The US Military Has a Recruitment Crisis
Shared By Peter Boykin – American Political Commentator / Citizen Journalist
The US Military Has a Recruitment Crisis
The U.S. military is facing a recruitment crisis, and it’s influenced led by veterans steering their families away.
Let’s talk numbers: No matter how you slice it, it doesn’t look good.
This year:
U.S. Army expects to fall 15,000 short of its 65,000 recruitment goal
U.S. Navy expects to be 10,000 recruits shy of its 38,000 goal
U.S. Air Force expects to be 3,000 recruits shy of its 27,000 goal
U.S. Marines expect to hit their target goals but describe recruitment as challenging.
What are young people saying? According to Pentagon data, only 9% of people aged 16-21 said they are considering military service. That’s down from 13% pre-pandemic.
Where’s the disconnect? According to Admiral Mike Mullen: “Influencers are not telling them to go into the military. Moms and dads, uncles, coaches, and pastors don’t see it as a good choice.”
Veteran recruitment: Nearly 80% of today’s Army recruits have a family member who served. But issues such as embracing policies critical race theory, vaccine mandates, high rates of PTSD, and over two decades in the Middle East capped off with a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 have left veterans disenfranchised.
Catalina Gasper, a Navy veteran who was badly injured by the Taliban in Iraq, says she and her husband, an Army veteran, used to talk to their young boys about joining the service. But after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, she was left asking: “What was it all for?”
Casper said she will do everything in her power to make sure her kids never join the military, saying: “the machine keeps chewing up and spitting out” our young servicemembers.
As we struggle with recruitment, China has amassed a military with roughly 2 million members serving. The U.S. has under 1.4 million.
[Source: WSJ, Go Right News]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/military-recruiting-crisis-veterans-dont-want-their-children-to-join-510e1a25
