[Publib] Army and homeless

Sat Sep 15 19:33:50 EDT 2007

Greetings Fred,

According to the 2006 study by Johns Hopkins published in Lancet,

655,000 Iraqi civilians had died as a result of the war.

http://tinyurl.com/qgtny

I have a hard time looking at any news article or set of statistics without

quite a bit of skepticism.  However, those statistics show a mortality

rate of  an additional 800 per 100,000 over and above pre-invasion

statistics attributable to the war - about 30 times the statistic you

have quoted here.  

I am not sure what is meant your reference to the term 'combat zone' - 

if that means that combat is currently occurring or if it could occur.  

But, it seems to me that the country of Iraq is a combat zone.  I think

you would be hard pressed to find anyone who is not in harms way.

The idea that there is relative security for support personnel may be

somewhat accurate under normal wartime conditions, but I don't

think there is a front line or a rear echelon.    I think it diminishes

the bravery of the troops providing support to imply that they are

as safe as they would be in the US.

I  always welcomed recruiters and recruiting information in the library.  

Some of the best technical and managerial training anywhere is available 

through the military schools.  It is a career choice and a lifestyle

choice that is right for some people and an honorable profession.

When also had plenty of supporting documentation and references available

to help people with questions about what recruiters would offer.

*******************************************

Join: http://gotbooks.ning.com/

Robert L. Balliot

1-401-441-5763

Skype: RBalliot

Bristol, Rhode Island

http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm

*******************************************

  _____  

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Fred Beisser
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 6:05 PM
To: Kathleen Horan
Cc: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Army and homeless

As someone said, why is this topic on Publib?

But since its life here continues, we may as well address some issues
raised.

How safe is a war zone. Here is a useful statistic about violent death rates
in Iraq. The annualized Iraqi civilian violent death rate is 27.5 per
100,000, a lower rate than many places in the USA some of which are:

 - pre-Katrina New Orleans 53.1 per 100,000 population
 - Washington, D.C.; 45.9 
 - Detroit, 41.8. .
 - Baltimore, 37.7
 - Atlanta, 34.9
 - St. Louis, 31.4 
 - Oakland, CA 26.1
Stats are from Front Page Magazine at
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={31822083-2853-4381-8762
-E444A1709B38
<http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=%7b31822083-2853-4381-8
762-E444A1709B38> }
and from
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/ia05_king/sp_20060503_stats.html..

Maybe it is safer to go into military service than to stay home in some
parts of the country. With almost 1.5 million on active duty in our Armed
Forces there is about one chance in seven or eight of those members arriving
in a combat zone. We have about 160,000 to 180,000 (latter anticipated soon
according to today's news) in Iraq and about 15,000 additional troops in the
Middle East (including Afghanistan but under NATO operational control) for a
total of almost 200,000 (tops). (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_United_States for these stats)
So, maybe 1 out of 7.5 recruits would wind up in a combat zone. Don't
forget, for every combat soldier/airman/seaman in the zone there are also a
lot of support personnel required to keep things like logistics flowing. The
probablity of landing in a combat zone goes down further when we add in the
1.3 million reserve and national guard forces that also contribute to the
combat zone total bringing the rate down to about 1 out of 14 who might be
assigned to a combat zone. Not a very high percentage at 7.2%.

Military Recruiters. The recruiters have a big incentive to NOT lie; it is
called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If convicted by a military
court under the UCMJ, they would be fined,  reduced in rank and most likely
out on the street themselves and that probably after some time in the
"brig." I suspect if lying or dishonesty in recruiting  happens, it is the
exception rather than common practice. Also, a significant part of the noise
about that may be selective hearing on the part of candidates when a lot of
information is coming at them and they are excited about leaving home so
they hear what they wanted to hear and did not pay attention to the other
information. For more on recruiters see
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joiningup/a/recruiter.htm. It is a sales job
just as selling the library is a sales and marketing job; recruiters go to
where they can make the sales and the buyer benefits from what they have to
offer. The candidate has to be literate and with very very few exceptions
must have a high school diploma or equivalent. (See
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/f/faqged.htm). 

Of course it is not often that a recruiter can enlist a patriotic Pat
Tillman from the NFL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman) for a
begnning compensation package of about $25,022 per annum plus health care in
kind (just loved those military medics poking around me for 25 years). The
package consists of a starting salary of $14,450 per annum (see
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/2007paycharts/l/bl07enlbasepay1.htm) plus
housing allowance (if living off base) of $7,212 (In the Brownsville, TX
area; higher/lower in other places) and a subsistance (meals) allowance,
when no military dining facility is available, of $3,360 per annum. However,
realize that as a basic trainee, you belong to the drill instructor during
basic training and you will not see the outside of the training base for
three or so months and therefore are not eligible for housing and
subsistance allowances. Generally the first year or two of service will have
the military member living on base or on ship. 

>From the latest statistics (see
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/07recruiting.htm) it
looks to me as if the Services are meeting their recruiting goals:

"All four of the DOD services exceeded their recruiting goals in August
2007: 

*	Army: Recruited 10,126 out of a goal of 9,600 (106 percent) 
*	Navy: Recruited 4,194 out of a goal of 4,194 (100 percent) 
*	Marine Corps: Recruiting 4,700 out of a goal of 4,472 (105 percent) 
*	Air Force: Recruiting 3,128 out of a goal of 3,128 (100 percent)" 

I don't recall hearing anything indicating that our Uncle Sam is officially
trying to resolve the homeless problem with military service. If there is a
documented source for that assertion, I would love to see it. 

I would also be interested in learning how the military's beginning
compensation package of $25,000 compares with that in other places. I see
that the 2005 median income (certainly much higher than a beginning salary)
for McAllen, TX is about $35,000 and for all of Texas is about $42,000
(source http://www.city-data.com/city/McAllen-Texas.html). And around that
bridge in Minneapolis, where this post originally began, the median income
is about $42,000 and for Minnesota it is $53,000 (source:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Minneapolis-Minnesota.html). And out my way
the median income is $49,600 for Elizabeth, Colorado and $50,600 for the
statewide median (see
http://www.city-data.com/city/Elizabeth-Colorado.html). And in the teaming
metropolis of Paris, Tennessee ()population almost 10,000), the median
income is $24,600 and for the state it is about $39,000. That kind of data
may explain why we see more military members coming from less prosperous
parts of the nation. 

If you really want potential recruits to be well informed, you would better
accomplish that by accepting the "propaganda" from the military services and
complementing it with information from about.com such as is available at
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/military101.htm. It is very
comprehensive and apprises the reader of just about everything that can
happen if he or she is contemplating military service. 

Perhaps with this, more than anyone really ever wanted to know about the
military and homeless, we can finally assign this topic to the archives.

Fred Beisser
Trustee
www.elbertcountylibrary.org
Colorado

Kathleen Horan wrote: 

Amen to that sentiment, Susan.  Recruiters go after the most vulnerable
members of society and succeed in seducing them.  It makes me furious when
various reps from the armed forces come into the library wanting me to
display their propaganda. I politely tell them no, we don't post anything
that isn't educational or non-profit, and these guys blink their puppy-dog
eyes and insist with all sincerity that the army/navy/marines/air force IS
an education.  Sorry, I'd rather promote an education wherein the student
stands a lesser chance of being shot or blown up or screwed up.  Local and
national government never know what to do with the homeless. Now they want
to eliminate through recruitment.  It's pathetic.

Kathleen P. Horan, M.L.S.

Branch Manager

Palm View Branch Library

McAllen, TX

956-688-3322

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