Wanted (Badly): More Green Beret Recruits
By Patrik Jonsson

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Wanted: Someone who can move 

undetected through jungle brush. Prefer a person 

who can strike with the force of a "lightning bolt."

Must be able to swim long distances in boots and 

heavy clothing. Ability to order food in Arabic 

optional.



This is the gist of a recruiting pitch the Pentagon 

is putting out as it looks for the next generation 

of its elite soldiers, the Green Berets, to fight 

the terrorist wars of tomorrow.



In a bold attempt to capitalize on a surge of 

patriotism and buttress its aging corps, the Pentagon 

is offering application forms to the man-on-the-street 

for the first time since 1988. And, like NBA scouts at 

the start of highschool basketball season, recruiters 

are fanning out across the country in search of 400 men 

with the right stuff to wear the green beret.



The elite fighting division had, for years, filled its 

ranks by headhunting the best and brightest volunteers 

from the Army. But the depth of talent just isn't there 

anymore. "They're going to be looking for the captain of 

the football team and the guy everyone looked up to in 

high school," says "John," a broad-chested Green Beret 

from Miami, filling out his gear bag at Ranger Joe's 

surplus shop on Bragg Boulevard here. "Believe me, there 

are undiscovered naturals all over this country."



Tactical linchpins



The Green Berets are even looking for volunteers willing 

to transfer from Navy, Marines, and Air Force Branches. 

Perhaps at no other time, analysts say, has the military's 

focus shifted so dramatically from tanks and cannons to the 

kind of all-round American troops largely credited for the 

fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan.



"There's been some reconsideration, if you will, a 

tailoring of the future concept of our tactics in war," 

says Dan Smith, chief of research at the Center for Defense 

Information in Washington. "This training and recruitment

for special forces is along those lines."



In a speech at National Defense University in Washington 

last month, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted that 

more of what the Army often calls "military occupational 

specialists" are needed. "The department has known for some 

time that it does not have enough ... [of] certain types of 

Special Operations Forces," Mr. Rumsfeld said.



Green Beret forces today number about 6,000, spread out from 

Bosnia to the Philippines. They are an intelligent, strong, 

and lethal band of brothers, all young men, whom the 

administration has pegged as the most likely choice of spear 

tip for what appears to be a protracted stab at terrorists 

outside the US.



Their jobs include rallying and training local militias, 

gathering "intel," and tromping through jungles and deserts. 

These troops are seen by many as the epitome of American 

ingenuity and self-reliance.



Are you tough enough?



Which is why only half of the recruits actually make the grade. 

After basic training at Ft. Benning, Ga., the new civilian 

recruits come here to Ft. Bragg, America's largest Army base, 

to undergo three weeks of rucksack marches and intense 

psychological tests. "They'll do stuff like put you on guard 

duty for three days straight, to see what you're made of," 

says John, the Special Ops soldier from Miami.



Once accepted, a special forces trooper isn't built overnight. 

In fact, it takes 80 weeks to build a civilian duffer into a 

lean, mean fighting machine, as able to engage enemies on the 

ground and make jokes in Tagalog. "What you need is a combination 

of stamina, physical endurance, and mental toughness," says Capt. 

David Connolly, a spokesman for the US Army Recruitment Command 

at Ft. Knox, Ky.



While some soldiers showed surprise at the Army's new tack, 

others saw it coming. "The Army has only been shrinking, and that 

means that the pool of capable soldiers has also been shrinking," 

says David, a retired special forces sergeant who, in the 1960s, 

taught the mountain-dwelling Montagnards to fight the Vietcong.

The move also comes at a time when the Army is vying to revamp 

its soldier schools to appeal to today's tech-savvy teens. At 

the JFK Special Warfare Center and School here at Ft. Bragg, for 

instance, top brass are now jazzing up their linguistics 

curriculum to incorporate state-of-the-art language software.



"A lot of our guys are getting older and retiring, and we're 

trying to find ways to appeal to the next generation of soldiers," 

says Tim Loney, the commander of Charlie Company, which runs the 

school. Pay incentives have also been mooted. The base salary for 

a battle-ready soldier is about $1,500 per month. (Food and 

lodging are included.) Soldiers get $110 if they're "jumpers," 

and another $110 for serving in a combat zone. There are also 

marriage allotments that can run as much $400 a month. But a pay 

raise may accompany the US Department of Defense's proposed 21

percent increase in the fiscal year 2003 budget for the US Special

Operations Command - which oversees the Green Berets.



Underwhelming response



But will Americans, emboldened, perhaps, by patriotic fervor, enlist?

To some, the new gambit is the first real chance for Americans to 

join the war effort. Up to this point, however, there has not been 

a crush of civilian volunteers at recruitment offices. Some critics 

wonder if the Army will have trouble filling its ranks. "What has not 

happened since 9/11 has been an increase in actual recruits,"

says Mr. Smith of the CDI. "I have watched the Army's reports about 

an upsurge in calls, but they tend to be mostly old fogeys wanting to 

reenlist or people calling to express their support."



Top brass stress that Americans now have a chance to support their 

country. "The president has said that now is the time to step forward 

and do your time," says Army Lt. Col Ryan Yantis. "A lot of people who 

come to the Army come for the adventure, but, today, what's overriding 

that is the sense of service to country."

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