Goodbye to an "Army of One"?

The Army is changing its ad agency. The current agency is the one the came up with the slogan "An Army of One". I used to joke it meant "one person does the work of an army." I was true in the post draw down Army when I left in 2001, it is even more true today with the Iraq War. Bush did nothing to fix a broken army. I don't understand the servicemen and women who still drink the kool-aid. Maybe it's the 45 hours a week of conservative programming they get on AFN.

Do I think changing ad agencies fix the Army's recruiting problems? Well, I don't know about that. The Department of Defense says it met its recruiting goals for November 2005. Of course, the DoD has this annoying habit of lowering standards if it can't meet them. Now recruiters do have "new" carrots to induce people to enlist.

including a $20,000 signing bonus, $65,000 in student loan repayments, $70,000 in college grants, and a $400 monthly bonus to some who agree up front to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. There are also plans for mortgage assistance and other incentives.

Ummm, these carrots aren't really new. Those incentives were in place when I joined in 1992. The $400 monthly bonus is from a combination of incentives like hazardous duty pay, family seperation pay and other deployment bonuses. What plans for mortage assistance are they talking about? The Army already has a housing allowance for married soldiers who live off post. Guess what? It's tax free and and they can still use the mortage interest deduction on their income taxes. Talk about a double tax break. Active duty soldiers also qualify for VA loans too. Imagine, buying a house with PMI covered by the government, with a tax free subsidy and a mortagage interest deduction from your income tax.
No wonder conservatives hate soldiers, they rip off the tax payers [/snark]. I guess they found out about the subsidized, high-quality, onsite childcare too. Don't tell conservatives how the military really does pay equal pay for equal work. A female soldier with the same rank and time in service as a male soldier gets paid the same. Then there's the groceries our servicemembers can buy at cost. I just think I figured out why College Republicans won't join the fight in Iraq. They won't join an organization that employs "socialist" principles.

If you want to help make a servicemember's family's Holidays better,
click here or here.