"Not Enough Glory Hunters"

Twice before in its 176-year history, the proud U.S. Marine Corps had trained draftees to fill its ranks, but not until last week did it have to ask for them. Enlistments were now below the corps' 6,000-man monthly recruiting quota. Furthermore, 75,000 reservists on active duty are soon to be let out, and the Marines* are already hard put to fill their ranks. Selective Service promised the Marines 13,000 draftees in the next two months and more later if enlistments keep on sagging.

In 1918 and again in 1943, the Marine Corps was ordered to take draftees, not because it needed them, but because so many tough young men volunteered that the other services felt cheated. The Marine Corps fixed it so that draftees could specify their choice of service; a sergeant could still snarl at a boot: "Nobody asked you to join this outfit, bub." Now the Marines had to go begging. The Marines would presumably still have the right to wash out anyone who couldn't stomach the rugged training. But the sad fact these days, said one Marine major, is that there are just "not enough glory hunters" any more.

* Of the Marine fighting force in Korea at the time of the famed withdrawal from the Changjin Reservoir, 32% were reservists.

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