The regular Army, in a previously undisclosed move, lowered its recruiting target for May, but still came up about 25 percent short of the easier goal, officials said. Had it not lowered its target from 8,050 to 6,700 recruits for May, the Army would have missed its original goal by about 37 percent.

The Army National Guard is hanging on by its fingertips. Internal Guard documents tell the story: All 10 of its special forces units, all 147 military police units, 97 of 101 infantry units and 73 of 75 armor units cannot, because of past or current mobilizations, deploy again to a war zone without reinforcements. "One can conclude," said Brig. Gen. Bill Libby, commander of the Maine National Guard, "that we're going to run out of soldiers."

Commanders concerned for their careers have not thought it prudent to say publicly what many say privately: that with U.S. troop levels 139,000 now they have been forced to play an infernal board game, constantly shuttling combat units from one war zone to another, leaving insurgent buildups unmet in some places while they deal with more urgent problems elsewhere.

The Army's needs are real, but the measures it's using are not only unlikely to fix the problem, but can be a mistake that will hurt the military for several decades to come, argues Edwards, who retired from the Army in 1997 after 37 years of service, including two tours in Vietnam.

PMFs are businesses that provide governments with professional services intricately linked to warfare; they represent, in other words, the corporate evolution of the age-old profession of mercenaries. Unlike the individual dogs of war of the past, however, PMFs are corporate bodies that offer a wide range of services, from tactical combat operations and strategic planning to logistical support and technical assistance.

The U.S. Army, facing recruiting woes and a reorganized force, will relax requirements for new officers, welcoming older candidates and allowing more tolerance of past minor crimes, officials said on Thursday.

The Army wants to double the top cash bonus for new recruits to $40,000 in an effort to stem a continued recruiting shortfall in the midst of the Iraq war.As another incentive, the Army is proposing a pilot program to provide up to $50,000 in home mortgage help for recruits who sign up for eight years of active duty, Lt. Col. Thomas Collins said in an interview Thursday. Congress must approve both plans.

"It's like having a persistent drought," said Daniel Goure, a military analyst at the private Lexington Institute. "At some point when you have drought conditions you have to institute water rationing, and that's what you potentially face in the military if it goes on long enough. You would get to a stage where you don't have enough people to staff your organizations."

Most senior officers recognize that Bush's adventure in Iraq has put the military in a precarious state. Not only have retired officers, such as the former commander of the U.S. Central Command, Maj. Gen. Anthony Zinni, been the most outspoken critics of the war, but even serving officers have voiced subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle warnings about both the prospects for success in Iraq and the implications of being tied down there indefinitely.

Since 1987, at Congress' request, Selective Service has had a plan to register male and female health care workers ages 20 to 45 in more than 60 medical specialties. More recently, the agency has talked about reinventing itself by registering professionals whose expertise could be helpful in an emergency.