Seen those stories about how military recruitment is succeeding wildly in These Troubled Economic Times? This might be a better explanation as to what's happening: "The secretary of defense ordered, and Congress authorized, an expansion in the size of the Army. But the Army reduced the recruitment goal-and reduced the retention goal. The size of the Army is in fact shrinking. It may look as if it's growing-the Pentagon report gives the impression it's growing-but it's growing only in comparison with the officially set goals. What the report leaves out is that those goals have been lowered, in some cases dramatically."