Recruiting Strategies

Dave at Garfield Ridge has become my go to spot for really funny stuff to read with Ace of Spades out of commission. I can't recommend him enough as a place to go whenever mu.nu or whatever stops working.

Anyway, he has a fantastic serious piece on recruiting strategies. He does a really great job of pointing out what he thinks the Army needs to do for recruiting strategies. I don't think there's much that you can argue with in his thinking. It also includes some pretty cool old recruiting posters that did a better job of getting the message across.

This has sort of interested me ever since I read Prodigal Soldiers by James Kitfield. The book details the military's long journey from Vietnam to the Gulf War and what made it into the incredibly effective fighting force that it has become. One of the things that is mentioned is the "Be All That You Can Be" campaign of the 1980s.

That shift in mindset really helped out because it was aimed at getting people in order to challenge themselves and try to be a part of something larger. The Marines have done a much better job of this over time.