The Pentagon’s top leaders are now scrambling for ways to find new recruits to fill out the ranks of the all-volunteer military. Woke policies are key to dwindling recruit numbers in all branches of the service.
Being a successful military recruiter at times can be difficult, especially over the last couple of years due to inept leadership and woke policies. This has led to a poor recruitment environment not seen since the Vietnam War ended. All branches of the military are currently well under their projected recruitment goals, despite generous enlistment bonuses.
The Army raised its maximum enlistment bonus from $40,000 to $50,000, and now offers new recruits up to $10,000 for showing up to basic training in 30 days. The Navy is right in step with the Army, offering incentives of up to $50,000 to qualified recruits depending upon the program and position sought. Even the Air Force, which usually never offers enlistment incentives due to receiving ample applicants, is seeing warning signs in their recruitment efforts.
One reason given for lower recruitment numbers is the lingering effect of Covid. “We spend a lot of time dealing with high schools and colleges, but when all those major institutions went to remote classes, then of course that impacted our ability to be able to get in and connect with our young men and women” said Major General Kevin Vereen, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
Covid isn’t the only obstacle to gaining worthy recruits. Obesity, criminal records, cultural changes, and competition have not helped either.
The growing sedentary lifestyle of young Americans has led to an obesity crisis. “Overweight and obesity among active-duty service members has risen 73% between 2011 and 2015. These individuals are less likely to be medically ready to deploy,” according to a CDC report.
In a market with labor shortages, businesses and corporations are competing for young Americans as well, offering bonuses and incentives to potential employees.
Then, last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver to join, down from 29% in recent years.
But all of this is just ground clutter for the recruitment process, as the gorilla in the room is the woke agenda now infecting our military.
The Army recently ran anime lesbian wedding ads, which is pushing away the recruits it needs, young patriotic men and women from traditional backgrounds. Then you have the mandatory transgender pronoun training presentation “Policy on the Military Service of Transgender Persons and Persons with Gender Dysphoria,” which is part of a larger push by the Biden administration to make the military more welcoming to transgender people. “The Army allows transgender soldiers to serve openly,” states the presentation, which is tailored for Army commanders and leaders. “An otherwise qualified soldier shall not be involuntarily separated, discharged, or denied reenlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity.”
It seems as though the Army has stopped worrying about winning wars and is instead working to establish the “Army as a global leader in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” To add insult to injury, even though the Army can’t garner enough recruits even after offering everything woke, it has been kicking out unvaccinated soldiers.
Earlier this year, the Army reported that commanders had “relieved a total of six Regular Army leaders, including two battalion commanders, and issued 3,073 general officer written reprimands to Soldiers for refusing the vaccination order.” As of June, 60,000 Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers were unvaccinated (approximately 10 percent of the Army Reserve, and 13 percent of the National Guard, according to AP and The Washington Post).
“Army readiness depends on soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth claimed. “Unvaccinated soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness.”
It is apparent to this writer that the issue at hand is truly leadership. Trust is important, especially if you are placing your life on the line to defend our country as a soldier, airman, sailor, or Marine. Honesty paves the way for trust. Trust and honesty lay the cornerstone for respect. The Biden administration’s idea of leadership and trust in our military is reflected more in their pan-global progressive ideology and morally bankrupt social experiments than providing for basic obligations to train and groom new successful military recruits.
Our military today is failing to meet its recruiting goals because it has failed to earn the trust of normal Americans who would otherwise be inclined to volunteer.
David Kelly is a self-taught, life learner who enjoys research and writing on politics, history and economics.
