Do the Math, then Get Angry.

Friday marked an important day for the U.S. Army. After allegations and probes led to evidence of impropriety among army recruiters, the U.S. Army covered its own tail by gathering its recruiters for a conference on the ethics of recruiting.

The media ate it up. The stories of recruiters looking the other way on convictions and drug histories, recruiters helping to forge diplomas and documents, recruiters offering gifts and bribes, were too big for news outlets to ignore. However, while feasting at the buffet of army dim-wittedness the media completely missed the biggest story of all.

In every report, from CNN to ABC to FOX, they reported that the army is 15% behind in its target to recruit 80,000 new soldiers in 2005. To help remedy the situation the nation's 7,500 recruiters are meeting to discuss recruiting practices. This was the story, as reported.

Do the math. If all targets are met then that is only 11 new recruits per year, per recruiter. That's less than one a month per recruiter. Is this wise use of taxpayer funds? Plus, just about every town has a US Army recruiter office located in a primo spot in a local mall, and that ain't cheap. I'll bet when you count TV commercials, literature, bumper stickers, recruiter benefits and all the overhead it must cost $100,000 per recruit to get them to join.

That should make you mad. Add to it that the army and US government have the gall to limit payouts to injured soldiers. They have cut benefits for veterans and pay below minimum wage to those serving valiantly. Once discharged, may vets feel that they are on their own, especially those suffering from unusual disease that the government doesn't want to believe exists.

Maybe it is time to rework the numbers. As usual the taxpayer gets fleeced and somebody must be making an awful lot of money by NOT doing their job.