US soldiers re-enlisting because of poor economy

[rybread]

FORT RILEY, Kan. – Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his chances in this brutal job market.

Nyhus re-enlisted last Wednesday, and in so doing joined the growing ranks of those choosing to stay in the U.S. military because of the bleak economy.

"In the Army, you're always guaranteed a steady paycheck and a job," said the 21-year-old Nyhus. "Deploying's something that's going to happen. That's a fact of life in the Army — a fact of life in the infantry."

In 2008, as the stock market cratered and the housing market collapsed, more young members of the Army, Air Force and Navy decided to re-up. While several factors might explain the rise in re-enlistments, including a decline in violence in Iraq, Pentagon officials acknowledge that bad news for the economy is usually good news for the military.

In fact, the Pentagon just completed its strongest recruiting year in four years.

"We do benefit when things look less positive in civil society," said David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "What difficult economic times give us, I think, is an opening to make our case to people who we might not otherwise have."

The retention rate of early-career soldiers in the Army has risen steadily over the past four years and now stands 20 percentage points higher than it was in fiscal 2004. As for the Navy and the Air Force, early- and mid-career sailors and airmen re-enlisted at a higher rate in October than during the same period in 2007. The Marine Corps was not immediately able to provide comparative figures on re-enlistments.
Click here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_re_us/meltdown_choosing_war) for the rest

[skippy13]

Sometimes it is the best or only job you can get. A lot of the people in my town go back to school whenever the economy takes a dive. A lot of hard choices have to be made during times like this.

[Sue Pendleton]

I wish I could re-up as prior service versus sitting all day.

[quadvet]

Honestly, it's pretty harsh to negatively judge any person that makes that decision.

Like Sue, I'd like to give enlistment another try right now. I think it's a personal thing. There are far more who choose not to serve - or serve and get out - than those who actually serve.

Unless the message is that to serve is somehow evil, the message is moot.

[David Berg]

My son is in the Army Reserves and would LOVE to go active. That was his original plan, to file for active duty a couple of months after BCT, which he finished last April. By the first week of June, before he started the paperwork, he fell and broke his collarbone. It never fused at all and he doesn't have any insurance, so for now he's stuck with a broken bone. The only thing on the horizon we can see for him to get it fixed is that his wife is expecting a baby next May and presumably he'll qualify for Medicaid once he's a father, according to the rules in our state. We were hoping he can get his collarbone pinned, rehab ASAP, then work on passing his PT so he could go active. It looks like that plans out the window now as well, as he just got a new unit commander who's position is that all Reserve troops should serve a minimum of 2 years before filing for active duty. He's had to move back in with us for the time being and hasn't been able to find any work, even in fast food or anything else. So, he wanted to go active before the economy tanked, and even more so now, but for the time being he's sort of in limbo.

[wazabiker]

Yeah, there are service women and men reenlisting because the civilian job outlook is poor. However, think about the benefits of a military career. Fantastic medical care, housing, unparallelled education oportunities and an attractive retirement package. Reenlistment bonuses are quite attractive and enlisted people enjoy regular advancement and the pay ain't bad, either.


Yesterday, at my VA hospital the young woman drawing my blood sample said she was in the Army, a bit over two years into a six year enlistment. She plans to remain in the service and progressing with all-paid schooling to becoming a medical doctor.

Her family legally imigrated here from Romania. She is an example of taking fair advantage of what is being offered and doing something worthwhile.