https://libertarianinstitute.org/news-roundup/pentagon-strug…
The Pentagon assesses that less than a quarter of young Americans meet the Pentagon’s standards for recruits. Only 23% of citizens aged 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said before Congress, noting that the number is declining. In recent years, 29% of 17-24-year-olds were eligible to serve.
NBC News obtained an internal Defense Department survey that found only 9% of qualified citizens want to join the military, the lowest result since 2007.
The military provides a path for those without the means to gain training & education that can be applied in the civilian world. This increases the income mobility of a nation. What happens to a nation in which its young turns it back on the military? Reduced income mobility. Inability to provide for a nation’s defense.
Solution:conscription.
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The military provides a path for those without the means to gain training & education that can be applied in the civilian world. This increases the income mobility of a nation. What happens to a nation in which its young turns it back on the military? Reduced income mobility. Inability to provide for a nation’s defense.
Solution:conscription.
The only problem is that the military is a lot more high-tech today than the Vietnam era.
We many need an “engineering & software programming” draft along with the doctor draft.
intercst
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Solution:conscription.
You went from 0 to 100 pretty quick there.
There are a LOT of solutions that can be used long before conscription would be deemed necessary.
Additional pay
Additional benefits
Remedial training to achieve minimum standards (something colleges often do for core subjects)
Better living conditions
Better work/life balance
Better treatment of enlisted
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There are a LOT of solutions that can be used long before conscription would be deemed necessary.
Why does only 9% of qualified wish to join the military?
According to the article:One cause is young Americans do not believe enlisting is in their long-term welfare. Over half of the people polled thought they would have emotional or psychological problems after leaving the military.
That is a big hurdle to overcome.
What happens to a nation in which its young turns it back on the military?
A more mentally and physically sound generation?
Solution:conscription.
Solution for whom?
For a while there, Eldest was considering the military. He wanted to be of service to his country. I suggested there is more than one way to do that, and considering his talents and training in cyber security, he should think of all the ways he could serve our country right here at home.
Way better for his wallet that way too. He looked hard at taking a gov’t job when he graduated college, but they were paying half what he got from a private firm.
IP
That is a big hurdle to overcome.
It is, which is why it must be addressed by providing many if not all of the things I listed. Additionally, if there were more services provided for those that experience such problems, it would go a long way to helping paint a better image of military life.
Now that we are not actively engaged in foreign wars, much of that will change but the military still needs to be competitive with civilian life.
For example, the recent pay raise of 4.6% approved for 2023 is likely insufficient - and it is the largest in 20 years. They only received 2.7% last year. They are falling behind inflation.
By comparison, retired soldiers received the same 2022 pay increase as Social Security: 5.9%.
It is difficult to recruit new people when you give them less of an increase than you give retirees.
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Solution for whom?
For the bipartisan interventionists in DC & Defense industry that supply the wherewithal the military needs.
For a while there, Eldest was considering the military. He wanted to be of service to his country. I suggested there is more than one way to do that, and considering his talents and training in cyber security, he should think of all the ways he could serve our country right here at home.
Way better for his wallet that way too. He looked hard at taking a gov’t job when he graduated college, but they were paying half what he got from a private firm.
A brother-in-law of a friend of mine whose economic means led to the military, did 20 years in the Air Force & acquired cyber security training there & then transitioned to private industry. He needs just 4 more years until his adopted daughter is put through college.
For a while there, Eldest was considering the military. He wanted to be of service to his country. I suggested there is more than one way to do that, and considering his talents and training in cyber security, he should think of all the ways he could serve our country right here at home.
Way better for his wallet that way too. He looked hard at taking a gov’t job when he graduated college, but they were paying half what he got from a private firm.
Absolutely IP! The best way to serve your country is to “look out for #1”. Like the former President said “The military is for suckers”.
If you’re getting market rate for what you’re doing, are you really "sacrificing for your country?
intercst
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For example, the recent pay raise of 4.6% approved for 2023 is likely insufficient - and it is the largest in 20 years. They only received 2.7% last year. They are falling behind inflation.
Every dollar that goes to personnel means one less to purchase high cost boondoggles that pad bottom line of deep pocket defense industry. Won’t happen. We spend nearly a trillion in defense every year. There is plenty of wasteful in the DOD and zero interest in cutting that waste. There is no deep pocket constituency for better pay. But that is our present system of government. And it ain’t likely to change.
… the lowest result since 2007.
Around 2007, when the Army had recruitment issues bad enough they were allowing high school dropouts and criminals in record numbers to enlist, I made a suggestion on this board.
Traditionally, legal foreign residents in the US could get on a fast track to citizenship by serving.
My suggestion was to open recruiting offices in the countries where most USian immigrants come from, with the promise of US citizenship for those who serve honorably.
That apparently would not work anymore. Seems most of the legal foreign residents in the US are not shiny enough to pass a background check now.
Steve
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