"Solving" the recruitment problem.

At the end of April, reported the Financial Times for May 31, "the Army had attracted only 35,926 soldiers toward its goal of 80,000 for the year ending in October. Figures for reserves were even worse: 7,283 towards the target of 22,175."

Major General Michael Rochelle, striving to put the most favorable construction on these figures, insists that the Army's "retention is great," but admits: "Out recruiting is harder. Today's conditions represent the most challenging conditions we have seen in recruiting in my 33 years in uniform." Among the major impediments to recruitment, he told the Financial Times, was the fact that "parents are now more reluctant to encourage their children to join the military, knowing that they might be killed in combat."

"Army recruiting is in a death spiral, through no fault of the Army," retired Army Lt. Col. Charles Krohn told syndicated columnist Robert Novak. Krohn, who served as a Pentagon public affairs officer during the first three and a half years of the Bush administration, points out that the unnecessary war in Iraq is rapidly wearing down our military, under-mining national morale, and emboldening actual and potential adversaries.

"Consider the implications of being unable to find sufficient volunteers, as seen by our adversaries," he said to Novak. "Has the United States lost its will to survive? What's happened to the Great Satan when so few are willing to fight to defend the country? Surely bin Laden et al. are making this argument, telling supporters victory is just around the corner if they are a bit more patient. And if they're successful, the energy sources in the Mideast may be within their grasp."

Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Department is confronting the recruitment crisis squarely--by putting a stop to the practice of releasing detailed, service-by-service recruitment figures each month. Reported the Army Times on June 3: "The Army and Marine Corps, as they struggle with recruiting shortfalls, will no longer announce their monthly recruiting numbers at the beginning of each month. Instead, the Defense Department will approve the release of recruiting statistics for all four services."