The incredible shrinking Army

Pay the cherrypickers of information no mind, the Army fell short of its recruitment goal by a record number and percentage this year despite a strong finish. It's the first time since 1999.

Am I happy? Absolutely not.

Well, maybe for those who didn't enlist because they didn't believe in this war or had little faith in those running it. For them, I'm happy.

And it's too bad the Army was forced to throw $1 billion into advertising, which presumably includes iTunes giveaways and other schticks. Money that would've been better spent on armor and veterans' benefits -- two high-profile deterrents to enlistment. That and the death toll...

It should also be noted that the Army's leadership is officially on my shitlist for refusing to do anything about war porn sites posted to by its soldiers. I'm fine with soldiers looking at porn, but using government computers to post images of their most racist grisly fanstasies is something I find difficult to swallow...

And speaking of grim, here's the outlook for next year's recruiting:

"The Army has a smaller-then-usual reservoir of enlistees as it begins the new recruiting year on Saturday. This pool comes from what the Army calls its delayed-entry program in which recruits commit to join the Army on condition that they ship to boot camp some months later."

"Normally that pool is large enough at the start of the recruiting year to fill one-quarter of the Army's full-year need. But it has dwindled so low that the Army is starting its new recruiting year with perhaps only 5 percent "in the bank." The official figure on delayed entry recruits has not been released publicly, although Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, has said it is the smallest in history."