An Army of Not Enough

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From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Army missed its March recruiting goal by 32 percent, and the Marine Corps also came up short, officials said on Friday, as the Iraq war undermined the all-volunteer U.S. military’s ability to sign up new troops. …

The active-duty Army, in danger of missing its first annual recruiting goal since 1999, netted 4,650 recruits in March, far below its goal of 6,800 for the month, Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith said. …

The situation was worse in the part-time Army Reserve and Army National Guard, with the Pentagon relying heavily on reservists to maintain troop levels in Iraq.

The Army Reserve missed its March recruiting goal by 46 percent — getting 861 recruits with a goal of 1,600 — and was now nearly 18 percent behind its year-to-date goal.

Pity the poor recruiters.