More Poor People = More Military Enlisting

BE ALL YOU CAN BE, DUDE, YEAH, LIKE THAT Marines The Army is trying to add 65,000 soldiers (to a grand total of 547,000) in the next year or so. Good news! The economy is helping: "The economic downturn could make it easier to attract new recruits to the military, Defense officials said Friday.... Economic uncertainty and a declining job market are likely to make potential recruits and their parents more receptive to a pitch from the military, said David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness." Also we are looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of Lehman Brothers bankers sign up for the front lines. Only 83 percent of Army recruits last year have a high school diploma—and the Marine Corps had to grant waivers for "behavioral" (read: drug arrests, at best) or medical issues to nearly half of its new recruits.