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| -Great Cultural Revolution | |
| Darrell Issa accuses Biden DOD of moving goalposts to hide scale of recruiting crisis | |
| 2022-10-11 | |
| [FoxNews] The Department of Defense (DOD) denied an accusation of cooking its books on military recruitment numbers after the Pentagon released its most recent numbers. The office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who served in the Army as a captain, accused the DOD of manipulating its recruitment numbers to appear to be meeting goals by lowering the numbers branches need to hit. "The Pentagon is facing a self-inflicted crisis it can’t spin its way out of," Issa said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "It’s impacting mission, manpower, and morale, and the current Commander in Chief is most to blame." "I served as a Lieutenant during President Carter, when our Army was demoralized. I was also a Captain during President Reagan, when we felt vigor, pride, and purpose," Issa continued. "Biden - like Carter - is the leader our soldiers and recruits don’t want to follow," he added. Issa said the "lack of a denial from the Pentagon speaks loudly to the truth that my staff uncovered with the aid of whistleblowers." "I cannot and will not stand by while soldiers who trust me bring forward the truth about what’s happening to our military," he continued. Issa's office told Fox News Digital they have been digging into the personnel numbers and speaking with sources about the declining military manpower. The congressman's office also pointed to August 2021, during Biden's disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the beginning of the personnel decline. A source with extensive knowledge of current military practice, who requested anonymity to avoid professional repercussions, spoke to Fox News Digital after the DOD released their latest round of recruitment numbers that saw less than robust numbers and a shortfall in Army recruits. The source says the numbers are not accurate and accused the DOD of shifting recruitment goalposts when it became clear branches would not meet their intake goals. "The DOD, the Pentagon, knew that they weren't going to meet their number the first quarter. They didn't. They had no one," the source said. "And then around February and March, they started a message that they were going to reduce the force combat missions that ended, obviously, in Afghanistan." "They did it in Iraq in December," they continued. "There's less deployments." The source said that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has the authority to raise or lower the total fighting force by "3 percent, give or take and what incurs a cost" before congressional authorization is required to go higher or lower. "So they started messaging that they're going to reduce the costs and that's the shifting of the goalposts," the source said. "And you started seeing that in February and March of this year." The source also cited the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate, subsequent firings and freezing out of service members who refuse the vaccine or are awaiting religious exemption as another reason for the recruitment decline. "It’s crushed morale, crushed unit cohesion, crushed camaraderie," the source said. The source added that, with the war in Ukraine and China’s rising global influence, "it's a dangerous time to reduce military forces." Commander Nicole Schwegman, a Pentagon spokesperson, denied the DOD was manipulating recruitment numbers but simultaneously said the branches will adjust their goals based on how many people they are retaining and cutting along in addition with "attrition." "The Department does not manipulate military recruiting data," Schwegman said. "As part of achieving their End-strength objectives, the Services set their own recruitment goals and will make adjustment to those goals based upon Service retention rates, separation rates, and attrition." Fox News Digital also asked the Pentagon if the DOD believes policies like the COVID-19 vaccine mandate or recommending Army soldiers go on food stamps to deal with inflation are contributing to the recruitment decline. The DOD did not answer the question and instead blamed a multitude of other reasons for the decline in military recruitment. The shortfall has caused speculation that the military may have to restructure itself and adjust to the reality that its current recruiting goals are not attainable. Leaders will also be forced to lean more heavily on National Guard and Reserve troops if recruiting numbers fail to rebound.
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| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #6 It must be pretty tough to recruit when the administration has declared all your potential recruits to be insurrectionists and purged all their brothers for vac refusals. I wouldn’t like my chances to win the knife set. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2022-10-11 09:17 |
| #5 And no one is talking retention. My guess the center of the pyramid is dissolving. By law after 10 years from the date of entrance on active duty they can not be recalled. That is experience you are never going to make up nor can it be made up with 90 day wonders. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-10-11 08:22 |
| #4 Well, things just seem a bit weird after the advent of U.S. Space Force. And I'm not sure I'm over the peace-time subordination of the Coast Guard under DHS. Blah. But "right-wing" extremism in the military ranks. Uh, yeah. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2022-10-11 06:46 |
| #3 Historically, Red State people and their notions of patriotism, duty, honor, and fidelity have permeated the military. Following their service, some run for public office and oftentimes win. These people must be purged. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-10-11 06:38 |
| #2 ...Sadly, this doesn't surprise me one tiny little bit. When I recruited for the USAF 30 years ago, I saw flatly illegal things being done on a regular basis - not to get unqualified individuals in, but to make sure minority quotas (illegal as Hell) were met. Mike |
| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2022-10-11 06:33 |
| #1 LOL they cooked the books on progress in Afghanistan for decades! They're experts at the craft. Nobody went to prison for it. The whole idea of the Biden regime is to purge the military of right wingers because they're planning some shit that will require that the Army sit down and not interfere, when it clearly must. We are a dangerous threat to the DC blob, and will be dealt with harshly. |
| Posted by: Spike the Hairy6811 2022-10-11 03:26 |