Can the U.S. Army Enlist All the Yellow Elephants?

The U.S. Army's recruiting quota for the fiscal year ending September 30 is 80,000 new recruits. If, after one of President Bush's speeches, thousands of Young Republicans lined up at recruiting stations, could the Army enlist them all immediately? While the Army can exceed its recruiting quota, it's still an easy question that has no simple answer.

If Adam's Blog is correct, and all the estimated 23 million American healthy heterosexuals between 17 and 41 who support the war tried to enlist at once, the Army would first become more selective, and thank the less qualified for their patriotism (and for having the guts to contact a recruiter), but let them off the hook. They would also sign enlistment contracts now to report to basic training in the next fiscal year. Force management can be complicated since Congress has limited the size of the Army overall as well as the number of soldiers at different ranks.

If the American people really want to Support President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to WIN the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), as a first step, we'd be happy if our great nation could at least exceed the quota by one one-thousandth (or one tenth of one percent or multiply by 0.001) of the target population, or an extra 23,000 recruits. Including, of course, the rich and famous and the well-connected future leaders of our governing party seeking to set a good example for the rest of us.

OK, Adam, how 'bout you?