The US Army is going all out to drive the brand message throughout the organization. It’s new slogan Army Strong is even easier to read than its very recent predecessor An Army of One which replaced the possibly confusing Be All That You Can Be. This is in keeping with an overall effort to make the Army simpler and easier to use. Recently the Army announced it had made its 2006 recruitment numbers by lowering its entrance requirements (not sure how much lower they can go, at my physical all they required was a pulse and four limbs). In a further effort to make it easier for any vaguely sentient creature to join the ranks, the service has also instructed drill instructors to yell less and in general stop being so hard on the recruits — thereby allowing so that more of them pass basic training. The new Army campaign kicks in November under the command of McCann Worldwide. Maybe the agency should look into even further simplification: “Army!”
Category Archives: Be All That You Can Be
U.S. Army lowers its standards to make recruitment numbers. Terrorists unlikely to follow suit.
In the wake of the news that the Army is keeping the George W. Bush Desert Classic fully staffed by taking people it otherwise wouldn’t have, comes this AP story about how the Army is forcing drill instructors to tone it down and not flunk so many of the recruits.
“Part of it is changing the nature of how it treats people in basic training,” David S. Chu, undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said Tuesday. That means “less shouting at everyone, in essence, which some of you may remember from an earlier generation as being the modus operandi,” he said. (And, for those of you keeping track at home, The Wall Street Journal had this story about a year ago.)
One can only hope that the Army has arranged for combat to be kinder and gentler, too.
Although this relaxing of standards will mean more dead and injured soldiers almost immediately, it will take a year or two for us to start to reap the full benefits of this particular piece of idiocy. If I remember correctly Lt. William Calley of My Lai massacre fame, was something like 30th out of an OCS class of 33 and would never have graduated but for the incredibly lax standards being used at the time.
Remember, be all that you can be and if you can’t … well gosh darn at least you tried.
Where have you gone Sgt. Hulka? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…
Collateral Damage 