I understand that the Army is falling quite short of their 2005 recruiting goals. In Seattle,a city that doesn’t vote all that differently than we do, published reports indicate the shortfall is proportionately even more dramatic than the national average.

Let me first state here that because military service is a viable career option for some folks, I believe that military recruiters should be allowed to come to public schools and give their pitch. I’m also the son of a disabled war vet, so I grew up with a parent who made the sacrifice.

Still,I can’t help but think that the Army’s falling short of recruiting targets is largely due to the fact that the swamp has been drained.

People become soldiers for lots of reasons, but one key motivator was the outpouring of patriotism after the 9/11 attacks. Some who were motivated to sign up were convinced by fright-wing talk show hosts and evil-obsessed fundamentalist clergy who portrayed this as a fight of good v. evil. This is a crowd that bought into Saddam-WMD, thought that Saddam helped plan 9/11, even suspected Iraq in the anthrax attacks.

Those most energized by those arguments are serving now, and mostly serving honorably. That’s not my point. My point is the type of persuasion that went, “your country is under attack, so you need to sign up and fight evil,” has been blunted by time and developments - no WMD, no repeat terror attacks, forced re-enlistments, National Guard tours lasting far longer than expected.

And, body bags, bringing back our boys for memorial services -sometimes in the same houses of worship where admonitions of evil rang just a few years prior.

I hope for the day when most Oregonians who are serving can come home with honor.

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