Would You Recommend A Person Join The Military Today?

“Would You Recommend A Person Join The Military Today?”

“I can’t expect loyalty from the army if I do not give it.”

(Gen. George C. Marshall)

Our government, “experts” and the MSM are running around with their hair on fire yelling the military is in a recruiting crisis![1]  For once they’ve accurately identified the problem and even offered several solutions ranging from the absurd to the mildly helpful.  Alas, none will solve the problem for the simple reason that only the Wall Street Journal and American Thinker have acknowledged what the actual problem is.  It’s not a shrinking pool of eligible people, not a lack of propensity to enlist, nor is it a good economy.  It is simply that the veterans have lost trust in the government.  Therefore, most Veterans are no longer advising family and friends to join the military.

According to the Pentagon, approximately 80 percent of service members, about 1,112,000 out of 1,388,000 on active duty had at least one family member that served in the Armed Forces prior to them joining.  The DOD recognizes this is the most important “pipeline” for new recruits – these Veterans recommendation to join or not to join is extremely influential.  The second most important “pipeline” is the other 16,501,502 U.S. Veterans, whose recommendations are also important.  It takes a lot to lose the support of these two groups, but our leadership and “elites” have managed to jump that shark.

On July 6-7, 2023, Jester Politics conducted a non-scientific poll on Twitter.  Of the 916 respondents 82% would not recommend that a person join the military today.  Of the 466 Veterans who responded 384 (82.4%) would not recommend a person join the military today.  (Twitter Poll).[2]  Even for a non-scientific poll, these results are brutal and signal that the current recruiting crisis is not easily fixable.  So how did we get to the point where so many Veterans are no longer recommending military service?

The 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the continuing deployment of combat troops to Syria and Africa are factors.  But most of us Veterans weathered that and still supported people enlisting.  The MSM amplifying the left’s allegations, with no factual basis, that the military was a baston of white supremacists is another factor.[3]  But yeh, as insulting as that was, most of us got over that too.  What most of us couldn’t get over is the lack of leadership from Flag officers and up,[4] failure to hold those in power accountable, refusal of senior leadership to take responsibility for their failures, and the woke policies being forced on the military.

The following is a partial list of the reasons I believe so many Veterans will no longer recommend joining the military:

• The withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 was a poorly planned disaster that resulted in 11 Marines, a Navy Corpsman, and an Army Soldier needlessly dying. It was such a cluster that on their own, Veterans organized and financed operations to rescue American citizens and allies that Biden and gang left behind – all with no help from the Biden Administration.  Not only was there no help, but the government never even acknowledge these efforts, nor thanked those involved.  Additionally, not a single person was held accountable for this fiasco, instead they’re blaming it on Trump;
• Biden, the Commander-in-Chief disrespected 13 service members who needlessly died in his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Instead of bowing his head he checked his watch as their flag draped coffins passed.  The MSM ignored this, or worse made excuses for him.  Those who have not served cannot understand how offensive this is to those of us who have;
• The DOD forced people out of the military for refusing to take an experimental vaccine. Not a single person has even offered an apology to those they wronged;
• The enlightened elites demand the military engage in expensive but useless climate-change virtue signaling instead of spending that money to train to fight. This is dangerous.  The MSM and progressive applaud this action at the expense of the readiness of our troops;
• Our leadership is oblivious to the fact that Woke policies such as DEI are not inclusive but divisive and offensive. No Veteran I know will support an organization where a person’s skin color or declared pronouns determines their worth.  As an example, Meaghan Mobbs, a West Point graduate told lawmakers that she “would not recommend military service” to her family members due to the Pentagon’s focus on wokeness.  As harmful as these policies are, they find firm support among our universities, the MSM, and the Democrat Party;
• The growing hostility of the Biden Administration, progressives, and universities to the First and Second Amendments is concerning to many Veterans. They won’t recommend that family and friends serve, only to find those that did not serve have taken, or are trying to take, civil liberties from those who did.

Yes, there is a recruiting crisis.  And yes, it could become a national security issue.  However, it is not the veterans who are at fault for declining to encourage others to serve.  That fault lays at the feet of the Biden Administration, the progressives such as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and the “squad,” universities, and the MSM.  The fault also must be shared by those on the right, like Senator Graham and others who are so willing to send our young off to war on the flimsiest of reasons…while the greatest danger Graham and his friends will face is jay-walking across a busy street.

Solving the recruiting crisis is simple.  Get politics and Woke ideology out of the military, hold our leaders from the President down accountable and stop the attacks on our liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.  Oh, not getting us involved in every war that warms the heart of politicians would also help.  Do these and you’ll regain the trust of the Veterans, and they’ll once again recommend family and friends join the military.  If not, then quit complaining and reinstate the draft with no exemptions so everyone shares the burden of defending the Constitution and our nation.

There is a second solution.  The pronoun people, drag queens, progressives, politicians, professors, university students, and journalist who support Biden and his policies and those like Graham who believe every war is a good war can step up and enlist.  As the progressive would say – it’s an equity thing.  Don’t worry about age, it shouldn’t be a problem, you can be 39 and still join the Navy and Air Force and 35 for the Army.  But if you want into the Marines, you better hurry because 28 is the max for them.

Yes, I am a veteran, served 4 in the Corps (0351) and 16 and change in the Navy as a Naval Aviator (1310).  Will I recommend people join the military today?  It hurts me, it truly does, but no, not as long as the government views the military as an experiment in woke ideology and the Constitution as nothing more than hollow words printed on old parchment.

Do I think you should recommend people join the military today?  That’s a decision only you can make.

 

 

 

 

[1] “US Military’s Recruiting Woes Are a National-Security Crisis” trumpets Bloomberg (July 4, 2023);

Military Times (April 10, 2023) “The ‘Genesis’ of today’s recruiting crisis”

From CNBC comes (Aug 26, 2022 (“Why The U.S. Military Faces A Growing Recruiting Crisis”

The Heritage Foundation (June 26, 2023) enlightens us with “The Military Recruiting Crisis Is Getting Worse.”

The Week weighs in with “Can the military solve its recruiting crisis?”

 

[2] I could find no other recent data on the number of Veterans who would recommend joining the military.  However, 2021 the number of military families was 62.9%, down 11.6% from 2019.  However, the majority of respondents in this survey, which was also an internet one, were the spouses of the active duty member.  Therefore, it is not a direct measurement of the position of Veterans.  Though I believe our twitter poll suffered from some bias selection, I also believe that given the events of 2021-the present the military family survey that the results of our Twitter poll strongly indicate the position of our Veterans.

 

[3] I am not saying that there are no white supremist in the military, but they are few and the military aggressively weeds them out since at least 1975.

[4] Flag rank are Admirals and generals.  Thos above them are the civilian leadership at the DOD and President.

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