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)
Sgt. Linda C. Jimenez, 39. 2nd Squadron, Combat Support Aviation (Maintenance), 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Jimenez fell and was injured on Oct. 31, 2003 in Iraq and was taken to the 28th Combat Support Hospital. Evacuated to Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center in Germany, she later moved to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she died on November 8, 2003 ...