Cullin Key

The Iraq war is one of the longest military conflicts in U.S. history, and its death toll continues to rise. Yet military recruiters have no problem finding enough men and women to continue the battle.

“The motivation is still out there in the American public. People want to enlist,” said Gunnery Sgt. Jason Foster, who recruited for the Marine Corps in north Georgia for eight years before joining the Chattanooga-based Mike Battery four years ago.

Every branch of the military — active duty and reserve — met or exceeded its recruiting goals for the month of March, according to the Department of Defense, and, based on preliminary figures, appear to have done the same for April. Re-enlistment rates are equally as high, records show.

By many accounts, public support for continuing the war in Iraq — which after five years has become one of the longest military conflicts in U.S. history — is waning.

Some attribute the numbers to more lucrative enlistment bonuses, an increase in the maximum recruiting age, more advertising and an apparent tendency for the military to grant waivers to those with felony convictions.

But local military personnel say genuine interest in the service can’t be ignored — despite the fact that conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan together have led to more than 4,500 deaths, redeployment rates are unusually high, and active-duty service has been extended through the government’s “stop-loss” policy.

“We’re in a prolonged period of war, and we’re still handling it with an all-volunteer force,” said Jim Humphreys, chief of advertising and public affairs for the Army’s Atlanta Recruiting Battalion. “And I’m proud to say it’s the best Army we’ve ever had.”

The Tennessee Army National Guard recently signed 10 new recruits from McMinn County High School alone, said Master Sgt. Kevin Hudgins, who heads the recruiting and retention battalion based out of the National Guard Armory in Chattanooga.

The National Guard’s 1/181st Field Artillery Battalion, also based out of Chattanooga’s Armory, will be stationed at Camp Bucca, Iraq, until later this month. But members of the unit did not wait until their return to re-enlist, said spokeswoman Pfc. Amie McMillan. The unit already has re-enlisted 31 of its 390 soldiers since its August 2008 deployment, 27 of them last month during a mass re-enlistment ceremony.

Maj. Ben Smith, head of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s military science department, says his school’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program — which was re-instituted last fall after a decade’s absence — is gaining popularity as well.

Though only one commissioned officer is set to graduate this year, Maj. Smith said, UTC is expecting to start with about 45 ROTC students next fall.

“Wartime is a funny thing,” he said. “Some people it steers away from the services, and some people it tends to bring in.”

Some analysts believe the increased use of privately contracted services for traditional military jobs such as translation, security and interrogation has reduced pressure on recruitment numbers, which have been cut over the years.

“If we didn’t have private military contractors, it’s possible they would have to re-institute the draft,” said Charlie Cray, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Corporate Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan organization.

More than 4,000 American troops have died in the war.

BIGGER POOL, MORE RECRUITS

Several recent efforts have helped boost the military’s pool of applicants. A June 2006 act of Congress made it possible for all services to raise their maximum recruiting age to 42. In addition, the Associated Press reported, waivers allowing enlistment for those with felony convictions more than doubled to 511 in the Army in 2007, and in the Marines jumped from 208 to 350.

The forces also have ramped up advertising campaigns — which area residents will get to see firsthand at this year’s Riverbend Festival — and have increased financial incentives, said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command at Ft. Knox, Ky.

The Army doubled maximum cash enlistment bonuses from $20,000 to $40,000 for active duty and from $10,000 to $20,000 for reserves, he said.

Recruiters have paid increased attention to Hispanics as that demographic has grown in the United States, Mr. Smith said. The recruitment of women is being pushed, too, he said, since a force that was almost 22 percent female in 2001 dropped to just under 16 percent by the end of fiscal year 2007.

Gunnery Sgt. Foster said diversity of the military’s recruits tends to reflect the diversity of recruiting pools in various areas.

“You would never see a felony waiver in a low-crime area with highly qualified applicants,” he said. “But in high-crime areas with low recruitment rates, you may process one or two.”

However, he added, “You’ve got to be a unique water-walker to have a felony and get into the Marine Corps.”

Mr. Smith noted that, while the number of felony waivers may have increased, it has not increased proportionally. Last year, felony waivers accounted for about half of one percent of people, he said.

a service-minded generation

In order to keep their numbers up, recruiters have worked hard to encourage enlistment for “more and more people who may be on the fence,” Mr. Smith said.

As the economy has worsened, though, that has become easier, he said.

Cullin Key, a senior at McMinn County High School, said that he has both personal interest and family heritage in the military, but it was the economic and educational incentives that helped him decide to enlist for six years with the National Guard — and re-enlist when that term is up.

“I know there’s always going to be a job with the United States military,” Mr. Key said.

He needs that guarantee in order to provide a future for his 2-year-old daughter, Emileah Lexi, he said.

“It gives me experience, puts me ahead of other people and helps me take care of her,” he said.

Mr. Key is equally excited about the chance to serve his country after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a sentiment Mr. Humphreys says has become popular in the “Internet generation.”

While this generation’s parents grew up in the Vietnam era and are more distrustful of government, he said, the younger folks see 9/11 in much the same way that older Americans saw the attacks on Pearl Harbor prior to America’s involvement in World War II.

Enlistment bonuses might attract some people, said Sgt. John Thompson, the National Guard recruiter who enlisted Mr. Key, but it’s the eye toward service that is at the root of their decision to join.

“You’ll spend the bonus money. You’ll use the educational benefits, or you won’t use them,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you’re serving your country.”

The close kinship and sense of duty troops develop toward each other definitely plays a role in retention, said Capt. Phillip Arnold, commander of the 1/181st.

“We’ve built a rapport within these platoons that they are very, very close to one another,” Capt. Arnold said from his post in Camp Bucca, “and I believe it’s because of that, and the other guys that are around them, that they’ve decided to re-enlist.”

“You may be attracted initially by the training and educational opportunities,” Sgt. Thompson said, “but what keeps you in is, ‘I’ve got to take care of these guys.’ ”