Narrative Thread
An index of facts on recruitment, war & the world we live in.
| Minimum number of U.S. soldiers the Army needs in 2006 to replenish ranks abroad: | 80,000 |
| Number of years since the U.S. National Guard last missed its (original) annual recruitment goal, as it did in Fiscal Year 2005: | 11 |
| Percentage by which the Army and Marines fell short of their goals for hiring roadside bomb-defusers in 2003–04: | 20% |
| Number of times, by spring of 2006, every active-duty combat unit is likely to have been deployed: | 2 |
| Number of U.S. military personnel that have gone AWOL since the start of the current Iraq war: | 5,500+ |
| Number of Army recruiters who went AWOL between October 2002 and March 2005: | 37 |
| Percentage of recruiters who did not volunteer for the job: | 70% |
| Number of major conflicts since 1775 that did not rely, in part, on conscripts: | 3 |
| Number of alleged recruiting improprieties in 2000: | 490 |
| Number of alleged recruiting improprieties in 2004: | 1,023 |
| Increase in recruiters who were found guilty and still kept their jobs between 2002 and 2004, by percent: | 40% |
| Percentage of U.S. high schools receiving federal aid whose students’ information the Army sought in the first year of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): | 100% |
| Number of U.S. colleges and universities that were asked by law enforcement to release student information in 2001: | 220 |
| Percentage that released the students’ information without informing them: | 90% |
| Number of people to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery nationwide: | 1,600,000 |
| Number of those who are students: | 1,000,000 |
| Number of law schools to bring a suit against military recruiting on campus in 2004: | 36 |
| Percentage of U.S. college students who say they would try to evade the draft if one were called (as of 2002): | 37% |
| Number of months in a school year: | 9 |
| Number of months it took to equip troops in Iraq with anti-ballistic armor: | 11 |
| Ratio of the price of a barrel of oil in March 2003 to the price of a body bag from the U.S. military’s supplier: | 1:1 |
| Estimated percentage by which the average U.S. gasoline price would rise if costs of securing oil were recouped with a gas tax: | 29% |
| Average amount by which the price an African American pays for a new car exceeds that paid by a white American for the same model: | $420 |
| White Americans who thought the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, by percent: | 45% |
| African-Americans who thought the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, by percent: | 77% |
| Drop in African-American enlistments over the last four years, by percent: | 41% |
| Rise in Latino Army enlistments over the last four years, by percent: | 26% |
| Number of permanent resident aliens in the U.S. armed forces: | 41,000 |
| Number of National Guardsmen from Louisiana serving in Iraq or war-related efforts during Hurricane Katrina: | 1 in 3 |
| Chance that a member of New York’s Army National Guard was in Iraq in June 2004: | 1 in 4 |
| Chance that a member of Texas’ Army National Guard was: | 1 in 31 |
| Members of the Bush administration with combat experience: | 0 |
| Number of officials in the Bush administration with ties to the oil industry: | 41 |
| Months before 9/11 that Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force investigated Iraq’s oil resources: | 6 |
| Revenue generated by Halliburton under CEO Dick Cheney from business deals with Iraq under Saddam Hussein: | $30M |
| Year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs: | 1983 |
| Revenue from Iraqi oil sales that the Coalition Provisional Authority could not account for, according to a 2005 audit: | $8.8M |
| Monthly cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq: | $4.1B |
| Minimum number of times the U.S. has deployed troops abroad in its 226-year history: | 227 |
| Number of countries to which the U.S. sent troops between 1900 and 1993 for the nominal purpose of establishing democracy: | 14 |
| Number of countries that were democracies 10 years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces: | 4 |
| Portion of all U.S. foreign aid that goes to helping recipients buy U.S. produced weapons, equipment, or services: | 25% |
| Number of the 26 countries that the U.S. has provided military assistance to since 2001 that use child soldiers: | 22 |
| Ratio of the average number of cars to the number of children per U.S. household: | 5:2 |
| Parents likely to recommend military service to their children in 2003, by percent: | 42% |
| Parents likely to recommend military service to their children in 2004, by percent: | 25% |
| Estimated number of Americans who refuse to pay some or all of their federal income taxes to protest military spending: | 2,000 |
| Year by which every U.S. nuclear weapon will have reached the end of its original design life: | 2014 |
SOURCES: (1) Elliott, Stuart. “Army Hires McCann Erikson As Agency for Recruitment Ads.” The New York Times (December 8, 2005) • (2) “Army National Guard Seen Missing Recruit Goals.” The Washington Times; Barnicle, Jeremy. “Military Recruitment Gap.” The Century Foundation (October 1, 2004) • (3) Cave, Damien. “Vital Military Jobs Go Unfilled, Study Says.” The New York Times (November 18, 2005) • (4) Danner, Mark. “The War On Terror: Four Years On; Taking Stock Of The Forever War.” The New York Times Magazine (September 11, 2005) • (5) Dobie, Kathy. “AWOL in America.” Harper’s (March 2005) • (6) Cave, Damien. “For Army Recruiters, a Hard Toll From a Hard Sell.” The New York Times (March 27, 2005) • (7) Ibid. • (8) Ibid. • (9) Ibid. • (10) Ibid. • (11) Ibid. • (12) U.S. Department of Defense/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (January 2003) • (13) American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officials/“Harper’s Index.” Harper’s January 2002) • (14) Ibid. • (15) Defense Technical Information Center • (16) Ibid. • (17) Greenhouse, Linda. “Justices Weigh Military’s Access To Law Schools.” The New York Times (December 7, 2005) • (18) Luntz Research Companies/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (September 2002) • (19) Board of Education • (20) U.S. Central Command/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (May 2004) • (21) Defense Supply Center/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (May 2003) • (22) Prof. Darwin C. Hall, California State University, Long Beach/Ibid. • (23) Yale School of Management/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (August 2002) • (24) Dao, James. “The Conflict in Iraq: The Fatalities; 2,00 Dead: As Iraq Tours Stretch On, A Grim Mark.” The New York Times (October 26, 2005) • (25) Ibid. • (26) White, Josh. “Steady Drop In Black Army Recruits.” The Washington Post (March 9, 2005) • (27) Alvarez, Lizette. “Army Effort to Enlist Hispanics Draws Recruits, and Criticism.” The New York Times (February 9, 2006); McKinley Jr., James C. “Mexican Pride and Death in U.S. Service.” The New York Times (March 22, 2005) • (28) Ibid. • (29) White House Website www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html • (30) VandeHei, Jim and Peter Baker. “Critics Say Bush Undercut New Orleans Flood Control.” The Washington Post (September 2, 2005) • (31) New York Army National Guard/ ”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (August 2004) • (32) Texas Army National Guard/Ibid. • (33) Citizen Works’ Big Business Day (April 5, 2003) • (34) Judicial Watch, Inc./ ”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (October 2003) • (35) Colum Lynch, The Washington Post/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (December 2004) • (36) Times (London)/ ”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (October 2003) • (37) Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction/ ”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (June 2005) • (38) U.S. Department of Defense/Ibid. • (39) U.S. Congressional Research Service/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (December 2002) • (40) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/ ”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (August 2003) • (41) Ibid. • (42) U.S. Department of State/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (October 2005) • (43) Center for Defense Information (December 5, 2005); State Department’s 2004 Human Rights Report (Feb. 28, 2005) • (44) U.S. Census Bureau/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (June 2004) • (45) Cave, Damien and Laura Cummins. “Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents” The New York Times (June 3, 2005) • (46) Ibid. • (47) National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee/ ”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (January 2004) • (48) Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Energy/”Harper’s Index.” Harper’s (June 2005)
Staff Sgt. Regilio E. Nelom, 45. 249th Quartermaster Company, 1st Corps Support Command. Killed when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during an escort mission near Al Asad, Iraq, on September 17 ...