Social Military having Recruitment Woes

Military supremacy is the backbone? Oh please. There are many nations with smaller percentage wise military budget that are doing just as well or better.
Who?
difficulty: Cant be a country whose defense is subsidized by the US via NATO or economic alliance.
 
How does America fight the next war? Do we have to bring back the draft? This excerpt is likely the most troubling issue.


A modest recruiting bump from snappy ads the service ran before screenings of “Top Gun: Maverick” helped a bit, he said. But the general pointed to larger, longer-term concerns about the shrinking pool of young Americans who are both able and willing to serve. In recent years, the Pentagon has found that about 76 percent of adults ages 17 to 24 are either too obese to qualify or have other medical issues or criminal histories that would make them ineligible to serve without a waiver.

And what the military calls propensity — the share of young adults who would consider serving — has fallen steadily for several years. It stood at 13 percent before the pandemic began, General Thomas said, but is now 9 percent.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/us/us-military-recruiting-enlistment.html

These are tough times for military recruiting. Almost across the board, the armed forces are experiencing large shortfalls in enlistments this year — a deficit of thousands of entry-level troops that is on pace to be worse than any since just after the Vietnam War. It threatens to throw a wrench into the military’s machinery, leaving critical jobs unfilled and some platoons with too few people to function.

Covid-19 is part of the problem. Lockdowns during the pandemic have limited recruiters’ ability to forge bonds face to face with prospects. And the military’s vaccine mandate has kept some would-be troops away.


The current white-hot labor market, with many more jobs available than people to fill them, is also a factor, as rising civilian wages and benefits make military service less enticing.

But longer-term demographic trends are also taking a toll. Less than a quarter of young American adults are physically fit to enlist and have no disqualifying criminal record, a proportion that has shrunk steadily in recent years. And shifting attitudes toward military service mean that now only about one in 10 young people say they would even consider it.


To try to counter those forces, the military has pushed enlistment bonuses as high as $50,000, and is offering “quick ship” cash of up to $35,000 for certain recruits who can leave for basic training in 30 days. To broaden the recruiting pool, the service branches have loosened their restrictions on neck tattoos and other standards. In June, the Army even briefly dropped its requirement for a high school diploma, before deciding that was a bad move and rescinding the change.


The Army is the largest of the armed forces, and the recruiting shortfall is hitting it the hardest. As of late June, it had recruited only about 40 percent of the roughly 57,000 new soldiers it wants to put in boots by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.



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1. Peace time military always has recruitment issues. Issues like that get sorted out when there's a real need for more troops.

2. Modern warfare isn't about numbers, and the United States military is still the most elite and well trained on the planet. Anyone who would pose any actual threat to our military is a pretty strong ally already, so we really don't have much to worry about. Russia can't even project power 100 miles away from their own borders. China only really cares about Asia, and they have strong economic ties to the West. Who exactly do you think we need to worry about? Iran isn't going to invade. North Korea can't do shit either.
 
Who?
difficulty: Cant be a country whose defense is subsidized by the US via NATO or economic alliance.

If a large military was the key to economic success, the U.S. should be by far the most wealthy nation in the world per capita and the cold war would never have bankrupted the Soviet Union.


20210427defensespendersshareibt.jpg
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No I’m not. There is no need to spend more than every other country combined on military. Nobody else does it. American taxpayers should not be on the hook to police the world.

If you truly support veterans, you’d want to stop sending them overseas for nothing, only to come home with PTSD and be homeless assuming they make it home.
You really don't understand it. Do you notice how bad the economy has been after Russia invaded Ukraine and the pandemic? Thats the world being unstable. We don't police the world out of the kindness of our hearts. We police because its in our economic interest. I'm not even going to address the last silliness
 
shitty what? Speak for yourself. It was always pretty darn good food during my 20 years. Especially during the main FOB heydays in combat zones. edit: OK during OAR 2015 in Poland the food was rough since it was all Polish food by Polish cooks. But it we were the first rotation there and didn't have much control over the quality of food.

And I’ve been in some pretty darn good barracks in my time.
And if a junior year enlisted is married than they get to live off base and receive BAH. Which is about 900 to 1500 extra month.

OH and do some research. There is a whoooole lot of things that are “down”. Highschool registrations, College registration etc etc

I'd rather cut a finger off than be forced to eat dogshit Navy food for 6 more years. 2 fingers rather than live on the fucking boat.
 
Marine Corps is a much smaller force. It is something like a 5th the size of the Army. The Marine Corps can be more selective and fill its numbers. Air Force is smaller to but the Air Force mostly fills its numbers because it is the best service to pick up a skill set for a career and offers the most money its also the easiest and has by far the most women per capita

I'll agree with all of what you typed except for the Air Force being the best service to pick up a skill set for a career. They're all fairly close career wise, but there are differences of note. The Air Force has very technically proficient personnel but they don't appear to have as broad a skillset compared to what we had in the Navy.

If you work on aviation electronics as a Navy person and an Air Force counterpart does the same, chances are you have a broader skillset. The Navy person gets qualified on fixing aircraft communication and navigation systems but are also pushed to get qualified to tow the plane, "ride brakes" on aircraft being towed, run the APU, towing then running a ground power cart, an A/C cart, and a "huffer" engine start cart, and even how to fuel the plane and transfer fuel from one tank to the other. Every aviation rate in the Navy has the opportunity to get qualified to do these things along with learning their primary job responsibilities. You can walk into any shop in a squadron and find people who could load bombs and tow a plane, fix radar and run the APU, rig parachutes and ride brakes, troubleshoot aircraft electrical buses and run a power cart, service O2 bottles and fuel the plane, etc.

I didn't see this on any of the Air Force bases we landed on. One person could sign tools out to us, another one towed a power cart out to the plane, yet another one ran the cart, etc.

The people were professional, well trained in the job they did, but I didn't see any indication that they were as broadly trained as us. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, it's merely my perception based on my experiences dealing with USAF personnel on their bases.
 
Does the GI bill even cover a bachelor’s degree fully?

Sort of. I earned a AAS with the Air Force Community College which put me halfway to a Bachelors. And the GI Bill would cover the remaining 2 years if my credits carried over (most of them do).
 
I'll agree with all of what you typed except for the Air Force being the best service to pick up a skill set for a career. They're all fairly close career wise, but there are differences of note. The Air Force has very technically proficient personnel but they don't appear to have as broad a skillset compared to what we had in the Navy.

If you work on aviation electronics as a Navy person and an Air Force counterpart does the same, chances are you have a broader skillset. The Navy person gets qualified on fixing aircraft communication and navigation systems but are also pushed to get qualified to tow the plane, "ride brakes" on aircraft being towed, run the APU, towing then running a ground power cart, an A/C cart, and a "huffer" engine start cart, and even how to fuel the plane and transfer fuel from one tank to the other. Every aviation rate in the Navy has the opportunity to get qualified to do these things along with learning their primary job responsibilities. You can walk into any shop in a squadron and find people who could load bombs and tow a plane, fix radar and run the APU, rig parachutes and ride brakes, troubleshoot aircraft electrical buses and run a power cart, service O2 bottles and fuel the plane, etc.

I didn't see this on any of the Air Force bases we landed on. One person could sign tools out to us, another one towed a power cart out to the plane, yet another one ran the cart, etc.

The people were professional, well trained in the job they did, but I didn't see any indication that they were as broadly trained as us. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, it's merely my perception based on my experiences dealing with USAF personnel on their bases.

I was in Tanks for the Marines so I didn't have a chance to interact on any meaningful level with the Air Force. That was just the impression I got.
 
Does the GI bill even cover a bachelor’s degree fully?
36 months or 48 months for STEM. You can knock out your first 30 credits or so while on active duty via tuition assistance though.
Also, the GI Bill doesn't just cover school, it directly pays you BAH (E5 with dependents) while you're taking classes. So for example, if you went to college in GA and the nearest city is Atlanta you would get over $2200 a month straight to you for whatever (12 hours in the fall/spring or 6 hours in the summer).
 
Korean War
Desert storm/shield 1991
Kosovo 1999

and those are just some off the top of my head.

Desert storm is where men died for their Saudi masters. They should’ve let Saddam roll them over. That area would be far better today if he did.
At least in other conflicts you mentioned the locals did majority of fighting. Even in Iraq and Afghanistan the locals did majority of fighting. But here the Saudis just sat back and let the Americans do all dying while they chilled out with an invasion at their doorsteps.
 
I was in Tanks for the Marines so I didn't have a chance to interact on any meaningful level with the Air Force. That was just the impression I got.

No problem. We weren't allowed to fuel our own plane on USAF bases even though 4 or more of us were qualified to. Blew their minds that Mechs, Airframers, Trons and such were qualified and allowed to do so.

Tank battalion huh? Sounds fun! (kind of lol). My Mom made me promise not to talk to a Marine recruiter. Her brother was a Devil Dog who suffered from PTSD after Vietnam and decided to end it. I had a few friends who were "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" as I like to call the USMC. Always a good time hanging out with them. Couldn't wait to hear the "Marines are the Men's Department of the Navy" jokes.
 
I'd rather cut a finger off than be forced to eat dogshit Navy food for 6 more years. 2 fingers rather than live on the fucking boat.
Again, that’s your opinion of how/what the food was. Boat life is what you signed up for. No one forced you to do it just like no one is forcing you to go back.
 
Desert storm is where men died for their Saudi masters. They should’ve let Saddam roll them over. That area would be far better today if he did.
At least in other conflicts you mentioned the locals did majority of fighting. Even in Iraq and Afghanistan the locals did majority of fighting. But here the Saudis just sat back and let the Americans do all dying while they chilled out with an invasion at their doorsteps.
Not all that many Americans died in desert storm if I remember right. But yeah the Saudis should have supplied some troops.
 
I'll agree with all of what you typed except for the Air Force being the best service to pick up a skill set for a career. They're all fairly close career wise, but there are differences of note. The Air Force has very technically proficient personnel but they don't appear to have as broad a skillset compared to what we had in the Navy.

If you work on aviation electronics as a Navy person and an Air Force counterpart does the same, chances are you have a broader skillset. The Navy person gets qualified on fixing aircraft communication and navigation systems but are also pushed to get qualified to tow the plane, "ride brakes" on aircraft being towed, run the APU, towing then running a ground power cart, an A/C cart, and a "huffer" engine start cart, and even how to fuel the plane and transfer fuel from one tank to the other. Every aviation rate in the Navy has the opportunity to get qualified to do these things along with learning their primary job responsibilities. You can walk into any shop in a squadron and find people who could load bombs and tow a plane, fix radar and run the APU, rig parachutes and ride brakes, troubleshoot aircraft electrical buses and run a power cart, service O2 bottles and fuel the plane, etc.

I didn't see this on any of the Air Force bases we landed on. One person could sign tools out to us, another one towed a power cart out to the plane, yet another one ran the cart, etc.

The people were professional, well trained in the job they did, but I didn't see any indication that they were as broadly trained as us. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, it's merely my perception based on my experiences dealing with USAF personnel on their bases.

If you think think the Navy is "Jack of all trades" when it comes to broad training...

You should see the USCG.
 
For the 3rd time… it’s not what we get paid, it’s what we didn’t have to pay for. THAT is what the pay charts doesn’t show.
Don't bother. Been skimming through this thread and it's pretty obvious most have never served and will never understand how much influence we can exert because of our military.
 
If you think think the Navy is "Jack of all trades" when it comes to broad training...

You should see the USCG.

Oh yeah. Coasties are awesome. I did electrical load analysis testing on Coast Guard vessels in Bremerton when I was a Contractor.

Great group of people, definitely a step above my Navy brethren overall as it pertained to professionalism and being involved in the work at hand.
 
If you think think the Navy is "Jack of all trades" when it comes to broad training...

You should see the USCG.

Hope that was a compliment on the Coast Guard :)

Bry
 
Peace time military always has recruitment issues. Issues like that get sorted out when there's a real need for more troops.
Just peacetime?
How does the issue get sorted out during wartime?
 
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