The Army already has 30,000 enlistments for this year, an increase over the 24,000 that had enlisted by this time last year. The federal fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
Under President Joe Biden, the military has seen the worst recruitment numbers since the Vietnam War, which ended 50 years ago, on April 30, 1975.
Challenges facing military recruitment include a vast majority of American youth who are fat, out of shape, and have related medical issues resulting from diet and lack of exercise.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, About 16.1% of American children and adolescents ages 2–19 are overweight, and 19.3% are obese. The health agency says one in every three American youth are overweight or obese.
Another challenge has been perceptions of the military as being “woke,” more concerned about equity politics than warrior competencies.
Biden’s disastrous decisions surrounding the pulling of troops from Kabul ended in the deaths of 13 US military servicemen. He executed that operation agains the counsel of his top military advisers who predicted the collapse of the country’s government to the Taliban. The Taliban took control before the last US military jet had left the Kabul airstrip on Aug. 30, 2021, stranding at least 1,000 American citizens, and abandoning tens of thousands of our Afghan allies, who were hunted and killed by the Taliban. Biden left behind at least $7 billion in US military equipment that the Taliban took control of.
It was the beginning of an inauspicious four years for the military, which saw recruitments drop dramatically.
