We love Ralph Peters at NR, and when I saw his op-ed in the New York Post, I thought it had the makings of a big story. Peters reported that Army recruiting, including Army Reserve and Army National Guard recruiting, is currently ahead of targets for the year-to-date.

However, at the same time, Fox News was reporting that a top general in the Army had said that the Army would probably miss its year-to-date goals — as opposed to what you hear in the media, it’s largely because of the strong economy offering alternatives, as well as because the Army raised its goals this year. Because Peters’ account and Fox’s account differed, I wondered who had the real story.

I spoke with Peters, and it turns out he was most likely the victim of a bureaucratic mix-up. The year-to-date numbers are here. According to a Pentagon spokesman, Peters apparently got the overall Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard re-enlistment numbers instead of the first-time enlistment numbers. In other words, the re-enlistment rates for those three organizations are 108 percent, 102 percent, and 106 percent respectively.

This is the good news that gets lost in the media coverage of Army recruitment: Re-enlistment rates are exceeding expectations — especially among combat divisions, where faith in the mission remains strong. So far, media focus remains on the first-time enlistment goals, and all too often the shortfall is attributed to a lack of faith in the President rather than the economy or higher Army goals. The media should be doing a better job of reporting on the patriotism of the soldiers who are re-enlisting at rates that are exceeding expectations. Far from being “war victims,” as Cindy Sheehan calls them, they are soldiers who believe in their mission.