With Few Able and Fewer Willing, U.S. Military Can't Find Recruits

[Demovictory9]

These are tough times for military recruiting. Almost across the board, the armed forces are experiencing large shortfalls in enlistments this year — a deficit of thousands of entry-level troops that is on pace to be worse than any since just after the Vietnam War. It threatens to throw a wrench into the military’s machinery, leaving critical jobs unfilled and some platoons with too few people to function.



COVID-19 is part of the problem. Lockdowns during the pandemic have limited recruiters’ ability to forge bonds face to face with prospects. And the military’s vaccine mandate has kept some would-be troops away.

The current white-hot labor market, with many more jobs available than people to fill them, is also a factor, as rising civilian wages and benefits make military service less enticing.

But longer-term demographic trends are also taking a toll. Less than one-quarter of young American adults are physically fit to enlist and have no disqualifying criminal record, a proportion that has shrunk steadily in recent years. And shifting attitudes toward military service mean that now only about 1 in 10 young people say they would even consider it.

To try to counter those forces, the military has pushed enlistment bonuses as high as $50,000 and is offering “quick ship” cash of up to $10,000 for certain recruits who can leave for basic training in 30 days. To broaden the recruiting pool, the service branches have loosened their restrictions on neck tattoos and other standards. In June, the Army even briefly dropped its requirement for a high school diploma, before deciding that was a bad move and rescinding the change.


https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/us/us-military-recruiting-enlistment.html

[ck4829]

1. Good.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Not good.

1. The Military will lower their standards to preserve their numbers. No HS diploma or GED necessary.
2. A bastion for recruiting Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists. You learn how to fight, how to use a variety of weapons, military strategy, and stuff for when you are discharged.

[ck4829]

4. That ship has already sailed

The House has approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to compel government officials to prepare a report on combating white supremacists and neo-Nazi activity in the police and military, despite every Republican voting against the measure.

The "Schneider Amendment" called for the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Defense to publish a report that sets out ways to combat white supremacist and neo-Nazi activity in the uniformed services and law enforcement agencies "not later than 180 days after enactment and every 6 months thereafter."

Speaking on the House floor, Schneider noted how the U.S. has seen a surge in domestic extremist incidents, such as the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

He also highlighted a report published in May from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency entitled The Insider Threat and Extremist Activity Within the DoD, which detailed examples of military personnel being found to have held extremist views.

https://www.newsweek.com/gop-vote-nazi-white-supremacists-military-police-1724545

[jimfields33]

8. No way is this good

If we only had to protect the United States, we’d probably be ok, but we have to support the world. With a loss of military population, we could chose to leave Africa, korea, Germany of any other area we protect. Which would you choose?

[David__77]

12. "Support the world" is one way to put it.

That may not be sustainable.

[jimfields33]

15. There is nothing id like more then to leave all the foreign countries to fend for themselves

As you want as well. But unfortunately we’re stuck. We’re not even in Ukraine and we’ve spent close to a trillion (including equipment that we’ll have to replace). Unfortunately there will always be somewhere that we will have to support mostly with troops.

[uponit7771]

27. US has not spent a trillion in Ukraine inc equipment, who has been reporting that? thx in advance

[Kingofalldems]

32. Got a link on that trillion dollar number?

[TheProle]

39. Fact sheet quantifying US supprt

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3049483/fact-sheet-on-us-security-assistance-to-ukraine/

[Kingofalldems]

40. Where is trillion mentioned in that report?

Maybe I missed it.

[TheProle]

43. It's not. I was simply providing a reference

to clarify it so the discussion might be more productive.

I'm....sorry?

[JI7]

3. Interesting, this video had just showed up on my recommend on youtube yesterday

It's from 10 years ago and he talks about obesity problem in the US. He gave examples of what the armed forces did to make people more healthy but says it's a problem throughout the country that the military can't fix alone. He gives credit to Michelle Obama and some others trying to do things but we saw how much pushback she got from the FREEDUMB crowd .

Now think of how the Military does rescue operations in times of things like natural disasters and the worsening Climate Change we are facing . But FREEDUMB .

RIght Wingers really want to destroy this country .

&t=4s

[Bucky]

37. This came across my feed too.

Thank you for posting it. It was a shocking and inspiring watch

[Siwsan]

5. There was a shortage when I enlisted, years ago

They had shaved 2 weeks off of basic training to expedite getting people to duty stations. I got an immediate 2 place bump up in rank when I finished basic.

I don't, for a nano-second, regret enlisting. I'm a 'Cold War' veteran so there wasn't a lot of worry about combat. And I was in the Dental Corps. Medical/Dental personnel were, for the most part, pretty respected. Everyone on the base knew us - a lot of them knew us by name. Especially, for some reason, the Marines. I loved serving along side of them when I was in Iceland.

While I came to realize I wasn't cut out for a career in the Navy, I sure learned a lot about people, had 3 really nice duty stations (San Diego, Iceland and Philadelphia) and got to do some great traveling.

My nephew enlisted in the Air Force but as soon as tfg came to office, he decided it might be smart to return to civilian life. He's doing GREAT, due to the training he received during those 6 years. I couldn't be more proud of him. We are the only 2 remaining veterans in a family with a long history of serving.

[Freddie]

6. I can't imagine they're finding very many female volunteers

Risk your life for the country that just made you a second class citizen?

[RSherman]

10. I was thinking the same....

I hear reports of poor treatment of our veterans, homelessness, poor medical treatment, etc. Do people realize that LGBTQ, women, black and brown people, and immigrants are all veterans? But we horribly disrespect them. A Republican friend was ranting one day and made a comment about slavery ending 400 years ago. Really? She thinks that's what black people are upset about? Not the ensuing, to this day, mistreatment? Imagine being a black vet coming home from war in 1944. Maybe injured. Maybe saved a bunch of white soldiers. Due a medal that he did not get. Then he has to fight for TWENTY years for the right to sit at a lunch counter, to buy a home (redlined), for his children to use the public pool. To be respected and not called "Boy" when he walks down the street. Still fighting for basic human rights in 1964.

[Victor_c3]

7. I'm sure the 20-year-long global war of terror doesn't help recruiting either

I really don’t know if I’d do it all over again, but I served from 1997-2007. The army did a lot for me and made me who I am today, but my experiences in combat really sucked. Many aspects of my life have been completely destroyed as a result.

Maybe it took 20 years of Iraq and Afghanistan for the public to finally learn the lesson that we should have learned from Vietnam - that there is almost never a “just” war and our government will squander American lives for corporate profits whenever it thinks it can get away with it.

[Demovictory9]

34. Army brat here. Thank you for your service

[Thtwudbeme]

9. Bring back the draft

and up the GI bill.

[Kid Berwyn]

11. Weird!

Not, especially considering how when they see recruits who signed up to protect the USA are in the field in innumerable and largely unknown hot spots around the world making places safe for Wall Street.

Kids these days. Some even know “War is a Racket.”

https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

[Sky Jewels]

42. Bingo.

Who wants to die for Exxon?

[Wounded Bear]

13. It's hard to maintain an all volunteer military in good economic times...

Many recruits join the military due to a lack of other options re: employment and economic outlook.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Why don't all these angry militia males join the damn army?

They want to fight an enemy. Let them do it for the army.

[Amishman]

17. Because even they're smart enough to say no to Army pay

Like any other employment issue, if an employer cannot fill their openings either requirements are too high or pay is too low.

I think any rational person can see that requirements are not the problem. Given the sophistication of modern military equipment, we probably need higher standards if anything.

So that brings us to pay. Military service requires uprooting, submitting yourself to a rigid environment with strong discipline, and potentially risking your life. I can certainly see why young people are reluctant to do that when they have a decent shot at the same or better financial gain with a more conventional career with fewer sacrifices.

[Irish_Dem]

18. But they are willing to lose everything in their civilian life to act out violently.

They love fighting and killing so much they face jail time.

At least in the Army they would get paid to be violent.

[GregariousGroundhog]

31. Military Pay is actually pretty decent though

Someone would have to work 40 hours a week earning $9.77 an hour to exceed the base pay offered by the U.S. military. That increases to $11.85 at 6 months, $12.46 at 12 months, and $14.51 at 24 months. The military also covers housing and food on top of base pay though and so it a lot easier for a soldier to save and invest a significant portion of their salary than a civilian when we consider that a civilian is spending at least $5-6 an hour on food and rent. It's not inconceivable for a 22 year old who has spent four years in the military to have saved a quarter of their income and end up with $25,000 in their bank account.

Your comments about the frequent uprooting, rigid environment, strong need for self discipline and risk to life are all spot on though. Soldiers work until the job is done, and it may be in a desert or a jungle or snowfield half a world away. I doubt a pay boost will bring additional a significant number of people forward who are willing and capable of that kind of work.

[Victor_c3]

44. Also to add

As a 25-year-old Captain in the Army in 2005, my pay package was worth $87,000 once you added all the benefits together with base pay.

Nearly 20 years later, I’m sure most 25-year-olds outside of the military don’t make that much.

[Hugin]

19. The military doesn't want them...

To be effective a military needs discipline and people who can bravely distinguish and follow lawful orders.

Otherwise, you’ll end up with a spectacle like JanG or what is seen from the Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

Many of those militia types have already tried and been rejected.

[Irish_Dem]

20. So they can only pretend to be soldiers.

In horrific Army cosplay.

[Hugin]

22. There are clubs for that.

Nobody wants to be in a foxhole with these idiots.

[Irish_Dem]

23. Yes these guys are either stupid or sociopaths.

I wouldn't trust them one bit, especially with life or death issues.

[uponit7771]

16. K&R, more proof US is heading towards negative unemployment. 500k net US workers died or ...

... retired during the pandemic and haven't been replaced with higher birth rates.

Theory with some objtive data

[Hugin]

21. I was musing on that this morning...

When I read there was roughly 5m un-filled jobs. Which, could be argued is eerily close to the number of Americans who have been killed or disabled during the pandemic so far.

[uponit7771]

26. +1, and you can't just count the CV death numbers you have to count the deaths that were ...

... over the amount of deaths from the last 100 yrs plus CV deaths.

Not all deaths related to CV were counted, I bet the insurance companies that have

It looks like the most measurable factor is women haven't returned to the work force in pre pandemic numbers

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/07/13/five-ways-to-bring-women-back-into-the-workforce-after-a-career-break/?sh=78be26cb543c

[Hugin]

29. I should probably add "displaced" to the other two criteria.

Then, it really conforms.

[uponit7771]

30. yep, just saw on CNN UAE reporting staff shortages in NY being the biggest issue with airline ...

... baggage issues (not just pilots) for canceled flights and lost items.

Also on CNN truckers are having to wait longer because of fewer people working at terminals to unload.

One of the factors driving US inflation is the number of employed vs unemployed; people are spending because they have jobs but most of it is baseline naked corp greed.

Similar happened after the 1918 pandemic and one of the reasons it was called the roaring twenties cause the higher percentage of Americans that were employed.

US UE rate was 1.6% during the 20s !!!

https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/unemployment-levels#:~:text=To%20give%20a%20sense%20of%20the%20rapidity%20of%20the%20change%2C%20unemployment%20rates%20had%20been%20remarkably%20low%20throughout%20the%201920s%2C%20falling%20to%201.6%20percent%20in%201926%20and%20up%20to%20only%203.2%20percent%20in%201929

[Karma13612]

24. Not sure when, but at least 6-8 years ago I think,

There was a piece on NPR about recruitment of people for the military. They were concerned because they weren’t getting enuf good quality applicants. They weren’t meeting the minimum requirements on metrics like physical fitness, and scholastics.

It was very worrying back then and apparently much worse now!

[Demovictory9]

36. Too much ditting around playing video games

[greenjar_01]

25. Oh well

[usedtobedemgurl]

28. Bet repubs have screwed our military

With their announcements that Covid is nothing more than a flu. Long haul will also take a lot of folks off the board!

[maxsolomon]

33. Cut the Military Budget by 1/3.

nt

[Bucky]

35. Strong job market + obesity crisis

Conservatives will lament the declining physical health of American youth, but won't regulate giant food conglomerates to make them cut down on the sugars and preservatives that are fattening us.

[Baggies]

38. Since we're speculating

How many recruits come from Republican/conservative parts of the country? If it’s a significant amount, maybe they don’t want to serve a country they don’t believe in anymore. I say that based upon several pol sites and blogs I read that express such sentiments. Rome didn’t fall in a day.

[Sky Jewels]

41. A lot of young people have figured out that the U.S. military's main purpose

has nothing to do with "defending the homeland" or "fighting for freedom" (against impoverished brown people who apparently post a huge threat to our way of life ) and 99 percent to do with enriching corporate military contractors. There are a handful of exceptions to this rule since WWII (like the targeted raid on bin Laden), but most post-war U.S. military actions have been mass slaughters of innocents (Vietnam, Iraq, etc.). And then if soldiers get injured in the line of duty they mainly have to rely on private charities like Wounded Warriors to help them out, when really they should be getting lifelong care from the government. Who would want to join up?