In the news:
Mar 25, 2024 The Daily Signal
Army Seeks Retirees to Come Back to Work Amid Manpower Crisis
“Officials justified cutting 24,000 roles that had been left empty as the Army deals with its worst-ever recruiting crisis as helping ensure the service only plans to assign and deploy the people it has available, reducing strain and allowing for more realistic planning.”
Mar 23, 2024 American Faith
U.S. Army Releases ‘Utilization of the Army Retiree Recall Program’
“The retiree population will be utilized as a last resort to fill Active Component vacant requirements.”
Worst-Ever Recruiting Crisis?
Look for newspeople, four-star officers, high level DOD civilians and think tanks everywhere to ask zero questions Re: A US Dept. of Defense worst-ever track record with decades of undeclared/unwon wars.
Some will say it is time to bring back a draft.
They tried that during the Vietnam War. They found out they had to stop.
A Draft? – DOD Brand Has Been Wrecked
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the Pentagon specializes in undeclared/unwon wars.
Thousands of American families have now had a loved one in the regular or reserve US Armed Forces or National Guard who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.
That’s a lot of parents, grandparents, young people and veterans who have some idea about what it’s like to do time in uniform since the catastrophic military failure of 911.
Things are slow over at the US Armed Forces recruiting office.
A few years back, the US Army brought back WWII uniforms to remind us of a time before decades of undeclared/unwon wars stacked up and to stimulate a wave of new enlistments.
We were told we needed to send troops to Vietnam.
Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Some may have become skeptical along the way.
Watch and see what happens when young people stop showing up to enlist.
Reaction Mode
US Army is downsizing.
In the news:
Feb 27, 2024 Army Times
Army to slash thousands of jobs in major revamp for future wars
“The U.S. Army is slashing the size of its force by about 24,000, or almost 5%, and restructuring to be better able to fight the next major war, as the service struggles with recruiting shortfalls that made it impossible to bring in enough soldiers to fill all the jobs.”
US Navy is downsizing.
In the news:
Mar 31, 2024 Whidbey News-Times
“In response to an announcement from the Navy that details a large cut in the number of sailors next year, Whidbey’s chapter of the Military Officers Association sent letters to Congress pleading for reevaluation.”
Mar 29, 2024 Whidbey News-Times
Retired Navy officers speak out against force reduction
“I think if there’s enough outcry, they may revisit it,” said Terry Sparks, chapter president. “They’re already stretched beyond belief, and they just cut the resources and keep adding deployments to them. You can’t keep these ships going 100 miles an hour in every which direction and the maintenance coming to suffer.”
“Sparks claims this hasn’t been the case for the Whidbey base. His letter addresses the increase in deployments this year, reduced medical benefits and ongoing closures of services at Naval Air Station Whidbey, such as the packaging store, furniture store, food court, auto shop, marina, equipment rental shop, car wash, daycare and more.”
“There is a reason recruitment is down,” reads the letter. “The government used to try to take care of their military. This is no longer happening, and medical and squadron members are getting out at the end of their commitment. Is this a Navy you would want to be in? Please do anything you can to stop this madness and keep our country safe.”
“The change is a major impact on Navy families, he said, and if they don’t take care of the families, “all the good guys are going to get out.”
Made For TV
Various big companies will remind us that they support veterans and The Troops. Always wonder if any of those companies advocate for less in the way of undeclared/unwon wars. Do traditional veterans organizations advocate for less in the way of undeclared/unwon wars? Would a move in this direction attract more new members? Have any newspeople ever asked about this?
The All Volunteer Force era has been a time to tell the American people that US troops are sent to distant lands to defend American freedoms. This urban legend has run its course. People have seen enough now to know this is no more than a marketing strategy. Uniparty newspeople play along by not asking questions:
Both major parties are good with a land of the free holding pattern where 18-20 year old adults are seen as second class citizens.
Alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and firearms restrictions are in place for 18-20 year old adults.
Doesn’t seem to fit with a society that can’t stop bragging about freedom, thanking the troops for freedoms, fighting wars for freedoms, staging military jet flyovers at sporting events for freedom, etc.
Good luck with the big US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
Land Of The Free Holding Pattern
Related:
NATO Expansion – American Families
American Families and the US Armed Forces Recruiting Crisis
1980s Army College Fund – Dad Shows Support
Respect for The National Guard
America Deserves A Military Recruiting Crisis
Would any newsperson ever ask:
The country struggles with:
Below, are some random thoughts and questions newspeople will not ask. Our questions appear in bold type.
Possibly of interest:
Podcast 9 Defending The Constitution?
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