In The News
Indiana National Guard hopes active duty, tuition help bill can stanch enlistment losses
Story by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle Mar 6, 2025
“The force recorded a whopping 38% decline in enlistments from 2019 to 2023, Muennich told a Senate panel on Tuesday. And 77% of Hoosier youth aren’t qualified for service, whether because of education levels, medical standards, criminal history or other reasons.”
The Oak Bay Starfish take:
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis. Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office? Any questions from newspeople?
National Guard recruiting would be tricky.
Recruiters are looking for people who will need 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.
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.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
The people of Alaska need services in the Middle East
More News
The people of Arizona need services in distant lands:
National guard company gets big send-off ceremony before deployment to Germany
ABC 15 News By: Adam Klepp Mar 09, 2025
“In a big celebration for Valley heroes, over 100 members of the 3666th Support Maintenance Company began a year-long deployment on Sunday.”
Notice how the press awards the title Hero to all who are members of the unit.
During the Vietnam War, US troops were sent to Vietnam.
Today, the Ohio National Guard is sent to “support Operation Spartan Shield and Operation Inherent Resolve.”
More news:
Michigan Army National Guard to deploy troops in Middle East
By Wells Foster WNEM Mar 4, 2025
“Soldiers with the Michigan Army National Guard’s 745th Ordnance Company in Grayling will be deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Spartan Shield.”
The people of Virginia needed services in Tajikistan:
VNG conducts officer and NCO development exchange in Tajikistan
Feb 25, 2025 By Staff Reports | Virginia National Guard Public Affairs
Connecticut National Guard – Feb. 27, 2025
MEDIA ADVISORY: Connecticut National Guard Soldiers & Airmen to deploy in joint send off
“These Guardsmen will provide logistical, mechanical, and mission support to forces deployed within various global combatant commands supporting of Operations Spartan Shield, Inherent Resolve, and Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa.”