US Army misses recruiting goal
The Army missed its recruiting goal by 25% this year. The other services made their goals, but they had to dig into their delayed entry pools to make their numbers. The Army National Guard and the Army Reserve may pick up some of the Army’s requirements for the Army to meet its part of America’s national objectives. Despite the military’s efforts to lure individuals in with bigger bonuses and programs, military leaders point to a tight labor market and a private industry that is providing stiff competition for the applicant pool.
From the Associated Press:
Two years of the pandemic shut off recruiters’ access to schools, public events, fairs and other youth organizations where they often find prospects. Moving to online recruiting — as in-person meetings closed down — was only marginally successful. And some of the in-person access has been slow to open up again.
At the same time, companies like McDonalds are now wooing workers with tuition benefits and other increased perks that for years made the military an attractive profession. Military leaders say that they are suffering from the same labor shortage that has restaurants, airlines, shops and other businesses desperately scraping for workers.
Exacerbating the problem is the fact that according to estimates, just 23% of young people can meet the military’s fitness, educational and moral requirements — with many disqualified for reasons ranging from medical issues to criminal records and tattoos.
“We remain committed to maintaining our standards, investing in America’s youth, and emphasizing quality over quantity,” Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the Army said.
It’s unclear how much the debate over the COVID-19 vaccine is playing in the recruiting struggles. So far, the Army has discharged a bit more than 1,700 soldiers for refusing to take the mandated vaccine. That’s a tiny fraction of the overall force size.
At the same time, the patriotism that fueled the rush to military service in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks has dimmed. Some may look around and see no more wars and terrorists to fight so they look elsewhere. And others see lucrative hiring campaigns by private industry and know the salaries will be better than military pay, and they will be less likely to end up wounded or killed in those jobs.
The Associated Press has the rest of the story.
Lets be clear here, the woke bullshit is a major reason this is happening.. They may have missed their numbers, but at least they’ve got gems like this..
Not one mention of the woke bu11 s#1t.
Spot on, Fyrfighter, ya nailed it. Bad enough we have to be force fed/exposed to this deviant behavior on TeeVee or on a shopping excursion/provision run daily. Who in their straight hetero mind wants to be around it in close quarters and have to depend on it when the SHTF?
In addition to all of the “reasons” given in the article, you have to account for the ones here that no longer send to recruiters or recommend Military Service to mentored kids like we used to.
Funny thing, I saw a picture of the Major and HIS wife walking out of someplace (court for arraignment?) and HE was not wearing pearls and a dress, but clearly male cloths and short male haircut. Maybe he flipped teams again?
Shocking.
I stopped in an Army recruiting station a year ago for flight school information for a friend’s kid in college. The recruiters wore civilian clothes (and it was mid-week). I asked why no uniforms and the station commander said they didn’t have to wear uniforms every day. The office looked unkept, and the recruiters flexed arm tattoos. For a moment I thought I entered a gang headquarters disguised as an Army recruiting station.
Recruiters used to come from the best in the Army. Not now based upon what I saw. Add no wars, free government money, and going woke, and it is easy to see why the Army missed recruiting goals. Go figure.
Police, too– visible tatoos, beards and manbuns are “inclusive” now.
There was never any reason for police officers not to have visible tattoos, long hair or beards. Moving away from it has resulted in some agencies improving their recruiting at zero cost to the agency.
The Army OTOH has several good reasons (personal hygiene when showers not available being the largest)
Police officers were traditionally clean cut (as well as wore blue and operated overtly) for the reasons Mustang Major identified.
Gang members aren’t much into beards and long hair. Probably less than the general population. Like many things, public perception of how people are is often incorrect.
For hundreds of years military officers were EXPECTED to have a beard and considered somewhat less manly and professional without one.
https://twitter.com/HBCUBuzz/status/592152648062783489/photo/1
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1914201,00.html
Tattoos yes, but gang tats.
Yeah, but they certainly don’t look like sissies.
http://emergency-services.news/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/WP-MON-3.jpg
Ah, I thought we were talking about American Police.
That trend is growing here, mostly in Blue State cities.
91-92 was my last year of high school, and I never saw my recruiters in anything less than Class Bs, except one weekend DEP meeting we were in a park doing land nav and they were all wearing BDUs.
A year or so after I got out of the Army I had an evening class and was chilling in a lounge on campus and some female buck Sgt walked in with a arm full of books and a recruiting command patch and recruiters badge, and she was clearly there for class. First, how does a recruiter find time for in person college classes? Second, the Infantry SSG in me immediately made a visual sweep of her ACU uniform. Threads hanging from the edges of all her pockets, IR tabs not covered, and a massive rappel rope hanging from one of her boots. I bit my lip and reminded myself I was no longer in and just walked away.
76-82 Army Recruiter in Chicago area. Last 2 years Guidance Counselor at the MEPS. Ran 8 miles down through park along Lake Michigan coast in the morning to work, changed in locker room to TW’s.
On occasion City College of Chicago had college courses in the evening in our state-owned building so I partook and got EMT certified. Took the elevated train home in the evenings.
Our hair standards were a little lax. Bn Cdr got me 2 months in a row when he stopped in for a visit. My bad because we had a retired barber stop in to give $5 cuts every couple weeks.
“how does a recruiter find time for in person college classes? ”
Probably the same way you did–evening classes. Maybe comp time; take a class or two during the day, work nights & weekends. Recruiters don’t work 24/7, do they?
They asked for it and they got it.
The Militia is still strong, so we gots that going for us….
Is it just me or does that photo look like they are operating floor buffers?
If so, it may be realistic.
That’s the sled drag, a portion of one of the six events in the new ACFT (Sprint, Drag, and Carry).
Yes, but I thought they were buffers at first glance. Wondered why they were buffing the grass for a split second.
It’s the Army, why NOT buff the grass? Kinda like mopping up rain.
My first thought.
Random memory, that first Sunday in basic, me and a few other guys were buffing the bay and one of them stopped and said “you know, my recruiter never mentioned this.” and we all paused, sighed, and went back to buffing.
What, no buffer rodeo?🤣
https://youtu.be/t5uTuaiplJE
Good to see he(?) is wearing a helmet–obviously needed, but no reflective belt?
An assistant buffer operator can certainly increase the ability of a “buffer” to remove old wax & stains, but the added weight may cause premature buffer motor failure. (Not, of course, an official practice–may cause disciplinary action or, in extreme cases, financial penalties (statement of charges).)
Those are bonus job skills. Highly sought after by civilian employers. They served me well later in life. Mommy & daddy certainly never taught me to properly clean a toilet, etc.
The Army missed it’s recruiting goal by 25% this year.
No shit.
Putting gender ideology above all else I’m sure had nothing to do with it.
Tight labor market? Bullshit.
“Jenny has two moms” doesn’t win wars or influence the caliber of recruit that can win wars. FJB and the whore.
Some just see a shit show and a government that has broke the faith. Let’s be clear there is no good reason for a talented, intelligent person with options to serve today. Sad part is this administration and our so called military leadership caused all of this. No way I put a kids life in their care.
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Shack!
BDA = 100/100
What is going on in that pic? It looks like floor buffer training. Mine was strictly OJT at ROTC summer camp.
I predict that next year the Army will miss its recruiting goals by over 30%.
Dude,
I could buff a floor like Phildo can buff some balls.
25% short fall huh? I wonder how many recruiters had their careers crushed by some Recruiting Command SGM for rolling that doughnut at the end of the month one too many times? I had a few people tell me how soul crushing and career ending recruiting duty was, and that was before the pandemic. Can’t imagine how bad it must be now.
I was in a 3 man station at first. My area was on the edge of the far western suburbs of Chicago so I had the rural area comprised of small and medium cities with 6 high schools because I was junior. The other 2 in the station split the 3 big high schools in Aurora where our office was located. Only 1 school in my area didn’t allow me to be on their grounds. I always got walk-in’s from that school anyway.
Met my numbers and shared if my partners were short. Arrived as a SGT and made SSG month after moving to the MEPS. Followed that with orders to Retention NCO school in Indianapolis (Ft Benjamin Harrison, IN).
Only 25%?
The issue of a tight labor market and/or competition from private industry had zero influence on Hack deciding to enlist. Hack Stone enlisted to continue the family tradition of serving, going back to WWI; seeking a physical and mental challenge; and to kick some Iranian ass. Put a check mark on Line Items 1 and 2, still waiting on the third.
Under this administration, the Department of Defense has essentially said that white male heterosexuals are not the demographics they want to fill the ranks. Focusing their efforts on the diversity of the masses that the Democrats want to fill the ranks, they realize that they are not mentally or physically qualified to meet current enlistment standards.
General Thoroughly Modern Millie wanted to purge the ranks of white rage and toxic masculinity. He got it. Maybe the senior DoD leaders will have to leave their outer ring offices in The Pentagon and lead their diverse troops into combat.
Without rage and masculinity there is no military. We are seeing this obvious truth in ways never imagined during Carter’s Hollow Military of the 70s.
Ever since I was a little kid, I had kicked around the idea of joining the USN. I wanted to be challenged and do something ultra cool. So, on my birthday in 1980 I decided to head to the recruiting office to see what they had. I had always been good with foreign languages, and I was hooked that the Navy had linguists working in communications intelligence.
There was NOTHING else for me. Luckily I passed the required tests and got on the 5 ticket ride. I really mean it when I say that the first 10 years in the USN was so much fucking fun, I should have been paying the Navy for the privilege. Chasing Rooskies all over the Pacific on skimmers, recce birds etc. was just too much fun.
I joined at the perfect time. Reagan was elected shortly after I joined and we had just exited the very bad 70s. I loved my job and I loved my country. Today? Fuck no. You couldn’t pay me enough to join. I’m not putting my life on the line for this shit show.
Hack IDK how to tell you this but some of the people you served with were as gay as Oscar Wilde. Some were good, some were bad, some were great and some were terrible. Just like everyone else.
Winchell by all accounts was a good soldier. He regularly kicked the snot out of the straights who harassed him to the point where the drunken dirt bags had to murder him in his sleep to win. You can’t fault him for joining the military as he was straight when he joined and went through a life change later. This isn’t that uncommon. Nobody could argue that he wasn’t otherwise a good soldier.
When I was in about 20% of the women I served with over the years were lesbian and about 1% of the men were gay… that I knew of. Some were good, some were bad, some were great and some were terrible. But they all wanted to serve.
The ANGLICO party NCO who kept us alive on patrol was one of the greats and the Infantry SSG with 16 years who couldn’t lead a patrol out of a wet paper bag wasn’t.
Where and into what they stuck their junk wasn’t as important to me as what they could do on mission. So far as I could tell there really wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference based upon that alone. Although the lesbians tended to be a bit more reliable, adult and very seldom got pregnant, which was kind of nice. They also didn’t have guys fawning over them in the hopes of tearing off a piece as most of the guys figured it out pretty quick.
No problem with gays or lesbians serving, but this current administration focusing on using preferred pronouns when the priority should be training for success in combat is why the military tradition in the Stone family ends with Hack.
Nobody wants toxic masculinity until they need toxic masculinity.
Yup.
Plus:
“some of the people you served with were as gay as Oscar Wilde”
LOL
Oh, yeah. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was unofficial policy long before it was official policy. As naive and ignorant as I was, it became pretty obvious pretty quickly. One of my favorite NCOs was gay (not 100% sure, of course), and several of my friends were (again, can’t be 100% sure). It never bothered me, but there are always racist/homophobic/antisemitic/etc. assholes who get upset by the existence of _______.
There was one guy who used to serenade me in the latrine. Made me very uncomfortable, but he was a nice guy and I am pretty tolerant. The songs he made up were pretty bad, though. I guess I may be a “false positive” on gaydar.
” about 1% of the men were gay… that I knew of”
LOL
I don’t know about the exact number, but “that I knew of” sure hits the nail on the head. Sneaky devils….they blend right in…almost as if they were actual males.
I enlisted because I wanted to be an infantry soldier (Way too many Sgt. Rock comic books) so I enlisted specifically for Infantry (I know, not a sign of intelligence or sophistication). And I wanted to go to Germany (also a big WWII fan back then), certainly not VietNam, which was getting big at the time. Recruiter talked me into a four year enlistment for a guarantee of Germany instead of RVN. Still went to RVN, just went to Germany first. And, of course, no guarantee was to be found in my records; I must have misunderstood the SSgt.
Certainly was an eye-opening experience for a naive, inexperienced middle-class kid, which is one reason I have *always* favored conscription over an all-volunteer military. I sometimes think of it as a milder, less specialized, form of the “Scared Straight” program. A kind of “R” rated “Boy Meets World” thing.
You spend all your efforts chasing diversity, don’t be surprised when the primary demographic says they ain’t playin’ anymore.
Put “Diversity” and all of the other shit associated with it along with a few shovelfuls of woke and it’s no wonder why next to nobody wants to join anymore.
LOL that’s what happens when fucking idiots in charge try to appease people that pretty much have zero fucking interest in joining the military and ostracizing the very people that historically want to serve.
How could the Army miss their recruiting goals? You would think that that advertisement they took out a few months ago in the gay newspaper would reach the demographics that they are seeking. We were told that the LGBQT community is just as patriotic and eager to serve as any other American.
The only explanation is that potential recruits are worried that they may be assigned to a state that restricts their access to abortions.
Do I understand this correctly?
Civilian employers are so desperate for minimally educated (HS or GED) applicants with no skills and little if any work experience that the military cannot compete even with cash bonuses, education assistance during and after service, free room & board, free medical & dental, starting base bay of $1600+/month plus allowances, and 2 guaranteed raises within a year?
Yep, gonna say it again—-I told ya so; draft Army or no Army, your choice.