The US Military Is Not Meeting Its Recruitment Goals: How Will We Defend This Country with a Downsized Military?

For well over 250 years Americans have answered the call to arms to protect and defend this great country of ours and its way of life. Everytime a crisis has occurred that has threatened this nation, Americans of all races and ethnicities have joined together to either drive out the invaders or have gone to war with other like minded freedom loving nations to eliminate the common threat. This tradition is now at risk. Recruitment goals in all branches of the military are not being met.



This tradition of joining the military to either fight for this country in time of war or with the intent of simply serving one’s country in peacetime has always been considered a matter of “duty to country.” Many of those who have signed up to serve were not thrilled with the prospect of having their lives disrupted but they still volunteered and served their country. They did it with the intent of giving something back to a country that has given so much to them.



This sense of honor and duty changed during the VietNam era due to the unpopularity of that conflict. It did return, however, during the Iraq War and especially after 9/11.



Today that attitude of service to the country is again on the wane. The cause for this is not what you would expect. The reasons for not serving in the military today have nothing to do with not having a sense of duty to one’s country or with reasons of conscience about killing someone on the battlefield. The reason that young people are not volunteering for military service is that the majority of young people have been deemed ineligible for military service. According to General James McConville only 23% of people aged 17 to 24 are eligible to serve in the military. The reasons for this are because many are former or current drug users or have criminal records.  The other reason why these people are ineligible is that many of them are considered obese.



Obesity has become such a problem in America that even Bill Maher brought up this issue on his HBO program “Real Time.” Also, according to the CDC 40% of all Americans are considered to be obese. We have become a nation of gluttons. What a sad state our country and its citizens are in. In addition to being druggies and criminals we are now also fat and lazy. America is primed for the slaughter. What does this say about the parents of these children and America overall.



It is a serious long term problem for our country when only 23% of people aged 17 t0 24 are deemed suitable for military service. As if that statistic wasn’t bad enough, of that 23% only 9% actually volunteer to serve. If you were to do the math, you would find that only 2% of that total age group actually wind up volunteering for military service. This is a pitiful response when you consider the benefits one has just by virtue of living here.Talk about a road that goes just one way. Is this the best that we can expect from our young people? If this trend were to continue America could find itself with a second rate military. The greatest, most powerful military in the world would be no more. 



The issues discussed above are the most significant reasons why our military is failing to meet its recruitment quotas. Other issues that are causing enlistments to decline are the challenges that come with being in the military. Right up at the top of the list is low pay. This is especially significant for military personnel with families. This issue has become an even larger problem because of the inflationary pressures that are currently raging across the US.



Another major issue that is pretty much unique to the military is the very real possibility of an extended tour of duty away from home. More often than not these duty stations are located either in a different area of the US or somewhere completely out of the country. This type of duty can result in long periods of separation from one’s family. In many cases spouses and children are forced to relocate near family so as not to be completely on their own. This is a huge inconvenience to say the least. Being away from one’s family for an extended period of time can cause substantial hardship on the family, especially the children.



Being transferred to another duty station, either here in the states or abroad means packing up and moving your family back to your hometown or to your new duty station. This can be very stressful if the spouse is forced to do the packing and manage the move with the moving company on their own. This is especially difficult for career military personnel and their families who over the course of a twenty or thirty year career may have to move their families numerous times. 



With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic another issue has come up which could result in roughly 100K active duty servicemen and women being discharged from the military. At issue is the refusal of these dedicated men and women to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Many of those included in this group are career military.



These military personnel have been put on notice that unless they submit to being vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus, they could face the possibility of being discharged from military service. At this point every member of the military that is forced out puts our military at greater risk.




What makes this particular issue more of a problem is that, as I wrote above, many of these personnel are career oriented service members. This means that the military will not only lose a warm body, but also the years of experience that each of these service members will take with them when they depart from the service. Many of these people are officers and NCO’s who are the backbone of the military. These are the people who actually make the military function.




It is my belief that many of these 100K were planning to make the military their career. To do this they would have to serve at least the minimum number of years, which I believe is 20, in order to be eligible for a military pension. If they were to be discharged before reaching the minimum number of years needed to retire, they would lose their pension and any other benefits such as healthcare that they would be entitled to upon retirement. Since all branches of the military are experiencing difficulty in meeting recruitment goals, discharging this many personnel will only exacerbate the problem.




What an injustice to those who chose to serve their country and make the military their career. These men and women deserve better than this. Is this really the best our country has to  offer them? Instead of being threatened, degraded, abused, and discarded, they should be honored for their devotion to duty and their sacrifice. More importantly they should be thanked.




The ideology of “wokeness” has become a serious threat to the mindset of our military. It is diverting the attention of our servicemen and women, especially the younger enlistees, from their mission which is to defend the United States “ from all enemies foreign and domestic.“ Their attention instead is being focused on this “ woke nonsense “ of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This propaganda is spreading throughout our military and creating disciplinary problems at all levels. This tendency for younger members of the military to become “woke“ is being brought to light by veterans who made the military their career or by those who served just one tour of duty and went home. Their consensus is that the “woke“ attitude in today’s younger service members is hurting military discipline and readiness.




This “wokeness “ is not just showing up in this younger generation of recruits. It is being pushed by the civilian leadership in the current Presidential Administration as well as some of our elected leaders in Congress. There is also an element within the upper echelons of military command that supports this nonsense. It has recently become mandatory for all members of the US military to attend classes on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I’m sure these classes will be invaluable when fighting our next military conflict.




We can explain to our adversary, whoever that might be, that we are not their enemy, and also that we are not looking to fight. We can tell them that we are only interested in being more diverse, more equitable, and more inclusive. I am sure that once our enemies become aware of our true intentions, they will lay down their arms and join us. This will of course happen. Who could possibly turn down an offer like that? At this point the world will become a Utopian paradise and all will be at peace in the universe.




This type of attitude will get our young men and women slaughtered. Let us hope that they are smart enough to keep their rifles up and their heads down.





The US along with the rest of the free world is at risk. We have not been in such a dangerous situation since WW2. Even though the US and its NATO allies do not have boots on the ground in Ukraine we are up to our necks in that conflict. Along with our NATO allies we have sent billions in military aid to Ukraine. If Russia were to prevail it would, at some point, open the door for Russia to move on to the Balkans or possibly even Finland. The Balkans are NATO allies and the Finish are in the process of becoming NATO allies. If any of the named above countries were to be attacked, NATO would have no choice other than to respond. This would be the trigger that sets off WW3.




Communist China is also in the mix. They are on the verge of invading Taiwan. The US and China came exceedingly close to an armed conflict during the “historic” visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. As it turned out China was just saber rattling but it could have just as easily degraded into a serious military confrontation. Either way a second front could have opened in that region spreading our military resources and our economic resources even thinner.





Iran is another problem area that the US and its allies might someday have to confront. In addition to its regular military forces, Iran has a large number of proxy fighters throughout the Middle East. This adds another dimension to the threat posed by the Iranians. 





As long as Iran is content to pursue the use of proxy fighters only, the threat posed by that country is minimal. However, if Iran were to attack one or more of its neighbors with its regular military forces, the US could quite possibly be drawn into another conflict putting even more stress on our resources.





The US is at risk and that risk is growing. Our risk is growing because our military is becoming  smaller. Our military is becoming smaller because all branches of our armed forces are failing to meet their recruitment goals. The longer this trend continues the smaller our active duty military will become. The number of active duty forces currently stands at 1.2M while our reserves forces stand at approximately 800K.





As it stands right now our combined forces will most likely decline almost on a monthly basis. This will be due to the lower recruitment rates in all branches of our military and also because of  the normal number of career military who reach retirement age and leave the service. Then, of course, there are also those who choose to serve just one tour of duty and then go home.





Finally, have you ever wondered why the existence we experience here in America is substantially better than that of most other places in the world? Did you think that it was our sovereign right that we should live the way we do just by virtue of being Americans? Maybe you thought that America was so special that we were just entitled to live better and more comfortably than just about everyone else in the world. You might even have been of the opinion that the way we live in this country was preordained by God. I really hate to burst your bubble, but it’s none of the above.





One of the reasons that the US, as a country, lives so well compared to most other countries is that we have the highest Gross National Product (GNP) in the world. For the year ended December 2021, America’s GNP was $23T. This $23T trickles down to all segments of the economy, including just about every man, woman, and child who lives here. Also a portion of that GNP is used to fund all levels of our government. Of the money that is used to fund the federal government almost $800B was allocated to fund our national defense for FY 2022.





This $800B is used to maintain naval vessels, aircraft, and other military equipment in all six branches of the military. In addition it is used to maintain the numerous military bases that are located around the world. It is also used to develop, enhance, and purchase new updated weapons and equipment. 





A large portion of this money is also spent on the salaries of active duty military personnel and those reservists who are on active duty. The bad news is that current levels of pay may not be sufficient to retain career military personnel or to entice new recruits to enter the military service and serve their country.





The US military is the other major reason why the United States is at “ the top of the heap.” We currently have the best trained, best equipped military in the world. We also have military bases strategically located around the world which gives us the ability to respond to crises almost anywhere on this planet. 





It is our military might along with our wealth that allows the people of this country to live as well as we do. The problem is that with recruitment numbers down and the possibility of roughly 100K mostly career military personnel at risk of being discharged, the protection afforded by our military may not exist ten years from now.





Our wealth is the reason why the people of this country live so well. That said, it is the military that defends and protects this country and our national interests around the world. Without that, the US would be at the mercy of its enemies. It is our military that keeps us from going the way of Rome. It is our military that protects us from the barbarians. It is my hope that our government will devise a strategy to improve recruitment in all branches of our military. If a solution is not forthcoming, the America we live in today will not be the American we leave our grandchildren.







 

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Nicholas Porreca