Probably not, but it may depend on which branch of the military you ask.
During the Illinois senator’s quest to become the first black American president, Obama pledged to shift military priorities from Iraq to Afghanistan, where American forces have fought the Taliban since 2001.
To meet that goal, the Army and Marine Corps will have to recruit more personnel and, under Obama’s plan, that is the intention.
According to Obama’s Web site, the president-elect hopes to recruit 65,000 new soldiers and 27,000 new Marines.
Maj. Chris Devine, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Quantico, Va., said the Marine Corps has a goal to recruit 39,296 men and women to become Marines in fiscal year 2009, regardless of who is sitting in the Oval Office.
“We get a mission every year,” Devine said. “We get our mission directly from the commandant of the Marine Corps and our manpower folks . . . that’s how we keep our focus on the prize.”
The projected number of recruits is down from the more than 42,000 who swore an oath to Uncle Sam in 2007, Devine said.
The annual recruiting numbers for the U.S. Navy were not available, but Carol Moore, public information officer for the San Antonio recruiting district for the U.S. Navy, said much the same thing: It doesn’t matter who is in the White House.
“It’s kind of hard to predict what the new president will say and what changes he’ll make,” Moore said. “We are going to continue on our course until then.”
The Navy is hoping to recruit nearly 1,400 men and women from the state of Texas alone, Moore said, and 109 of those recruits could come from the San Antonio recruiting district that includes Bell County.
However, politics may have less to do with the number of recruits than the lagging economy does.
According to the Department of Defense, the military services are posting their highest recruiting numbers since 2004.
In fact, the Army and Marine Corps increased recruiting goals for fiscal 2008, as both services continue to increase their ranks to meet the demands of the wars on two fronts.
“Regardless of the political dynamics that you can speculate upon on whether or not the forces will increase in the future remains to be seen,” Devine said.
