European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Soldiers from the 101 it airborne Der establish a position inside Iraq on feb. 25,1991, during the Gulf War. Ing target by More than 10 percent about 17,000 sol  Thurman said the recipe for getting out of the dumps had to be a Broad based and Long term at tack. The army had to set its sights upward by implementing what at the time seemed to be impossibly lofty goals. Those targets called for at least to thirds of recruits to score in the upper categories on the Entrance tests and 100 percent of recruits to have High school diplomas. To do that the army had to get a much better handle on what it would take to get american youths interested in joining. Through a series of surveys the army found that by far the most common incentive was financial help for College. That led to the establishment of the army College fund and eventually to the new Montgomery i Biu launched in 1987. Next the army had to retool its image. We had a Campaign called the army wants to join you which implied that we wanted you no matter How much of a Low life you might be Thurman said. The result was the be All you can be Campaign launched in 1980 and still going Strong. That Campaign changed the product called the army not Only in the minds of Young people but also in the minds of their parents and educational men tors in High schools Thurman said. Finally Thurman turned his attention to restructuring the army s recruiting corps. We no longer asked for volunteers to be recruit ers we went out and selected High Quality cos just like we select Drill sergeants Thurman said. We changed it so that they knew they might have to serve with the people they recruited when they re turned to Field duty. We went to elaborate lengths to shift the recruiting Force from one filled with what could be called professional recruiters to one that continuously refurbished itself from the  once he helped the army get a grip on its recruit ing. Thurman was Able to turn his attention to re pairing the battered no corps in his next assign ment As the army s Overall personnel chief. Reagan helped greatly in that regard by championing two huge pay raises of 11.7 percent and 14.3 percent in 1981 and 1982 that did much much to Stem the tide of departing cos. Reagan also helped in less tangible ways by re storing a sense of Pride in the military that went a Long Way toward allowing the services to recover from their 70s image problems. Reagan had his faults but he communicated in a Broad sense this sort of uplifting spirit of America Bandow said. That translated into a patriotic feel ing that brought about a new respect for the Mili  As the no ranks filled out again the army was Able to stabilize overseas rotations. Once we got that under control it took a lot of the pressure off the recruiting Side Thurman said. But it was not the pay raises alone that restored the army s no corps. Thurman said a transformation of the service s training system was equally important. The establishment of regional training centers in the United states and overseas where units could fight mock Battles in a realistic combat environment was a powerful signal to cos that they had a serious Mission and that the army valued their talents. The training business had to come to the fore front because if you re doing meaningful training your cos Are going to stay with you Thurman said. That training resurgence featuring weapons sys tems that relied on cutting Edge technology allowed the army to sell itself in a Way that was guaranteed to catch the attention of the mtg generation and its adult mentors Carney said. You began to see the army onto not As Willie and Joe Flushing through the mud but an army that was indeed a High tech Challenge he said. The horizon some officials say the recent string of record recruiting successes May have led to a sense of complacency that could be dangerous if left untended especially in the current defense budget environment. Fighting that complacency at a time when Money is scarce is a Challenge the army is trying to meet by making More flexible use of its recruiters who after All Are the army s main sales tools. We re definitely getting More involved in the Community Wheeler said. We want our recruiters to serve As role models authority figures and men tors for kids still in  recruiters Are a visible presence in schools and Are also forging ties with local economic and Busi Ness interests to discuss what the army and the communities can do for each other Wheeler said. That pays off big for us in the Long term he said. There is no better Way to have a positive influence on the Market than to have one of our own physically go into that  still the numbers Don t lie. The biggest warning sign to me is the annual youth surveys that show a declining interest among Young men and women to serve Wheeler said. That really concerns  but at a time when it is important for the army to be a visible presence Money for advertising has declined sharply. You May have the Best offer in the world but if you can t communicate it to the audience you re not going to get anywhere Wheeler said. You have to keep pounding the message  cutbacks in funds for training and operations and such actions As the administration s proposals to freeze military pay next year and limit raises Over the next few years also Hurt. Let s face it this administration just does t give out the right vibes for military service Moskos said. Clinton is the first president in modern times not to have served in the military. His relations with the armed forces Are shaky and things like the pay freeze proposal just make it  even so Moskos does not foresee serious prob lems for the Volunteer Force at least for the rest of the decade. There s been some softening of the Market but there is no crisis he said. If the Mili tary was still faced with recruiting the numbers of people they needed in the 1980s, then they would really have a problem. " Volunteer Force keeps dodging draft push at the height of the persian Gulf War the first True War under the Volunteer Force concept a veritable crowd , analysts and commentator trumpeted the View that America s armed forces would be better served by conscription. The discussion hinged largely on whether a Volunteer Force was truly representative of american society. As evidence that it was not those who favored a return to the draft pointed out that the percentage of Blacks in combat arms was two to three times higher than in the general civilian population. In other words Blacks would make up a much higher proportion of potential casualties. Critics also said the Volunteer concept offered no incentive for children from Well to do families to. Serve. The thinking was that government movers and shakers would be More cautious about committing . Military forces to combat if their kids might be among those who would serve on the front links. Fortunately the ground War was astonishingly Brief with relatively few . Casualties talk of a re turn to the draft wilted As swiftly As the iraqi Republican guards. Military manpower experts in and outside the Pentagon say that s just As Well. A return to the. Draft they say would be disastrous to the Well honed professional military Force that the United states built throughout the 1980s. A draft is problematic enough in times of nation Al emergency said Doug Bandow a military Man Power expert with the Cato Institute a Washington think tank. In peacetime it would be an absolute  it. Gen Thomas Carney the army s personnel chief said i reject the notion that the All Volunteer Force is not representative of this nation s youth and i disagree with the whole thesis that a draft would be More equitable across the spectrum of socioeconomic  there Are about 10 million american males be tween the Ages of 17 and 21. If we re recruiting 75,000 per year now with three and four year enlist ments and we went to drafting people for two years at the most we d be taking in 125,000," Carney said. That s 125,000 out of 10 million. Would that solve this supposed representation problem of course not. What it would do is fill the ranks with people who Don t want to be  Carney acknowledged that conscription might raise the number of recruits from affluent families slightly. But i m a product of the draft he said. I fought in Vietnam with drafted soldiers and i la Tell you we did t have Many Rich kids Over there anyway because most of them had College  aside from the Issue of representation Carney said a conscripted Force would be a Nightmare from a readiness standpoint. A drafted array is not a Happy army he said. You pay a morale Price you pay a training Price and you pay an effectiveness  Charles Moskos a professor of sociology at North Western University in Illinois who has done extensive research on military manpower issues said the argue ment for conscription that focuses on the ratio of minorities in the combat arms also does t hold water. You can t have it both ways he said. The Black Community has been very much in favor of the Volunteer Force As a Way for disadvantaged minorities to get ahead. It i disingenuous to Praise the military As a Bea con of equal Opportunity and then cry foul when it comes time to do in the end what the military exists for fight wars. Black leaders by raising that Issue continued on Page 6 july 25, 1993 sunday pages