on to an NFL career, playing defense for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the St. Louis Rams.
Like Tillman, he's decided to play defense for America:
Staat said he was felt compelled to join the military after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but Tillman, who was his roommate at Arizona State, advised him to stay with professional football until he qualified for retirement benefits.PFC Jeremy Staat, USMC, graduated from the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Friday."He told me, 'You're a good player, you need to get good play.' Then four months later, at his wedding, I learn he's going to the Army," Staat said.
Tillman's death gave him "more motivation" to enlist, Staat said.
The Army Guard said Friday that it signed up more than 26,000 soldiers in the first five months of fiscal 2006, exceeding its target by 7 percent in its best performance in 13 years. At this pace, Guard leaders say they are confident they will reach their goal of boosting manpower from the current 336,000 to the congressionally authorized level of 350,000 by the end of the year.The Washington Post attributes the turn around to bonus money ($2,000) offered to members for recruiting others into the service."Will we make 350,000? The answer is: Absolutely," said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau.
The rebound is striking because since 2003, the Army Guard has performed worse in annual recruiting than any other branch of the U.S. military. The Guard was shrinking while it was being asked to shoulder a big part of the burden in Iraq. Together with the Army Reserve, it supplied as many as 40 percent of the troops in Iraq while also dispatching tens of thousands of members to domestic disasters.
Today, the Guard is surpassing its goals and growing in strength -- a welcome boost for an all-volunteer Army stretched thin by unprecedented deployments. In recent months, the Guard enlisted nearly as many troops as the active-duty Army, even though it is a much smaller force. Indeed, the Army Guard, present in about 3,500 U.S. communities, will launch pilot programs this year to recruit for the entire Army.
"We're seeing quantum leaps," said Lt. Gen. Clyde A. Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard. "We should probably be America's recruiter for the Army."
Enlistment figures for all branches for February:
DOD: All Active-Duty Branches Exceeded February Recruiting GoalsOn the other end of some military careers, desertion rates continue to plummet, a trend that continues from 9/11.The Army achieved 102 percent of its goal with 6,114 recruits; the Navy, 104 percent of its goal with 2,696 recruits; the Marines also got 104 percent of its goal with 1,734 recruits; and the Air Force made 101 percent of its goal with 2,375 recruits, the figures show.
Of the reserve components, the Air Force Reserve made 117 percent of its February goal with 573 recruits and the Army Reserve made 101 percent of its goal with 6,583 recruits, the figures show
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The Navy Reserve made 81 percent of its goal with 710 recruits; the Marine Corps Reserve made 86 percent of its goal with 469 recruits; the Air National Guard made 88 percent of its goal with 680 recruits; and the Army Reserve made 97 percent of its goal with 2,279 recruits, the figures show.
WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Desertions from the all-volunteer U.S. military have dropped to half the number faced at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, a report said.More:The 2005 desertion rate was 0.24 percent of the 1.4 million members of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines. In 2001 there were just over 9,500 desertions from all services, while last year there were just over 4,900.
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Vietnam-era desertions were far higher. In 1971, the U.S. Army had more than 33,000 desertions, a desertion rate of 3.4 percent.Some 8,000 U.S. military members have deserted since the start of the war in Iraq in the fall of 2003 -- the vast majority while still in the United States.
Desertion numbers have dropped since 9/11. The Army, Navy and Air Force reported 7,978 desertions in 2001, compared with 3,456 in 2005. The Marines showed 1,603 deserters in 2001. That declined by 148 in 2005.Oddly, USA Today offers two versions of this story online - with two different headlines:The desertion rate was much higher during the Vietnam era. The Army saw a high of 33,094 deserters in 1971 — 3.4% of the Army force. But there was a draft and the active-duty force was 2.7 million.
Desertions in 2005 represent 0.24% of the 1.4 million U.S. forces.
Opposition to the war prompts a small fraction of desertions, says Army spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robbins. “People always desert, and most do it because they don't adapt well to the military,” she says. The majority of desertions happen inside the USA, Robbins says. There is only one known case of desertion in Iraq.
Most deserters return without coercion. Commander Randy Lescault, spokesman for the Naval Personnel Command, says that between 2001 and 2005, 58% of Navy deserters walked back in. Of the rest, most are apprehended during traffic stops.
"Fewer troops desert since 9/11"
or...
"8,000 desert during Iraq war"
That second one may be designed to appeal to the "reality-based" community.
But that's service - its all a matter of choice.
Update: More here.
