Skip to main content

REPORT: US FACING MILITARY RECRUITMENT CRISIS

 

 TEHRAN (FNA)- The US Army, Navy and Air Force are facing shortfalls in recruitment targets this year, as the Pentagon struggles to compete with civilian employment, while up to 77% of young people have been deemed ineligible to enlist, the New York Times said on Tuesday.


By the end of its recruitment year on September 30, the US Army fell short of its target of adding 65,000 people to its ranks, the NYT says, instead ending up with about 50,000 new personnel. It is the third successive year that the army has not met its goal, prompting military bosses to cut unfilled positions and shrink its active duty membership to 452,000 from 485,000 in 2021.

The recruitment logjam has created “an existential issue for us”, Army Secretary Christine E. Wormuth told reporters this month, even as some branches of the military relax recruitment standards and even offer financial compensation of up to $75,000 to join.


Primary factors in the stalled recruitment effort include many Americans seeking employment in the private civilian sector, as well as large sections of US youth being deemed ineligible to even apply. A recent report by the US Department of Defense concluded that up to 77% of young people in the United States cannot enlist for a variety of reasons, including being overweight, drug abuse, or having physical or mental impairments.

The US Navy also fell short by about 7,500 hires this year, despite recruitment initiatives, including financial incentives. Even the Air Force, traditionally considered an attractive destination for new recruits, added about 10% less than expected.


“It’s been getting harder to recruit, and the military expects it to continue to get harder,” David R. Segal, a University of Maryland professor who studies historical enlistment trends, said according to the NYT.

However, one US military branch not experiencing such issues is its Marine Corps. By the September 30 deadline, the Marines had already exceeded its goal of 28,900 enlistments – and did so with little-to-no extra perks or financial incentives.

“Your bonus is that you get to call yourself a Marine,” a Marine Corps commandant said earlier this year, adding, “That’s your bonus.”

 

 This article was published in Fars News Agency and is re published here under a creative commons license.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poll: US Public Support for Israel Wanes as 68 Percent Call for Ceasefire

  TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel’s war on Gaza is upsetting many Americans who think it must follow growing demands for an immediate ceasefire, according to a new poll. The Reuters/Ipsos survey found only 32 percent of respondents said “the US should support Israel”. That is down from 41 percent from a poll conducted on October 12-13 – just days after the war broke out. About 68 percent of respondents said they agreed with the statement, “Israel should call a ceasefire and try to negotiate”. Some 39 percent supported the idea “the US should be a neutral mediator”, compared with 27 percent a month earlier. Only 4 percent of respondents said the United States should support Palestinians, while 15 percent said the US shouldn’t be involved at all in the war. While the US has been a significant Israeli ally, just 31 percent of respondents said they supported sending Israel weapons. The plunge in support fol
Post a Comment
Read more

AMERICAN TROOPS DO NOT WANT TO SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES FOR ISRAEL- EXCLUSIVE

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A very important internal correspondence between the commanders of the US National Guard has been revealed. A cyber group affiliated with the Resistance Front was able to obtain a very important and decisive correspondence between  General Daniel R. Hokanson, the commander of the National Guard Bureau, and one of the senior commanders of this organization, which reveals an important fact from within the American military bodies. According to the Tasnim news agency, after Al-Aqsa Storm, Hamas' operation against the Israelis, many American officials, including US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, announced that they will fully support the Israeli army. Following the announcement, General Daniel Hokanson on October 9 condemned Hamas and said that the US National Guard stands with Israelis and support them in this difficult situation. Although the American National Guard is involved in mostly domestic missions, the bureau announced that it is ready to
Post a Comment
Read more

Iraq’s Resistance Forces Target Israeli Settlement of 'Eilat' in Support of Gaza

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for an attack on the Israeli settlement of "Eilat" for the second time in two weeks, vowing to carry out more attacks against the Israeli occupation amid the regime's bombardment campaign against Gaza.  The Iraqi resistance movement, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, announced in a statement published on its Telegram channel on Sunday that they targeted the illegal Israeli settlement south of occupied Palestine. The settlement is built on the ruins of the Palestinian town of Umm al-Rashrash. "In support of our Ummah (people) in Gaza, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and elders, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted a site in occupied Umm Al-Rashrash (Eilat) using appropriate weapons," the statement said. "The Islamic Resistance reaffirms its continuation
Post a Comment
Read more