A Recruiting Boom

As you may recall, military recruiting has been terrible since the Afghanistan withdrawal demonstrated that the American military was not led by serious people. It was thought that this might be a lasting problem, similar to the recruitment shortfalls in the 1970s after the Vietnam War was thrown away by Congress. 

“This is the start of a long drought for military recruiting,” said Ret. Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank. He said the military has not had such a hard time signing recruits since 1973, the year the U.S. left Vietnam and the draft officially ended. Spoehr said he does not believe a revival of the draft is imminent, but “2022 is the year we question the sustainability of the all-volunteer force.”

The pool of those eligible to join the military continues to shrink, with more young men and women than ever disqualified for obesity, drug use or criminal records. Last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver to join, down from 29% in recent years.

An internal Defense Department survey obtained by NBC News found that only 9% of those young Americans eligible to serve in the military had any inclination to do so, the lowest number since 2007. 

Apparently not.

He may not dress the right way for Esquire, but having a fighting man as SECDEF seems to be having a positive effect on morale and recruitment.