It's fairly consistent with my outlook that one can find more accurate news about the U.S. in India or China than one can in the Murdoch daily you cited. I can't read the actual article you linked, but note the sources cited below in an article from
NewKerala.com (India):
It [the U.S. Army] achieved its second-straight monthly goal -- sending 8,085 new soldiers into boot camp in July, topping its goal by 9 percent -- after falling short in the previous four months, according to figures released by the Pentagon today.
The situation was bleaker in the part-time Guard and Reserve, used heavily in Iraq as the Pentagon seeks to maintain troop levels.
''I know our recruiters are going to do what they can to close the gap, but right now it looks like we will miss both active and reserve (goals) at the end of the year,'' said Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith.
The Reserve missed its July recruiting target by 18 percent, getting 2,131 recruits with a goal of 2,585, and stood 20 percent behind its year-to-date target. It had a shortfall of about 4,700 recruits toward its 2005 goal of 28,485.
The Army National Guard has missed every monthly goal in fiscal 2005 after falling short in 2004 and 2003, the Pentagon said. It missed its July goal by 20 percent -- getting 4,712 recruits with a quota of 2,585 -- and was 23 percent behind its year-to-date target.
With two months left, it had a shortfall of more than 11,600 toward an annual goal of 63,002.
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In separate news, the Army asked Congress to raise the maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42. Reminds me of Britain during WWI, when they had to lower the height requirement three or four times during the first year of the war because the entire army kept on getting wiped out.