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Downturn Drives Military Rolls Up
Natalie Hill, 18, looks over material at a National Guard recruiting kiosk at the Mall in Columbia.
(By Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)
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Meanwhile, recruiting has become even more vital as the military plans to expand so it can relieve the strain on troops and their families. The active Army is to grow by 65,000 soldiers, to 547,000, by 2010. And the Marine Corps is to add 27,000, for a total of 202,000, by 2011.
Even before the economy started to decline, a Defense Department survey in June found that 11 percent of people between 16 to 21 said they would "definitely" or "probably" serve in the armed forces, up 2 percent from last year.
The Army has adjusted its advertising campaign to target not only prospective soldiers but also their Vietnam-era parents, who were seen as the main obstacles to military service. "If your son or daughter wants to talk about the Army, listen," the narrator of a television commercial intones. "You made them strong. We'll make them Army strong."
Aware that the wars had transformed the Guard and reserves into a key component of the fighting force, the National Guard also launched an ad campaign. Instead of promoting only college benefits, its television commercials play up patriotic themes and depicted guardsmen less as college students than as soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and at home fighting fires and rescuing people from raging floodwaters. "When your country calls, you go. Proudly," a guardsman says, soaring music in the background.
"It's more than money for college," another soldier featured in the ads says. "It's built my character and given me a sense of accomplishment."
At the Mall in Columbia, the Maryland Army and Air National Guards have set up a kiosk for the holidays, where recruiters hand out Hacky Sacks and bumper stickers. There's an Xbox and a television that continuously plays a National Guard ad.
But no matter what sorts of benefits recruiters offer, or how slick the ad campaign, one of the main draws continues to be service to country, said Sgt. 1st Class Thad Copeland, an Army recruiter based in Alexandria. Even if someone is joining because he can't find a job elsewhere, he needs to know that decision could mean a trip to the front lines.
"I know what your first question is, and the answer is yes," Copeland tells his prospects. "You are getting deployed."
