The Army is going to miss recruitment goals for March and April after having missed goals in February by a pretty hefty percentage. By itself, this is an interesting story, but the spin put on it by the journalist responsible for the MSNBC piece gives it spin that just doesn’t fit. In a mastery of finding the cloud behind the silver lining, the writer barely mentions how strong recruitment had been for the previous four-year stretch.

In February the Army missed its monthly recruiting goal by 27 percent. That was the first time it had fallen short for any month since May 2000, and it underscored the difficulty the Army faces in signing up young men and women during time of war.

So, the Army hits its goals for almost four straight years, including over three years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq--and somehow this three month stretch “[underscores] the difficulty the Army faces in signing up young men and women during time of war.”

More likely it underscores a change in the attitude of the citizens of the country. For nearly four years, most of that time at war, citizens stepped up to do their part even when the choice wasn’t popular. The attitude change is probably a reflection of the feeling that the period of most need and crisis has ended. Wrong or right, if most of the military age citizens of the US feel that the worst of the war is over, then their urge to join will have diminished. Given that the timing is closely related to the elections in Iraq and that the last month has seen a surge of positive news stories from the Middle East, the best way to interpret incomplete data like this is in relation to current events.

Through the worst of the fighting when the news seemed to be all bad, recruitment goals were met. When the stories changed to decidedly more positive, recruitment goals were missed. The problem isn’t recruitment in times of war; the problem is recruitment now that people think that the war is essentially over. Instead of seeing this, the writer focuses on difficulties of the Marines and Army recruitment over the last couple months. In fact, the writer doesn’t even make mention of the fact that the last time recruitment goals weren’t met the country wasn’t at war.

That isn’t to say that the shortfall isn’t a problem, just that someone with a huge blind spot or an agenda is completely misreading where the trouble exists. The difficulty that the recruiters now face is in convincing potential recruits that the need is still great, that the country needs and values their service. The better things go in the Middle East, the harder that will be to sell, and the less likely someone is to put his or her career on hold.

Read the story.