$1 billion:
By on Apr 12th, 2007 at 9:58 am
$1 billion:
Amount the Army paid last year “to attract and keep soldiers in the service, more than three times the total amount of bonuses paid before the Iraq war began. … Last year, the Army recruited 80,635 troops. To achieve that, the Army bolstered the ranks of its recruiters, raised enlistment bonuses to as much as $40,000 and allowed recruits with tattoos on their necks and hands to join. It also bumped the age limit twice.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Business
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Economy
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Glenn Beck
Global Warming
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Sports
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Tea Party
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
Good.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:02 amBuy a slave.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:02 amGlad the right wingers enjoy ponying up their hard-earned dough for this sort of BS. Now if only they’d sign up to support their crusade in person, rather than playing at their computers.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:03 amPreznit Pinhead sez:
Um….whose hard-earned dough, again?
April 12th, 2007 at 10:11 amRecruits with tattoos on their necks and hands may be gang members.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:13 am#1 Patrick1
I’m sure you’re happy to have some of your KKK/skinhead buddies being able to serve their country. Not that they would, of course, they’re too busy counting profits froms ending our best into a death trap to join and help.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:27 amto paraphrase:
Patriotism isn’t free.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:27 amI believe an “all-volunteer” army would be unpaid.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:44 amAnd they’re saving even more money by discharging wounded Iraq vets by using the “personality disorder (5-13)” diagnosis. Those discharged under this “disorder” will never receive disability or medical benefits. If a soldier dismissed under 5-13 hasn’t served out his contract, he has to give back a slice of his re-enlistment bonus as well.
Source: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors
Way to support the troops.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:50 amAnd they are also recruiting in Florida jails and prisons for inmates with less then a year left to have their sentence commuted IF they enlist in the Army.
Our “volunteer” army at work for you!
April 12th, 2007 at 11:07 amWell, hey, I’m sure we won’t be spending money in the future to deal with criminals who get into the military under relaxed rules and then get weapons training on our dime. Nope, don’t foresee any problems there.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:08 amFunny, they’re spending more money on recruitment, but not enough on equipment.
Otherwise, why would we need Operation Helmet?
To which I just donated because…
I support our troops. I support them staying alive and TBI-free.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:08 amI’ve never understood things like a ban on tattoos with any military. I can see the reasoning with certain offensive tattoos but the blanket ban such as neck and hands IMO is silly.
A persons worth as a patriot and soldier is not measured by the picture of betty boop on his knuckle.
we are talking about people willing to fight for and possibly die for their country.
I will state for the record that I have no tattoos and can’t remember seeing anyone with one where I liked the thing. I just think they are irrelevant as a measure of the person when deciding to allow them to fight for their country or not.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:10 amImagine the screaming we will hear when a progressive wants to invest a billion dollars on a domestic initiative to help citizens here. All the Republicans will *poof* turn into “fiscal conservatives” and say we can’t afford it.
No supporter of the war should ever go unchallenged if they claim to be a fiscal conservative. Six years of complete Republican control has destroyed any claim the Republican party has to being responsible stewards of public funds.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:14 amits sad that people will still take money bonuses for enlisting and/or redeploying. in reality they’re exchanging $10k for their lives…and for no damn good reason at all.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:29 amThis is a little OT, but, I’m going to continue anyway.
I’m so tired of the soldiers being interchangeably referred to as troops. The troops are made up of individual soldiers. When I hear the word troops, I see helmets. When I hear the word soldiers, I see faces. We have all fallen under the lexion of this White House. With the fight that is now going on between The Chimper ‘n’ Chief and Congress, I think it is more important now than ever to remind people who know no one serving over there (and there are many) that the troops are made up of individual men and women, whom we call soldiers.
Here’s another thing that could be changed. We should be distinguishing between funding the troops with funding the war effort. The funding is not just about body armor and up armored Humvees, it’s about continuing this disasterous policy in toto, as it is, all of it, the way the Preznit sees it. Once again, we seem to have fallen under the lexicon of the White House. There’s no question that members of Congress want all of our soldiers to be as well equipped as humanly possible. The question comes when Congress is asked to fund President A-hole’s war plan. If the war plan were working, there would be little disagreement and the funds would flow like water over Niagra Falls. It’s not working. If King George wants his money, he has to change the war plan.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:39 amOops, sorry for the HTML mistakes. I used the little buttons, which I don’t normally use, and it came out wrong. From now on, I’ll type them in myself.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:42 amDont be so nit picky about troops. In 11 years as an active duty infantryman, I referred to soldiers as troops often. It can be both a unit of cavalry and a group of soldiers.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:55 amI understand what you are talking about HKimball. You were of the military. But, for ordinary civilians, I think the difference is important, especially for those who don’t know anyone who is serving in the military. I’ve noticed the difference in people I talk with, when I distinguish between the two. When I talk about the troops I don’t get as big a reaction as I do when I talk about the soldiers or the men and women who are fighting over there. If I speak about them as the collective with families, it doesn’t generate as much converstation as it does when I speak about them as individuals with families.
You call it nitpicking. I call it framing.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:06 pmits sad that people will still take money bonuses for enlisting and/or redeploying. in reality they’re exchanging $10k for their lives…and for no damn good reason at all.
There was a story in the Chicago Tribune a few months ago about who is signing up for service at this time and they featured a young guy from the South Side who was so excited about his signing bonus because he was going to buy a car. I’ll never forget it because he was planning to spend his bonus on “something nice, like a BMW.” Not that he’ll ever get to drive it, probably.
April 12th, 2007 at 1:08 pmAND BECAUSE THEY HAVE EXPENDED SOME MUCH SIMOLEONS ON GETTING SOLDIERS INTO THEIR CLAWS, THEY FEEL THEY CAN WORK THEM TO DEATH WITH ENDLESS TOURS OF DUTY, BURNING THEM OUT AND MAKING THEM MORE PRONE TO BE KILLED FROM BEING LESS ON THEIR GUARD FROM EXHAUSTION—WHAT INHUMAN TREATMENT, EVEN OF THOSE WHO SIGNED ON FOR SERVICE VOLUNTARILY—THIS IS NOT SERVICE, IT IS SLAVERY, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!!!!! AND IT MUST BE PUNISHED BY THE DEATH OF THOSE WHO SEND BRAVE SOLDIERS TO THEIR DEATH IN THIS FASHION!!!!!
April 12th, 2007 at 10:15 pm