Click to play videoWashington: Lost in the debate over whether to send additional troops to Iraq is a military surge of a different kind.
US President George W Bush thought it important enough to include in the state of the union.
"Tonight I ask the Congress to authorise an increase in the size of our active army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years, " Bush said.
But some in Congress are skeptical that can be easily done as American casualty figures in Iraq continue to climb. One Senate colleague has an optimistic answer.
Arizona Senator John McCain said, “I am sure there are enough patriotic Americans who will join the military."
"I am going to be an infantry soldier and I am going to become an infantry officer, once, after completion of college," said military recruit Roger O'Brien.
The 18-year-old high school senior has enlisted in the marines and he is far from alone.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said, “All active branches of the US military exceeded their recruiting goals for the month of December with particularly strong showings by the army and the marine corps."
One military scholar worries the military, to meet the new goals, will have to re-think recruiting standards for education, health and misdemeanor criminal records.
Retired General Don Shepherd, who is a CNN analyst, believes the administration can reach its recruitment goals by emphasizing pay and benefits, benefits O'Brien finds appealing.
"It's the career I want to choose you can always get promoted and its job security, has an allowance," O'Brien said.
O'Brien's recruitment is a success story for the military. One it has to repeat 92 thousand times to meet the President's goal.
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