[Publib] Army and homeless

Sun Sep 16 12:50:49 EDT 2007

I'm not going to comment on the flawed stats, others have ably done that. I'm sure the soldiers in Iraq will be happy to know that they are in no more danger than pre_Katrina New Orleans.

However, a large number of recruiters are civilians and are NOT subject to military law.

Fred Beisser <fredbeisser at mesanetworks.net> wrote:           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}
 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

---------------------------------
   From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Susan Dennis
   Sent: Sat 9/15/2007 10:57 AM
   To: publib at webjunction.org
   Subject: [Publib] Army and homeless

   I was also wondering what that had to do with library services.

 What bothers me in all these posts of praise is that they ignore the elephant in the room. Great you get a lot of training, but oops, there's that pesky war thing. So you join up (usually based on lies many recruiters are known to tell) with promises of training and a home and a chance for education. Then you find out that to earn it, you have to risk life and limb and mental stability.

 If they want to take that chance and they are fully informed, great. But it bothers me that the government is pursuing those who are more desperate or less likely to be informed about the truth of military recruiting or understand the contracts that they sign.

 Susan Dennis   

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