In the news:
October 13, 2023 Military.com
Blaming COVID:
“When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, all the military services faced short-term headwinds when their in-person presence was limited at high schools and public events.”
“… ineligibility of many young Americans to serve…”
“…only 23% of American youth are eligible to serve due to being overweight, using drugs, or having mental and physical health problems.”
Hey four-star officers, high level DOD civilians, policy think tanks and newspeople everywhere:
Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic young Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist.
“Being thrown off balance by COVID, I do think it threw them off their equilibrium,” Katherine Kuzminski, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank who specializes in military recruiting, told Military.com. “I think this was the last year that they could truly claim that inability to access students on high school and college campuses is what is throwing the overall recruiting environment.”
“It was a similarly dire situation for the Air National Guard, which filled 7,120 of the 11,745 spots needed for its enlisted Guardsmen, or nearly 40% short.”
Glimmer of Honesty
From comments:
Oct 9, 2023 Defense News
Exclusive: The inside story of how the Army rethought recruiting
By Davis Winkie
“…the falling percentage of veterans, who are traditionally the most influential and trusted advocates for military service among the U.S. population.”
Code speak for: The WWII Generation is gone now. They would encourage young people to sign up back in the late 70s/early 80s. Today, families know a veteran who did one or more tours in Iraq, Afghanistan or some other location where the US engaged in hostilities (undeclared/unwon wars) sometime over the past 30 years or so. These families/veterans know what to expect. They’re not into it. This is what they pass on to young friends and relatives.
My Take
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
Understandable why young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
1969 – Man On The Moon
2023 – Military barracks inside the US that are unfit to live in.
More DOD funding than ever and here is what you get:
Sept 25, 2023 MOAA
Military Barracks Blasted Over Horrid Living Conditions, Lack of Accountability
“The GAO concluded that leaders at the Pentagon are not only failing to provide oversight — instead choosing to largely punt the issue to the branches — but they also don’t consider it a priority. The result has been bureaucratic finger-pointing, with no one office or leader willing to own the issue.”
Anybody fired over this?
Oct 15, 2023 Task & Purpose
Army general says moldy barracks are a ‘discipline problem’
WWII costume reminds us of a time before decades of undeclared/unwon wars stacked up.
The Department of Defense track record goes back to 1949.
Currently serving four-star officers and high level DOD civilians have been associated with what wars won by the US?
The US Dept of Defense spent the last 30 years squandering prestige and credibility overseas and at home.
Some Americans may be asking:
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
Has dressing women to look like men had any positive or negative impact on recruiting?
The honest part of American culture: Sports
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Any college or pro football coach would have been fired a dozen times over for what DOD has done with the US Armed Forces during the fake GWOT era.
Fake GWOT?
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was invented after the catastrophic military failure of 911. The idea was to keep bad people from coming to the US to do bad things/attempt another 911, etc.
Wouldn’t the giant War on Terror be a cartel drug trafficker’s worst nightmare?
Look for newspeople to avoid asking questions in this area.
Go ask the families who had a loved one in the National Guard:
The people of Minnesota need more applicants to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Any members of the press ever available to show up and ask why the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Here is a story from KPNX TV that was posted about two weeks ago:
400 Arizona National Guard soldiers prepare for deployment ahead of potential government shutdown
“Their families and loved ones gathered at the arena too, seeing members of the 158th Infantry Regiment off before their ten month deployment to parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as part of Operation Spartan Shield.”
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
These families have stories to tell. Will their stories generate enthusiasm to enlist?
Related:
A Draft? – DOD Brand Has Been Wrecked
Armed Forces Recruiting Crisis Update
Uniparty No Good For Confidence in US Armed Forces?
Over at the US Armed Forces recruiting office
Random Thoughts – Recruiting Crisis
Hostile Forces in Distant Lands
America Deserves A Military Recruiting Crisis
The country struggles with:
Possibly of interest:
Below, are some random thoughts and questions newspeople will not ask. Our questions appear in bold type.
How Do The Troops Defend The Constitution?
Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in these areas.
Photo-
Something from the last century