A couple of days ago, there was a Washington Post headline that caught my eye, mostly because it’s something I’m deeply concerned about (and have posted on previously) and, with our son still on active duty, personally affected by.

U.S. defense officials face the bleakest recruiting environment since the aftermath of the Vietnam War, with less than a quarter of Americans ages 17 to 24 years old eligible to serve — and just 9 percent willing to do so. https://t.co/JbLHDQQXGG

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 23, 2023

Truth be told, I sort of skimmed the lede more than anything, already having a pretty good idea of what the contents were, since nothing’s really changed but the numbers in the intervening months. Since my original post, those have gotten worse. All things Biden administration considered, this is not a surprise. What are the numbers? A dive into the gruesomeness paints a grim picture.

…The issue came before the Senate Armed Services Committee as U.S. defense officials face the bleakest recruiting environment since the aftermath of the Vietnam War, with less than a quarter of Americans ages 17 to 24 years old eligible to serve — and just 9 percent willing to do so. The situation probably will take years to correct, they told the senators, forecasting that the Army, Air Force and Navy all will fall short of their goals this year, possibly by thousands of recruits.

…The military services have taken a varied approach to the challenge, which is the most serious in the Army. It fell about 15,000 recruits short of its goal of 60,000 active-duty recruits last year, and has set a goal of 65,000 this year that it also anticipates missing. In response, the service has invested heavily in marketing, even bringing back an updated “Be All You Can Be” advertising campaign that draws on Army recruiting pitches from the 1980s.

It’s ironic that WaPo chose a Marine Corps photo for its piece when they are the one branch (and smallest) of the big 4 still making all their recruiting (active and reserve) goals – by the hair of their chinny chin chins, yes, but, by God, they made them.

The Marine Corps met its recruitment goals for fiscal year 2022, making it one of the only branches this year to fully reach its target numbers.

…In total, the Marine Corps recruited 28,608 active-duty enlisted Marines in fiscal year 2022, making its goal by just eight service members. Among Reserve enlisted personnel, the Corps met its exact accession target of 4,602 troops.

Contrast the Pentagon’s excuses for lack of recruiting success during the recent testimony…

…The Pentagon has attributed its difficulties to a variety of factors, including the nation’s low unemployment rate, school closings during the coronavirus pandemic that limited recruiters’ access to high school students and faculty, and a shifting culture in which more teens gravitate to jobs with work-life balance.

…with the Marine Corps’ explanation of the challenges.

…“Our recruiting force is arguably experiencing the most challenging recruiting environment since the establishment of the all-volunteer force,” said Jim Edwards, a spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command, in a statement to Marine Corps Times.

“Compounding effects of the COVID pandemic, reduced school access, a decline in eligible population, historic low propensity, decreased public confidence, media inflation, and a growing military and civilian divide have placed great stress on day-to-day recruiting operations. These challenges remain prevalent and will continue to challenge our recruiting force during FY23.”

There’s some plain speaking. Probably as to the point as you’ll ever get from a public affairs type (having been one for a bit, I know).

The Marine Corps also met all its retention goals – in fact, had blown by that mark before 2022 was even half over, a new record – beaten its “diversity” hires, if you will, and kept so many folks in uniform they were able to reduce its recruitment goals. That surely did take a bit of the pressure off the Marines working the street.

The Air Force had to razzle dazzle to meet its goals with repeated bonus rounds and dipping into their delayed-enlistment pool, while the Navy upped their enlistment age to FORTY-ONE YEARS OLD – I kid you not. You can be an E-1 with arthritis if you just sign on the dotted line and raise that right hand, PLEASE.

The Army can dress up in music videos, drag and leather dog masks all it wants, but it’s not going to change the hard truths recruiters are facing on the streets. A song can’t fix what’s wrong, and in the current climate, even if Biden’s gang of incompetent, malevolent clowns do manage to tank the economy into a recession, a Third World War or worse, I do not know that even events of such magnitude will improve the number of bodies coming through the door.

For all of our armed services, the recruiting problem is as clear as the nose on a leather dog mask – it’s an inherent leadership problem.

When the face of your military is this guy?

Our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Dis guy?

Top general Milley reassured China, others in secret calls as Trump pushed election lies, spokesman says

Gen. Mark Milley – looking for a klan hood under every rock and on every active duty service member’s Facebook page and car bumper.

…General Milley said he saw rioters carrying military flags. At the rally and later at the Capitol breach, rioters were seen with Marine Corps flags, Army patches and Special Forces insignia.

Federal officials are vetting thousands of National Guard troops arriving to help secure the inauguration. Of the 21,500 Guard personnel who had arrived in Washington by Monday, any who will be near President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will receive additional background checks, a standard procedure to counter insider threats that was also taken before President Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

Defense Department officials say they are looking into stepping up the monitoring of social media postings from service members, in much the way companies do with their employees.

It’s not intimidating or a purge or tromping what little rights service members have. No, not at all – white rage, you know.

Remember the days when nothing instilled confidence in America’s military leaders more than our uber liberal press hating them? Good times.

Then again, you could try to find someone who loves you the way the media loves Mark Milley.

Audience of journalists 'greeted [Milley] as a hero.' Now, why might that be? https://t.co/JalwLWy7oy

— Byron York (@ByronYork) March 24, 2023

Earlier this month, when the digital-media startup Puck celebrated its first anniversary with a bustling party at the French ambassador’s residence, the journalist-heavy throng in the Kalorama mansion was saluted by an unlikely guest speaker: the top officer in the United States military, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark A. Milley.

Officially, the event was a celebration of the First Amendment — the sort of gathering where you’d expect an address from a fight-the-power free-speech lawyer or a hell-raising investigative reporter, not a uniformed four-star general. But Milley’s lack of journalism credentials didn’t appear to bother many in the audience, who greeted him as a hero.

…Photos snapped. Applause rang. Selfies were taken.

…Like Anthony Fauci, another unelected public sector lifer who became a bete noire of the far right, Milley has become a cause celebre in Washington, an icon of guardrail-respecting professionalism — and a presence around town. A few nights after the party at the French residence, I saw him posing for other pictures at the white-tie Gridiron dinner, an annual to-do for a rather more venerable class of media bigwigs. Scan POLITICO’s Playbook newsletter and you’ll find mention of him at shindigs like a New Year’s Day brunch at the home of the philanthropist Adrienne Arsht.

…In a way, the subsequent two and a half years can be viewed as extensions of that speech. To critics, it’s a case of a general going outside his lane and trying to address political questions. But to admirers, it’s about being vocal in reassuring Americans that their military — and its top general — are not going to be used as political instruments.

Today’s fawning tongue bath courtesy of Politico. *ggeeehhh* I need a shower after that.

Gosh. Why can’t we get anyone to join the Army?

When the most visible symbol and policy mouthpiece of your armed forces is this risible, revolting, virtue-signaling publicity hound? Who has done his damnedest to effect the utter repudiation of the traditional tenets that kept our military both functional and apolitical during times of societal and political upheaval? Milley is literally the face of the failure of a woke military. And its consequently disastrous lack of appeal to the volunteer soldier pool.

Mark Milley is one of the main reasons the military is facing recruiting challenges. Him, general and field grade officers like him. https://t.co/G6TtCF7CMg

— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) March 24, 2023

Last November, General David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps wrote a piece on recruiting for the Naval Institute’s magazine “Proceedings.” I could go around with him about a number of issues, but he is the fellow who has to look out for the big picture, whereas I’m just a big mouth. However I thought one list he included was so dead on – especially in this context – that I wanted to leave it with you.

Public Trust and Confidence
Of all the factors affecting young Americans’ propensity to serve, the most alarming is the steady decline of public trust and confidence in the military. According to Gallup’s most recent Honesty and Ethics Survey, Americans’ confidence in military officers has declined to its lowest level since the survey began in 2001. Further, in just the past five years, ten percent fewer Americans believe military officers possess “high ethics.”2Why? Based on my observations and interactions with a broad swath of citizens, I believe there are several reasons, including:

• The character of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

• A growing perception of the politicization of the military and senior military leaders

• Reports of widespread sexual harassment and assault in the ranks

• A series of preventable mishaps across all the services that suggest a measure of professional incompetence

• Scandals and examples of poor leadership across the joint force

• A perception that the skills developed through military service are less relevant to private sector success than in the past

“The politicization of the military and senior military officers” Gen Berger writes.

Gen Milley lives that. It contrasts nicely with what Politico said in its slurp fest for Milley this morning: The Left now sees the military/Milley as non-political because why?

Because the “modern” military, under Milley’s leadership, is doing exactly what the Left wants, vice doing military things.

Which makes it all good for them.

It’s the rest of us that fill the ranks and, at the moment, we’re not inclined to.

Something’s going to have to give.