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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Army Reducing Its Numbers in Face of Recruiting Difficulties |
| 2022-03-31 |
| So failing recruiting gives positive performance? [Breitbart] The Army this week admitted it was having problems recruiting and announced an unprecedented reduction in its numbers that would shrink the active duty Army to its smallest size since World War II. “We’re facing, obviously, some challenging conditions in terms of our ability to recruit and attract talent,” Under Secretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo said at a press conference on Monday. Camarillo blamed a “very tight labor market” for the Army’s recruiting woes. “What we’re just seeing is given the particular conditions of a very tight labor market, our ability to meet all of our projected recruiting goals were a little bit challenged in FY ’22 and FY ’23,” he said. Camarillo said the Army’s end strength, or total number of forces, would go from 485,000 soldiers currently to 476,000 in fiscal year 2022, which ends in September, and further down to 473,000 in fiscal year 2023. He said the Army decided on reducing its recruitment goals instead of lowering standards. “We made the assessment that we would not want to adjust our specific criteria for quality,” he said. “And so, we made the decision to just temporarily reduce end strength, as opposed to lowering our standards.” He added that the Army hoped to build back its numbers over the next five years. “We don’t anticipate that it is a lasting change,” Camarillo said. “It is something that we hope to bring back up over the course of the fight up. And it’s something that we certainly think is reflective of what we hope to be transient conditions in the labor market.” Retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, called the situation unprecedented. “The Army has not faced such recruiting headwinds in the last 30 years. I am unaware of a situation where the Army has cut its end strength in response to a negative recruiting outlook,” he said. Spoehr also attributed the decision to the Biden Administration keeping the Army budget below inflation. “If the Biden administration was not holding the Army’s budget below the level of inflation, I am not sure they would have had to resort to cutting their end strength,” he said. The reduction would bring the Army to its smallest since 1940, according to Military Times. Spoehr said the Army’s decision would make units less capable: The Army has said that rather than reduce the number of units, they will instead man units at a lower level. So, the Army’s companies and battalions, rather than being manned at say 95-100%, with this end strength cut, the Army may only be able to fill them to a 90% level. That means less capable units. The recruiting difficulties come as the Army has begun discharging soldiers not complying with the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate. More than 4,000 requested a religious exemption, but only two were granted, according to recent Army statistics. An additional 2,735 soldiers have refused. The difficulties are also despite the Army last year launching animated recruitment advertisements that highlighted women, minorities, immigrants, and the LGBT community, as previously reported by Breitbart News. Spoehr called the Army’s recruiting difficulties “a perfect storm, all hitting in 2022.” First, he said fewer and fewer individuals even qualify to enlist. He said: The biggest disqualifying factors are obesity, fitness and mental health issues. This should not come as a surprise. Obesity in America, including among youth, continues to increase. More and more youth are being treated for mental health issues and being prescribed psychotropic drugs for treatment. Current numbers coming out of the Pentagon are that the percentage of individuals qualified to enlist without a waiver has dropped from 29% in 2016 to less than 25% in 2022. Second, he said fewer and fewer individuals are interested in joining the military, also in part thanks to the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal: There are economic reasons for this, many companies are now offering more generous compensation packages that include college tuition to graduating high school seniors. There are lots of jobs available now. And over time American society has placed less and less value on the idea of public service. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has also caused some to question our military and their competence. Finally, he cited the perception that the military is becoming “woke.” “There is a sense among the American public that the military is becoming increasingly political and that topics such as race and gender equity, critical race theory, and wokeism in general are commanding more attention, at the cost of readiness,” he said. Public polls have backed up that assessment. Earlier this year, a Gallup poll showed that the public view of military leaders has dropped, and a Ronald Reagan Institute poll last year showed that high confidence in the military has dropped. Spoehr added: “I should note that it is my assessment that for the first time ever, it may turn out that none of the military services will make their recruiting goals for 2022. The Air Force in particular is sounding the alarm.” |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #19 In part, it is my observation that they are becoming more selective (In order to do their best in keeping some semblance of military efficacy and cohesion?). |
| Posted by: Anomalous Sources 2022-03-31 22:19 |
| #18 We're back to 1975 in that sense, with no Reagan in sight. DeSantis? |
| Posted by: Unineck Johnson1766 2022-03-31 15:31 |
| #17 Maybe they should concentrate on recruiting transgenders/potential transgenders. There sure seem to be a lot of them these days. /sarcasm |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2022-03-31 13:38 |
| #16 Something ain't right here I just can't figure out what it is. RAND has probably told the brass they don't have a prayer of hitting their numbers given the perfect shitstorm of all the damaging stuff Biden has done to American society. Before the Biden wrecking ball they were already in deep do-do because of the sorry state of our youts: to fat, too dumb, too medicated and too many criminals. But now even the best and most patriotic kids want nothing to do with a US military that keeps losing and promoting losers. No decent and ambitious person would want to sign up for Milley and Austin's traveling freak show. We're back to 1975 in that sense, with no Reagan in sight. Five years minimum before we get out of the hole we're in |
| Posted by: Cheans Hatrack3321 2022-03-31 13:25 |
| #15 ^ The old days, when "atheists in foxholes" was the main worry. Good times. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-31 13:18 |
| #14 If they have to tell you not to drop the soap in the shower... |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-03-31 13:03 |
| #13 Same reason there are 5 million more unfilled jobs than unemployed people in the US today. If you don't feel a need to be a clerk at Dollar General because Uncle Sugar will pay you to stay home, why would you sign up for a hitch in any branch of the armed services? |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-31 12:56 |
| #12 they want to weaken the military Mike, most people I know who were in/active don't want to deal with the bullshit of wokeism or the vax. Just another part of the lefts agenda to weaken us as a nation. |
| Posted by: Chris 2022-03-31 12:54 |
| #11 ...What's interesting to this former recruiter (USAF, 89-93) is that they cut the numbers. USAF Recruiting Service was flatly homicidal when it came to the numbers, and the other services were worse. You NEVER cut the numbers - drive the recruiters to drink, divorce, career destruction, breakdown and suicide, but you NEVER cut the numbers. Something ain't right here. I just can't figure out what it is. |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2022-03-31 12:45 |
| #10 %20Propensity%20to%20Serve%20in%20Armed%20Forces.pdf |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-03-31 12:40 |
| #9 Take a look at the DoD Office of Diversity Issue Paper on Propensity to Serve if you want to see it broken down with a Diversity and Gender Focus. YJCMTSU! PDF: Propensity to serve in Armed Forces
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| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2022-03-31 12:28 |
| #8 Transitory then ? Yeah - like "transitory" inflation |
| Posted by: Dopey Elmoluter3767 2022-03-31 12:09 |
| #7 the Army last year launching animated recruitment advertisements "Dad I'm studying for the avsab..." "I did not raise you to be some kind of pervert!" |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2022-03-31 12:06 |
| #6 Liberalism and their Social This or That causes, does not attract warriors. Doubt it? look at the results of Liberalization of the Dutch Army 20 years ago what they have now? |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2022-03-31 11:59 |
| #5 “We don’t anticipate that it is a lasting change,” Camarillo said. “It is something that we hope to bring back up over the course of the fight up. And it’s something that we certainly think is reflective of what we hope to be transient conditions in the labor market.” Transitory then ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-03-31 11:55 |
| #4 Who wouldn't want to serve under CiC Biden, Lloyd Austin and "White Rage" Milley? .. and to be left in the lurch in Afghanistan, or be called up to fight a nuclear war over another pointless shithole country that doesn't concern us at all |
| Posted by: Dopey Elmoluter3767 2022-03-31 11:50 |
| #3 Who wouldn't want to serve under CiC Biden, Lloyd Austin and "White Rage" Milley? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-03-31 11:20 |
| #2 "There is a sense among the American public that the military is becoming increasingly political and that topics such as race and gender equity, critical race theory, and wokeism in general are commanding more attention, at the cost of readiness,” he said. Ya don't say... |
| Posted by: Sonny tse Tung6664 2022-03-31 10:53 |
| #1 “very tight labor market” Among the woke. When you abandoned the traditional source of recruits by calling them white supremacists, your appeal became more selective. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-31 10:20 |