From the I want to serve my Country.........

...but I'm not crazy department. Via The All Spin Zone.

In a 1st since '95, Marines miss recruit tally

WASHINGTON -- For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps in January missed its monthly recruiting goal, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's effect on the armed services.

The struggles of the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard to recruit and retain soldiers have received national attention in recent months. But the failure of the Marines, which historically has had the luxury of turning away recruits, is a potential problem for the service.

The Marines missed their January goal of 3,270 recruits by 84, less than 3 percent. They last missed a monthly goal in July 1995, and 1995 was also the last full year in which the corps fell short of its annual recruiting quota, said Maj. Dave Griesmer, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina, said, "It's most troubling because the Marines tend to attract people who are the most macho, seek the most danger and are attracted by the service most likely to put them into combat."

Senior Marine personnel officials say that one month is hardly a trend, that the Marine Corps is slightly ahead of pace for the fiscal year beginning last October and that they fully expect to meet their overall goal for the year. But senior officers acknowledge that the drop in January and close calls in November and December could be linked to the widely publicized risks in Iraq.

The "widely publicized risks in Iraq"; do you really think that could have something to do with it? Although the Bush administration tries to hide the casualties the article mentions that people who join the Marines usually know someone who is already in the Marines. It has been reported that the Marines are not happy campers when it comes to the conflict in Iraq and they way the war is being waged. That may have as big an impact as the casualty rate. Just one more example of how Prince Donald the Incompetent has run the best military in the world into the ground.