Army Sees Sharp Decline in White Recruits

[Vambram]

Army Sees Sharp Decline in White Recruits

The shift in demographics for incoming recruits would be irrelevant to war planners, except it coincides with an overall shortfall of about 10,000 recruits for the Army in 2023.

www.military.com

There's a lot of information and also analysis within this article. What are y'alls opinions regarding this topic and that analysis?

 

[iluvatar5150]

Army Sees Sharp Decline in White Recruits

The shift in demographics for incoming recruits would be irrelevant to war planners, except it coincides with an overall shortfall of about 10,000 recruits for the Army in 2023.

www.military.com

There's a lot of information and also analysis within this article. What are y'alls opinions regarding this topic and that analysis?

It could be a bunch of things, but it’s likely hard to tease out which ones are at play without the geographic data they didn’t release:

The Army declined Military.com's request to share its regional recruiting data, which could show what specific parts of the country are struggling.​

 

[Laodicean60]

There's a lot of information and also analysis within this article. What are y'alls opinions regarding this topic and that analysis?

I am not ashamed to say that I forbade my four kids to join the military about 10 years ago. My youngest told me he wanted to join the Marines and I said hell no! I stopped believing in our role as world police and the situation in the ME. I said if he wanted to join go to the pansies in the AF. He ended up going to school. I believe more parents today and even the kids are war-weary. But who knows?

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I wonder if there is a desire by many whites, especially younger ones, to simply to drop out. I am retired, so I have pretty much dropped out anyway. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Desk trauma]

All recruits matter.

 

[wing2000]

"...a confluence of issues for Army recruiting, including partisan scrutiny of the service, a growing obesity epidemic and an underfunded public education system."

....and then there's the political attacks on the military -- from the right, which is relatively recent trend:

"No, the young applicants don't care about this stuff . But the older people in their life do who have a lot of influence ... parents, coaches, pastors," one Army official told Military.com. "There's a level of prestige in parts of conservative America with service that has degraded. Now, you can say you don't want to join, for whatever reason, or bad-mouth the service without any cultural guilt associated for the first time in those areas."

 

[iluvatar5150]

....and then there's the political attacks on the military -- from the right, which is relatively recent trend:

"No, the young applicants don't care about this stuff . But the older people in their life do who have a lot of influence ... parents, coaches, pastors," one Army official told Military.com. "There's a level of prestige in parts of conservative America with service that has degraded. Now, you can say you don't want to join, for whatever reason, or bad-mouth the service without any cultural guilt associated for the first time in those areas."

I have a (conservative, non-veteran) relative who is absolutely beaming about the fact that his two 20-something sons are in the Army. The only two negative things I’ve heard him say about the Army have to do with the QOL at his younger (enlisted) one’s very remote duty station and the fact that the older one (Lt) had to tell the men under him about the trans benefits offered by the Army.

Nothing about the threats that garnered one of them a purple heart.

 

[Laodicean60]

had to tell the men under him about the trans benefits offered by the Army.

They do whatever they need to do but not on my dime.

 

[FireDragon76]

"...a confluence of issues for Army recruiting, including partisan scrutiny of the service, a growing obesity epidemic

You can easily underestimate this being a factor. 50 percent of young people are obese. Many more are overweight. The US military's standards are such that even being moderately overweight can disqualify you from service. And most of the services measure body fat, not BMI, as a criteria (which can be more stringent than BMI).

Americans perception of what is a healthy weight, have trended upwards. I grew up in a house where everybody was overweight and being overweight was normal. When I tried out Veganism first in my 20's, I got body dysmorphia just because I dropped a few pounds and I thought I was starving (I wasn't, but people commented on it anyways). It's even worse now days. My BMI is actually slightly overweight (25.6, just under 22 percent body fat), but I'm still often one of the thinnest in a room full of people.

The average American adult male is now 28-32 percent body fat, which is unhealthy. The average woman is now 38 percent body fat, which is likewise highly problematic. We are a country of fat people now.