With the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard all on pace to fall short of their recruitment goals for the year, the military is reconsidering its age limits for recruits.
Allowing older soldiers could be costly in terms of benefits, and there is the thorny issue of whether older men and women can keep up with the young. But many in the military argue that 40-somethings are in better physical shape today and point out that thousands of middle-age soldiers are already rotating through Iraq.
On Monday, the Pentagon filed documents asking Congress to increase the maximum age for military recruits to 42, in all branches of the service. Now, the limit is 39 for people without previous military service who want to enlist in the reserves and the National Guard, and 35 for those seeking active duty.
The above is from Damien Cave's "Pentagon Proposes Rise in Age Limit for Recruits" in this morning's New York Times.
Mike addressed this issue Wednesday:
We are a country at war and for those who still don't get it, let's take a look at CounterRecruiter today:
The Defense Department has asked Congress to raise the age limit for military recruits from 35 to 42. According to a report from the Army Times, this is one of a series of what defense department officials are calling "urgent wartime support initiatives."
Still think it's not serious? They want to add seven years to the age limit. When's the draft coming?
Note that today's scheduled reports for Democracy Now! include:
*The future of American labor: as the AFL-CIO convention gets underway, welook at the possible split in the Federation. The Change to Win Coalitionplans to break away from the AFL if their demands aren't met. We'll host aroundtable on the future of the labor movement and the state of rank andfile union activism.
*The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of JobCreation. We'll speak with author Greg LeRoy about how corporations get taxbreaks that shortchange American workers.
And note the upcoming dates on the Un-Embed the Media Tour:
Amy Goodman in Chicago, IL:
Sat, July 23
TIME: 12:30-2 PM
ILCA's 50th Anniversary Convention
Chicago City Centre Holiday Inn
300 East Ohio Street
To register for this conference, visit http://www.ilcaonline.org
Amy Goodman in New York, NY:
Sun, July 24
TIME: 2:30 PM
Books at the Piera benefit for Books Through Bars
Panel discussion: "The Media, Incarceration and Public Policy - Is There A Connection?"
Frying Pan/Pier 63
New York City
For directions, visit http://www.fryingpan.com/mapframe.html
For more information, call: 888-999-6761
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
