Flight Pundit

If you’re ever looking to read about what’s happening within the Marine Corps, check out this site. They have (almost) daily updates from the front lines as well from all over the world.

From October 13th:

AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 13, 2005) — As the commandos came aboard, the stern looks on their faces, hardened from months of battling insurgents, turned to smiles as they greeted Marines operating the KC-130J Hercules.

Under the cover of darkness, Marines from Marine Aerial Refueler and Transport Squadron 252 flew a company of Iraqi Special Operation Forces out of Al Asad, Iraq.

“We are happy to be on this bird with so many successful missions accomplished,” said the ISF company commander. “We’re glad the bird was here and on time. I think that happened because the Marines are in charge. The Marines have done an outstanding job getting us food, water, ammunition and making sure everything was taken care of.”

Proving the Marine Corps etho “no better friend, no worse enemy,” the Marines from VMGR-252 said they were excited to help and support the Iraqis fighting for a free and democratic country for their people.

“We were honored to fly with the Iraqi military,” said Maj. Michael Sage, the operations officer with VMGR-252, a native of Alberta, Canada. “Everything went great, we were ahead of schedule. The Iraqis were very efficient, you could tell by talking with them and watching them that this was new and exciting to them.”
There’s more to read—>

It’s a great way to stay informed about what’s happening, right from the source.

Comments Off

Recent headlines about the Army’s lack of meeting recruitment goals has many people wondering if we have a problem with the military. What hasn’t been reported are the factual numbers from the other services. The Marine Corps exceeded it’s recruitment goals, even though the branch is smaller in sheer size. The Marines will not lower their standards for recruits and they will continue to seek fewer candidates, but of a higher caliber.
It’s the Marine Corps way.

SAN DIEGO — Unlike the Army, the Marine Corps met its national recruiting goals for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and has no plans to lower its standards for recruits, officials say.

The Marine Corps achieved 102 percent of its goal for enlistments in the reserves and 100 percent of its goal for active-duty enlistments, according to figures released by the Department of Defense.

The Army’s figures were 84 percent for the Army Reserve, 80 percent for the National Guard, and 92 percent for its active-duty force. As the nation’s largest service, the Army needs to attract a larger number of recruits than the Marine Corps, the Navy or the Air Force.

To aid in its recruitment program, the Army announced last week it has increased from 2 percent to 4 percent the percentage of recruits it will accept who score near the bottom of the military aptitude test, so-called Category IV recruits.

The Marine Corps will continue restricting Category IV recruits to 1 percent of the total, officials said.

It appears that the Army may change it’s recruitment campaign a little; a lot of attention is being given to how the Marines can get so many young men and women interested in becoming one of the few and proud.

For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the Marine Corps had recruited 8,350 men and women for the reserves and 32,955 for the active-duty force. Of the four services, only the Army missed its active-duty recruiting goal. The service had hoped to enlist 80,000 recruits but fell short at 73,373.

The Air Force Reserve (113 percent) and Marine Reserve (102 percent) exceeded their recruitment goals.

The Army and Marine Corps differ in their advertising pitches to potential recruits.

In their “pop-up” ads on the Internet, for example, the Army suggests, “Join the U.S. Army. Discover all the opportunities the U.S. Army has to offer,” while the Marine Corps asks “Do you have what it takes? Contact a Marine recruiter.”

In one of the Army’s television ads, a black youth tells his mother he is enlisting so he can earn money for college.

In a television ad that made its debut Oct. 1, the Marine Corps emphasizes the demands of boot camp.

“The main thing we show, or sell, if you will, to young men and women are the intangibles: self-discipline, service to country, service to team,” said Maj. Joe Kloppel, spokesman for the Western Recruiting Region based at the recruit depot in San Diego.

“Those things don’t change with the economy,” he said.

If you read this article it will say a little about how race plays into recruitment issues. I don’t want to add that here though. A little is said about how more Marine recruits come from families familiar with the Corps as well…
it’s a good read and has some real numbers; the military isn’t that bad off despite the recent reports.

Comments Off