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American Morning

Discussion with Lt. Gen. Dennis Cavin

Aired January 02, 2004 - 08:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Tens of thousands of soldiers who thought their tour of duty was about to end are now learning they are not going home anytime soon because there are not enough new soldiers to replace them. Meanwhile, are football games and NASCAR events the key to recruiting the next generation of soldiers?
Joining us now to talk about all of these things, Lieutenant General Dennis Cavin.

He is in San Antonio, Texas this morning, where the Army is sponsoring quite a recruitment event this weekend.

And, General, we'll get to that in just a moment.

Thanks for being with us.

I first want to talk a little bit about stop-loss.

As you probably know, earlier this week, the "Washington Post" reported that the Army recently blocked the retirement and departures of more than 40,000 troops.

Tell us what a stop-loss is and then how to continue to motivate people after they had planned to leave and then are not allowed to go.

LT. GEN. DENNIS CAVIN, U.S. ARMY: OK, Heidi, good morning.

Clearly, stop-loss in its simplest form is delaying the departure of an individual from the prescribed retirement date or the prescribed permanent change of station from what they expected to do. And what it's intended to do, clearly, is to provide the continuity, the constituency, the ability for units to execute their mission to the highest degree of effectiveness.

COLLINS: So how do you keep the motivation up and the attitude good once a soldier learns that, OK, I've been here for six months and now I'm not going home, as I thought I was?

CAVIN: Well, a great characteristic of all of our soldiers, whether they're active or reserve component, is their ability to recognize when the mission demands that they go beyond the normal expectations to achieve that mission. Is it a disappointment? I'm sure it is, particularly for the families back home. But this nation is at war. Our Army is at war. And in the end, I think each and every soldier understands when they're asked to step up to the plate, they'll do so and they'll do so in the magnificent manner that they've been doing over the past several years. COLLINS: Understood.

In your eyes, though, is the issue that recruitment is down or that the demand for troops is up or is it a bit of both?

CAVIN: Well, actually, in terms of the total recruitment, it's not down. The United States Army, both active and reserve components, right now is very successful in our recruiting. In the past year, we were all successful. And thus far this year, it looks extremely bright for our recruiting efforts.

There has been no increase yet in our mission and so right now we're pretty satisfied that we're succeeding in our mission. We're bringing in top quality young men and women who want to make a difference in life and they're doing that through service to their nation.

COLLINS: Well, let's talk a little bit about recruitment now. And I know this is where you get all excited because of something that's going on this weekend, the Army's All American High School Football Bowl this weekend at the Alamo Dome. This is the fourth time now that the Army has sponsored this event.

Does it really bring in good results for increasing those recruitment numbers?

CAVIN: Well, this is the fourth year for the All American Bowl. It's the third year that the Army has been the primary sponsor. And I'll tell you, we couldn't be more delighted with the results we're getting from the Bowl. When you can put the Army out front, if you will, with coaches, with parents, with the students themselves and the athletes themselves and in a light that portrays that the Army has -- is investing in America's youth in a dramatic way -- leadership, teamwork, all the characteristics that are ideal in what we find in our soldiers are ideal in these individual athletes that we see out here.

COLLINS: And, quickly, sir, I know that the Army also spends about $16 million on NASCAR sponsorships.

How important is sports marketing to all of this?

CAVIN: Well, sports marketing, both NASCAR and HRA, the All American Bowl, the Arena Football League, each of those integrate into a total program of our sports marketing. We spend about eight percent of our advertising budget in that arena and we've shown, both statistically and in our return on investment, that it is a good investment. And I'm responsible for the taxpayer's dollar, and so I'm going to ensure that we're putting those resources to the best use possible.

COLLINS: Lieutenant General Dennis Cavin this morning, thanks so much, live from San Antonio.

And happy holidays to you, sir.

CAVIN: Well, thank you, Heidi, and happy holidays to you.

COLLINS: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 2, 2004 - 08:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Tens of thousands of soldiers who thought their tour of duty was about to end are now learning they are not going home anytime soon because there are not enough new soldiers to replace them. Meanwhile, are football games and NASCAR events the key to recruiting the next generation of soldiers?
Joining us now to talk about all of these things, Lieutenant General Dennis Cavin.

He is in San Antonio, Texas this morning, where the Army is sponsoring quite a recruitment event this weekend.

And, General, we'll get to that in just a moment.

Thanks for being with us.

I first want to talk a little bit about stop-loss.

As you probably know, earlier this week, the "Washington Post" reported that the Army recently blocked the retirement and departures of more than 40,000 troops.

Tell us what a stop-loss is and then how to continue to motivate people after they had planned to leave and then are not allowed to go.

LT. GEN. DENNIS CAVIN, U.S. ARMY: OK, Heidi, good morning.

Clearly, stop-loss in its simplest form is delaying the departure of an individual from the prescribed retirement date or the prescribed permanent change of station from what they expected to do. And what it's intended to do, clearly, is to provide the continuity, the constituency, the ability for units to execute their mission to the highest degree of effectiveness.

COLLINS: So how do you keep the motivation up and the attitude good once a soldier learns that, OK, I've been here for six months and now I'm not going home, as I thought I was?

CAVIN: Well, a great characteristic of all of our soldiers, whether they're active or reserve component, is their ability to recognize when the mission demands that they go beyond the normal expectations to achieve that mission. Is it a disappointment? I'm sure it is, particularly for the families back home. But this nation is at war. Our Army is at war. And in the end, I think each and every soldier understands when they're asked to step up to the plate, they'll do so and they'll do so in the magnificent manner that they've been doing over the past several years. COLLINS: Understood.

In your eyes, though, is the issue that recruitment is down or that the demand for troops is up or is it a bit of both?

CAVIN: Well, actually, in terms of the total recruitment, it's not down. The United States Army, both active and reserve components, right now is very successful in our recruiting. In the past year, we were all successful. And thus far this year, it looks extremely bright for our recruiting efforts.

There has been no increase yet in our mission and so right now we're pretty satisfied that we're succeeding in our mission. We're bringing in top quality young men and women who want to make a difference in life and they're doing that through service to their nation.

COLLINS: Well, let's talk a little bit about recruitment now. And I know this is where you get all excited because of something that's going on this weekend, the Army's All American High School Football Bowl this weekend at the Alamo Dome. This is the fourth time now that the Army has sponsored this event.

Does it really bring in good results for increasing those recruitment numbers?

CAVIN: Well, this is the fourth year for the All American Bowl. It's the third year that the Army has been the primary sponsor. And I'll tell you, we couldn't be more delighted with the results we're getting from the Bowl. When you can put the Army out front, if you will, with coaches, with parents, with the students themselves and the athletes themselves and in a light that portrays that the Army has -- is investing in America's youth in a dramatic way -- leadership, teamwork, all the characteristics that are ideal in what we find in our soldiers are ideal in these individual athletes that we see out here.

COLLINS: And, quickly, sir, I know that the Army also spends about $16 million on NASCAR sponsorships.

How important is sports marketing to all of this?

CAVIN: Well, sports marketing, both NASCAR and HRA, the All American Bowl, the Arena Football League, each of those integrate into a total program of our sports marketing. We spend about eight percent of our advertising budget in that arena and we've shown, both statistically and in our return on investment, that it is a good investment. And I'm responsible for the taxpayer's dollar, and so I'm going to ensure that we're putting those resources to the best use possible.

COLLINS: Lieutenant General Dennis Cavin this morning, thanks so much, live from San Antonio.

And happy holidays to you, sir.

CAVIN: Well, thank you, Heidi, and happy holidays to you.

COLLINS: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com