staunchly ignoring the facts, Ranger? if there was concern about reenlistment, they would increase incentives, like reenlistment boni and not eliminate them.

82nd Airborne
http://rdu.news14.com/content/your_n...asp?ArID=45777
Despite long deployments in the war on terrorism, U.S. soldiers are continuing to re-enlist in the Army. 82nd Airborne officials at Fort Bragg said they have retained more than 90 percent of soldiers finishing their first enlistment period.

101st Airborne Division soldiers reenlist at Army's top rate
http://www.gulf1.com/military/all/mosul/1015a.htm
by Pfc. Thomas Day 40th PAD MOSUL, Iraq (Oct. 15, 2003) - The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) scored a three-peat this past fiscal year as the division landed the highest number of reenlistments of any division in the Army. The division also reenlisted the most soldiers in the Army in both the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 fiscal years.

Incredibly, the division's success seems to have come because of the ongoing war on terrorism, not in spite of it. The 101st reenlistment strength stands at more than 140% for the 2002-2003 fiscal year - surprising numbers as the division has been deployed to Kuwait and Iraq for nearly eight months.

As for the Army regular forces.
They have not only met their retention and reenlistment goals, but they are having a problem. Congress won't allow them to have more than
482,000 troops and renlistment is high enough they might ahve to turn peopel away.

Army continues to meet retention target
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?...9&archive=true
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, April 10, 2004

ARLINGTON, Va. — Despite concerns that the increased pace of deployments might prompt a retention crisis in the Army, the service is continuing to meet its active duty re-enlistment goals — even though those goals are higher than they were last year.

Accurate figures for National Guard and Reserve troops was unavailable at this time.

From Oct. 1, 2003, through March 31 of this year, the Army’s goal was to retain 28,377 soldiers, according Lt. Col. Franklin Childress, an Army personnel spokesman.

A total of 28,406 troops re-enlisted, putting Army retention at slightly more than 100 percent of goal, Childress said in a Thursday telephone interview.

“We’re right where we want to be,” Childress said. “The personnel tools and bonuses we’re using seem to be having the intended and desired effect.”

By comparison, in the first six months of fiscal 2003 the Army’s goal was 24,168 soldiers, and 25,328 troops re-enlisted, bringing retention to about 105 percent of goal. The Army actually dropped its retention goal in fiscal 2003, from 57,000 soldiers to 51,000 soldiers.

The reason for the reduction was that officials were concerned that stop-loss provisions would push the force over its Congressionally authorized limit of 482,000 troops, Childress said.

Air Force Cutting Back Re-Enlistment Bonuses
By Lisa Burgess
Stars and Stripes
European Edition
April 2, 2004,

WASHINGTON — With retention so high that the Air Force is now over-strength, service officials are eliminating Selective Reenlistment Bonuses for three-fourths of currently eligible jobs.

The 2004 SRB list released by the Air Force this week has 42 specialties eligible for extra cash. The 2003 list, by contrast, offered bonuses in 146 specialties.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/...041404,00.html
Military Numbers Are Rising
Virginian-Pilot
April 14, 2004
Despite a rising tide of combat deaths and the prospect of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan for years to come, Americans continue to volunteer for duty and are re-enlisting at record rates.