Why Military Enlistments Are Plummeting
One of the reasons the U.S. has been the world’s superpower since World War II is the size, strength, and advanced capabilities of our military. Since 1776, U.S. citizen soldiers have gone in harm’s way to protect America from enemies, foreign and domestic. Young men and women from all walks of life have historically joined our armed forces out of a sense of duty, honor, responsibility, and love of country. That’s all changing; but not for the better.
The number of young men and women qualified for military service is rapidly declining due to factors like obesity, drug use, and criminal records. Too many young people in the enlistment pool are not fit to serve. Still worse, those qualified to serve are increasingly unwilling to do so.
We warn in our book, Tragic Consequences: The Price America is Paying for Rejecting God and How We can Reclaim our Culture for Christ, actions have consequences. That America has come to a point in our history when we can no longer field a sufficiently-sized military is the tragic consequence of poor leadership and WOKE policies of President Joe Biden, Pentagon incompetence, elitists who rule the Democrat Party, Marxist college professors, and Leftist ideologues who control our public schools. We are reaping what they have sown.
The Pentagon, White House, and Congress concede there are now recruiting and retention shortfalls in all branches of our military. For example, the Army acknowledges an “alarming” reduction in enlistments ranging between 21,000 and 28,000. Projections for 2023 are even worse.
Lt. General Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation claims signing up new recruits has not been this difficult since the end of the Viet Nam War. He questions whether our all-volunteer military can remain viable.
The problem of enlistment and retention shortfalls is getting worse because “leaders” in the White House, Congress, and Pentagon refuse to acknowledge the cause of the problem. They claim current sharp declines in enlistments and retention in all branches of our military is because of a bustling post-COVID economy in which young people can easily find well-paying civilian jobs. This is simply not the root cause of the shortfall in re-enlistments and new military accessions.
The pool of candidates for military service is not declining because of high paying civilian jobs. Rather, it is waning because too many young Americans are fat, drugged-up, criminals who were raised in a WOKE environment where helicopter parents and pandering teachers gave them everything they wanted, neglecting what they needed most: responsibility, accountability, and self-discipline.
The reason so few qualified young people in the eligibility pool choose to serve has less to do with civilian job availability than with the twelve years of anti-America Marxist indoctrination they received in public schools. Why would anyone taught since kindergarten to hate America want to serve in our military? Why would anyone who idolized professional athletes for kneeling during our National Anthem want to serve in a military uniform?
Why would combat veterans re-enlist when forced to accept a steady diet of politically-correct tripe that runs counter to their personal values on “transgenderism,” Critical Race Theory and the LGBTQ agenda?
Who wants to serve under a feckless commander in chief like Joe Biden who abandoned American troops and allies on the battlefield in Afghanistan? Finally, who wants to serve under a president who, at a time when all branches are struggling to meet enlistment and retention goals is dumb enough to terminate tens of thousands of military personnel for failing to take a vaccination that doesn’t work.
Our armed forces exist to deter war and win if we have to fight. Joe Biden’s domestic and foreign policies are making both missions impossible.
Oliver L. North is a combat-decorated U.S. Marine, founder and CEO of Fidelis Publishing and Fidelis Media. Find out more about him at www.olivernorth.com. David Goetsch is a Marine Corps veteran, member of the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame, professor of business, and Christian counselor. Find out more about him at www.david-goetsch.com. Their new book Tragic Consequences is available at www.faithfultext.com.
COPYRIGHT 2022 OLIVER L. NORTH AND DAVID GOETSCH