Pentagon officials euphemistically call this request "urgent wartime support initiatives," i.e., we need more cannon fodder (even if it's old meat).

At a hearing on July 19, Under Secretary of Defense David S.C. Chu noted that the Pentagon's inability to find new 20-something recruits forced them to find additional incentives, like lowering the bar to include clueless 40-somethings.

Other "incentives" for military recruitment have included cash bribes like "raising the maximum re-enlistment bonus to $90,000; maximum hardship duty pay to $750 a month; special pay and incentive bonuses for nuclear qualified officers to $30,000; assignment incentive pay to $3,000; and increasing accession and affiliation bonuses for reservists," reports Army Times.

(http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-983408.php)

The Pentagon's request also includes the "Army Home Ownership" program, which is an attempt to convince parents to convince their clueless 20-something progeny to enlist in the hope of getting a house out of the deal -- IF they survive the brutal combat of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. (After all, it's just actuarial table accounting.)

Since many 20-somethings have been judged too overweight to join the military, the Pentagon is obviously looking for new supplies of "cannon fodder."

Evidently even illegal aliens are being considered.

The mercenary model of the ancient Roman Empire is the next step for the Pentagon and PNAC's New American Military Empire ambitions.

Until then - Geezers, Illegal Aliens, and Clueless 20-Somethings of the World, Unite.

The US Army has Big Plans for you...