As many believe, between the Ukraine-Russia war and the war between Israel and Hamas, the United States is teetering on the brink of World War III, the Pentagon is warning Congress that America’s fighting force heading into 2024 is the smallest it has been since before World War II.
Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Ashish Vazirani, the Pentagon’s acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness, revealed that “the All-Volunteer Force faces the greatest challenge since its inception.”
“In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the Military Services collectively missed our recruiting goals by approximately 41,000 recruits, and that number understates the challenge before us as the Services lowered end-strength goals in recent years in part because of the difficult recruiting environment,” he told lawmakers.
According to the annual defense authorization bill passed this week by Congress, “the total number of active-duty troops in the armed forces will drop to 1,284,500 in fiscal 2024,” the Military Times reports. “That’s down nearly 64,000 personnel in the last three years and the smallest total for America’s military since 1940, before the United States’ entry into World War II.”
The ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), is concerned that the reduced military numbers are putting the country at risk.
“We need a larger force, in every branch,” he told the Military Times. “But the reality of recruiting is driving the numbers, not what we actually need.”
As BizPac Review has reported, some branches of the armed forces are bending over backward to lure in new, young recruits with “inclusive” ploys.
In May, the U.S. Navy enlisted Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley — a drag queen and TikTok influencer — to serve as a “Navy Digital Ambassador” in an online outreach program to attract would-be soldiers.
And in April, citing an obesity surge among young Americans, the Air Force raised the amount of body fat recruits can carry.
US Navy deploys drag queen influencer to recruit new sailors https://t.co/mZyUW7TNNY pic.twitter.com/t3UEzskYqV
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 5, 2023
“The strategies didn’t appear to work, as both the Navy and the Air Force are expected to be down thousands of airmen and sailors from its 2021 numbers,” the Daily Wire reports. “The Army is facing the largest recruitment problem out of the military branches as it’s down over 40,000 troops over the past three years. The Marine Corps, which along with the Space Force met its most recent recruitment goal, is still expected to be down by nearly 9,000 active-duty service members compared to fiscal year 2021.”
“While the end of conscription ended a divisive era in America and fostered the most capable military the world has known, it also set in motion a decades-long shift in who serves in the U.S. military,” Vazirani said. “For example, in 1995, 40% of U.S. youth ages 16 to 24 had a parent who served in the military. But by 2022, only 12% had a parent who served.”
And according to Vazirani, “Members of Generation Z—and especially young adults aged 18 to 26—have low trust in many institutions, ranging from government to the media to large companies.”
“We need a national call to service—especially for military service, but also for national and public service,” he stated. “We need national leaders, such as government leaders, community leaders, business leaders, teachers and other influencers, and especially leaders like the members of this subcommittee, to talk about military service with youth in their communities and ask them to learn about and consider serving in the military.”
“The Department is examining opportunities to increase insights about potential recruits and how to better reach them,” Vazirani said. “Our messages must reach today’s youth where they are with a message that resonates with them and motivates them to act.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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