Army Accidentally Attempts Recruitment From Arlington

In an attempt to draw experienced officers back to the military, the US Army has sent recruiting letters to 5,100 officers who recently left the service. Due to the accidental use of a list that had not been updated to reflect casualties however, 75 of the recipients were dead. The Army is appologizing for the error.



Well, that should convince the terrorists that we mean business. While suicide bombers are heading for paradise, our boys are being recruited for one last fight.

I try to stay off of the political fringes, but this one really distrubed me. I realize the army needs good men and these were certainly the finest kind who gave their lives for our country, but what kind of a mistake is this to have made by our army? Of all the respect that families who have lost a loved one deserve, I'd say the very least we could do is manage our paperwork properly so that we don't end up sending them letters saying, "hey, how would you like to do it again".

[edit on 6-1-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Well said.

People are giving their lives for a cause they sincerely believe in. You would expect the paperwork would be handled in a proper manner. We are all human though, fallibility is something none of us can overcome. But the pain these family members must of endured when they opened the letter and read it's content, I would expect this grief to be right on par with what they would of suffered when they first received the news. Somehow, an apology just does not seem to eradicate the pain inflicted by this mistake.

Nobody should lose their job over this, but something should be done to insure this will never happen again. Something should be sent to the families as a formal apology for this little mishap.

Well, the Army is not what it used to be. Alot of good people have left. I have a friend, a Lt. Col. in the Army, a very fine man with a great deal of integrity and love for his country. About a year after 911 he took early retirement. He probbly would have made full Col. and would have gotten alot more retirement pension, but he was so disgusted with the moves the Army was making via Rumsfeld, that he chose to retire early. Our good people are being run off by the mismanagement of people who were hired to take the place of the people who left the Army.
This kind of mistake doesn't surprise me. I do think someone should lose their job over this. I am appalled at the handling of our soldiers in general: not enough body armor, low pay, having to pay for damages to tanks and such and very poor VA service/hospitals. Our soldiers and their families deserve better than this. I'm sure it greatly traumatized the families of these people killed in action. They must think the Army doesn't give 2 figs for them, their dead children or their sacrifice. They may well be right.

This was definitely a screw up on someone's part, but...you've got to take into consideration that the folks sending out the return to service requests aren't the same folks who run mortuary affairs, etc...What this highlights is that databases need to be A-up to date B-user friendly C-available at a level to where different units can cross reference(it'd be impossible to just start firing folks as there's no one position that could be held directly responsible). These 5,100 folks were spread throughout many units in the Army when they served, so it's not difficult to imagine paperwork getting screwed up. I see stuff get screwed up at company and battalion levels, paperwork wise, and this is echelons above that. As for asking experienced folks back, that's nothing new or out of the ordinary. Many experienced folks come back after retirement in some capacity anyway(i.e. GS civilians or contractors).

Could ya'll help me here for a sec?

How is 75 1/3'd of 3000?

Isn't it more like 1/40th of 3000?

Is this some kind of trick from FAUX News trying to sneak more false information into people's subcontious?

Originally posted by thematrix
How is 75 1/3'd of 3000?

Isn't it more like 1/40th of 3000?

Is this some kind of trick from FAUX News trying to sneak more false information into people's subcontious?

Nah, it is simply one third of those who have died in the Army since the beginning of the war. Or that's how it's worded.

Sad for the families, like pouring salt into the wound, I would imagine. Let's just hope it gets cleared up in time for the next month's mailings.

Originally posted by thematrix
Could ya'll help me here for a sec?

How is 75 1/3'd of 3000?

Isn't it more like 1/40th of 3000?

Is this some kind of trick from FAUX News trying to sneak more false information into people's subcontious?

The 75 represent more than one-third of all Army (officers) who have died in Iraq since the war began.

In other words out of 3000 casualties, a little over 200 were officers. Nothing is awry here.

Ah, thanks for the explination, sounded wierd to me.

The others were just enlisted then I guess?

The remainder were enlisted, which is the way it is in any war, as there are a lot fewer officers running around the battlefield than enlisted.

It concerns me that this may be indicative of how extended we are militarily. This list needed to be screened just as carefully as the mortuary records. How stretched are we really? Does it go alot deeper than a crass records SNAFU like this?

What kind of battle shape is our average line soldier in? What kind of shape is his gear in? How about our tanks, heavy weapons, and aircraft? How do those maintenance schedules look?

How about our stocks of replacement parts, equipment, aircraft, and vehicles? I know we will always have plenty of bombs, but how about the delivery systems?

Is fatigue another reason why we are seeing the general staff replaced at CENTCOM?

Do we need a second wind?

What's the big deal?

Mistakes happen. Getting a letter addressed to your deceased husband/wife/family, is not a cause for concern. People aren't babies. Grow up.

It's not indicative of anything but a minor error by one employee, who dragged and dropped the wrong file.

I will never grow into a callous, callow person who dismisses the death of our service members and how it is reported to their families by our government. Don't forget, these were re-enlistment letters.

Perhaps if, God forbid, you had lost a loved one in service to our country, and had suffered a second reminder of the loss through some out-of-hand paperwork error, you would feel differently than your "get over it" bravado suggests.

I find the tenor of your post a disgrace and a disservice to the 3000 and counting KIA in Iraq, nonetheless their families, especially the ones affected by this mistake.

[edit on 6-1-2007 by Icarus Rising]

Originally posted by GT100FV
The remainder were enlisted, which is the way it is in any war, as there are a lot fewer officers running around the battlefield than enlisted.

That's why I think Airforce guys have it so good. It's the only force where the men send the officers off to fight and not vice-versa.


This whole situation also kind of reminds me of the time that Ronald Reagan was sent a recruiting letter from the Marine Corps, to which Ronald Reagan declined in writing, directly to the commandant. We had the letter framed on the wall at the recruiting sub station where I joined.

The only difference this time is that the people who found themselves on the wrong end of the irony didn't deserve to be the butt of a joke, whether accidental or otherwise.

Why should this be disturbing to anyone who didn't receive a letter to a deceased family member?

It's the kind of thing that could happen to any agency, although it shouldn't have.

The Army has apologized for the error and no one's loved one will be exhumed for a return to active duty.

It was an unfortunate mistake, nothing more, nothing less.

It does infact happen to many organizations, Grady is correct, but I think that's what made the situation resonate with me.

My grandfather has been dead for more than 2 years, and the very same companies keep calling and asking for him, and it's always gotten my goat that these people can't take 30 seconds out of their busy day at work to make a note in the computer that he's not here.

Maybe I'm projecting my own separate experiences into the situation and it's skewing the way I see things, I dunno.

Originally posted by Icarus Rising
It concerns me that this may be indicative of how extended we are militarily. This list needed to be screened just as carefully as the mortuary records. How stretched are we really? Does it go alot deeper than a crass records SNAFU like this?

What kind of battle shape is our average line soldier in? What kind of shape is his gear in? How about our tanks, heavy weapons, and aircraft? How do those maintenance schedules look?

How about our stocks of replacement parts, equipment, aircraft, and vehicles? I know we will always have plenty of bombs, but how about the delivery systems?

Is fatigue another reason why we are seeing the general staff replaced at CENTCOM?

Do we need a second wind?

Maintenance is done at the unit level(except when something requires depot level maintenance, but the records are still a unit responsibility). The reason this war is so expensive is because it takes a lot of maintenance to keep everything working, modernized, buy new ammo, replace lost equipment.

As for the General staff at CENTCOM being replaced- Gen Abizaid's tour is coming to an end, and is retiring. Gen Casey is likely going to be the next Army Chief of Staff. What's important in leadership is continuity, so you want the new guys to get over there and get a good handoff, and that's why they want to get them in there.

Yeah, an unfortunate mistake, like this whole, trumped-up, misbegotten war in Iraq. Now we have to send more troops over there to clean up the mess we've already made, by making mistakes.

My question is: Is this another mistake to add to the pile? Can't we consolidate our forces and press the handover to Iraqi forces? It has been nearly four years now. They need to police their own, or like another poster had suggested in another thread, get the French or Germans in to do it. The US Armed Forces wasn't meant to police the Iraqi people.

But that doesn't serve the greedy plans of the war-profiteering corporate elite that pull the strings of this administration. So we "go it alone" and "stay the course" and good people die and the world barrels headlong toward destruction while other people say "get over it."

Go figure.

[edit on 6-1-2007 by Icarus Rising]

Reality check.

The military employes 1000's of individuals. The world doesn't revolve around a single soldier. Get over the drama. Yes these boys and girls that died in the war, are commendable, and a letter doesn't lessen that AT ALL.

Get over the drama. Worlds don't revolve around grampa's either. Everybody dies. Don't expect the whole world to be hip to everybodies death date.

Originally posted by Icarus Rising

But that doesn't serve the greedy plans of the war-profiteering corporate elite that pull the strings of this administration. So we "go it alone" and "stay the course" and good people die and the world barrels headlong toward destruction while other people say "get over it."

Go figure.

[edit on 6-1-2007 by Icarus Rising]

The French were busy profiteering before the war with weapons and oil contracts with Saddam.

Oh, well I guess that makes it OK then.

The Russians, the Germans, the French. We swept them aside, with a little assist from the British, to get our turn at the trough for US corporate cronies and their buddies. Not like there were no US companies involved in the "Oil for Food" scam.

This isn't drama, its an uncomfortable (to some, obviously) truth that needs to be told and retold, until it is finally acted on in an appropriate manner that doesn't involve selling-out the basic human values that made this country great to begin with.

The tough guy, "get over it" bravado is the only drama I see happening in this thread, and that will crumble pretty quickly the first time it is exposed to enemy fire. You get over it.

We hold these truths to be self evident......