A Not-So-Volunteer Force

In an official notice signaling their intention to launch a new "recruiting and advertising program to bolster and retain ranks in the U.S. Army," the Pentagon, Defense Contracting Command and Department of the Army observe that "the market dynamics recruiters continue to face are as challenging as any faced in the history of the All-Volunteer Force," according to O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Word of the new Army ad campaign came just one day after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that some 20,000 U.S. troops in Iraq will have their tours extended by at least three months. When asked if troop levels would decrease after 90 days, Rumsfeld replied: "You can't predict the future, you just simply cannot do that, so why bother?"