Editorial: Not your father’s Army

Monday, Aug. 13, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

A s the Iraq war continues for a fifth year, it is becoming more difficult to recruit young people into military service.

U.S. Army officials say that they need to do more - despite spending almost $1 billion on recruiting advertising and incentives last year. A story by USA Today on Friday says Army officials have proposed a new menu of incentives, such as paying off recruits' student loans and paying them up to $45,000 when their enlistments are over so they can buy a house or start a business.

Despite falling short of recruitment goals in May and June, Army officials remain confident they will meet their goal to enlist 80,000 new recruits in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

And, it seems, they are willing to do so at any and all costs, for they already have lowered minimum enlistment standards.

Army officials say higher obesity rates, increased diagnoses of attention-deficit disorder and mental illnesses and the increase in arrests related to alcohol abuse among 18-to-21-year-olds has narrowed the pool of people who meet the minimum standards.

As a result, the Army has raised the enlistment age to 42, and now accepts overweight recruits, as long as they shed the excess pounds in a year. And, amazingly, up to 15 percent of active and reserve troops can now obtain waivers that allow them to serve despite having medical or mental health problems and testing positive for alcohol and drugs.

Although increased financial incentives may help attract young adults to the Army's ranks, it does not seem that lowering minimum recruiting standards is in the best interests of the service or existing troops, whose lives may depend on the soldier next to them.