Military Recruiting Numbers Down; Critics Blame Hostile Media
by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
June 14, 2005
(AgapePress) - The mainstream media's negative reporting on the war on terror is being blamed for the recent inability of the U.S. military to meet some of its key recruiting goals.According to figures released recently by the Department of Defense, the active Army only reached 75 percent of its recruiting goals in May. And among the Reserve components, only the Air Force Reserve met its recruiting quota last month. Some observers are blaming the shortfall of recruits on biased reporting in the mainstream media. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson is one of those who say the left-leaning media must shoulder much of the blame.
"I point the finger -- not at the military, not at the administration -- but at the mainstream media, who continues to hound on and to berate Abu Ghraib and the false 'Koran-flushing' story and anything else they can get their hands on that denigrates the military," Patterson says. "I blame our large-scale media for the fact that we cannot now recruit our troops in significant strengths."
Gary Bauer of American Values agrees, saying the mainstream media "can barely hide their glee" that the U.S. military is having trouble filling its ranks. "If you are an 18-year-old American watching the news, you seldom, if ever, hear about a heroic U.S. soldier who rescues a wounded comrade, captures a terrorist thug or saves the lives of civilians -- even though those things are happening every day," Bauer observes.
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"On the other hand, every young American has seen countless hours of coverage of Abu Ghraib prison guards on their way to jail, and demonstrators calling U.S. soldiers war criminals," he says.Bauer points out that U.S. armed forces have liberated the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq -- and that as a result, millions of people in those countries have had the first opportunity of their lives to vote for their own leaders.
"But all we see on the news are stories highlighting the inevitable mistakes, blunders and setbacks of war," he laments, adding that the liberal media views the recruitment difficulties as just "one more piece of evidence" that the war in Iraq is "illegitimate and a failure."
"The amazing thing isn't that there is a recruitment shortfall," Bauer concludes. "The amazing thing is that with such a hostile media culture and the universal disdain of our elites, the American military, as it always has, is getting the job done."
So how should the military address the recruiting problem? Some might suggest reinstatement of the draft -- but Patterson says that would not be a good option.
"The draft is the worst possible scenario," the former officer says. "As a military commander, you want people who want to be there. You want people who are motivated, who have the proper attitude and the mindset to be there and to make the commitments and the sacrifices that are necessary to be a member [of] the U.S. military."
Patterson says the draft worked during World War II because the country was united behind President Franklin Roosevelt's war effort -- unlike the situation today.
