How Army Beat Recruiting Goal

As the Army boasts about surpassing recruitment goals this year, Slate’s Fred Kaplan said not to look at unemployment numbers or a jump in patriotism, but to the Army’s goals themselves. The Army actually recruited fewer people than last year; it just lowered its sights, Kaplan wrote Friday. While the Army recruited 70,045 men and women this year—besting its goal of 65,000—its recruitment goal the last two years was 80,000. “Something odd is going on, and the powers that be in the Pentagon and Congress might want to start asking questions,” Kaplan wrote.