How would you solve the military recruiting challenges currently facing DOD?

Interesting question. The military, and the overall society that it protects, has a couple of challenges that they are facing with young people.
- There isn't a unifying enemy. During the cold war we had the Soviet Union. For years we've had the Global War on Terror. It makes me feel old to say this but today's eighteen year-olds were born after 9-11 and it doesn't have the same impact on them. In media narratives, today's "enemy" are other Americans and that doesn't help with recruiting, in fact it hurts it. Speaking of which...
- There is extreme partisanship. The right has been using deep state and woke military narratives that will lead to young people on the right being distrustful of the military and the government in general. The left has been using income inequality and lack of upward mobility narratives that will lead to young people on the left thinking that the military is supporting a system of plutocracy. Neither of these are helping attract people to the military either.

So the military is less likely to attract people based on feelings of duty, service or patriotism. Historically in periods of social unrest recruiting has always been hard. What's left? Well quite frankly it is one of the few ways to climb the social ladder and have a secure future currently and the price of admission is more or less free (monetarily at least). Money for college, VA loans for houses (that young people struggle to get) and pensions / lifetime healthcare for retirees are benefits the military offers that exist in a very few other places in our society. We are in a society that has made it very difficult for young people to get ahead and the military is a place that can help with these modern challenges.

First Dre the issues for us still surviving on Active Duty, listen to our voice, concerns and recommendations. Thisway we don’t continue to lose great Soldiers thus adding to the already struggling numbers. Next a significant pay increase will speak for itself in terms of both initial enlistment and reenlistment. There’s more I could write but as with many I’d be here all day lol

Hello my fellow Vets and Friends! As a bunch of us NCO'S and Officers went to Elementary and Middle Schools, in uniform with the "Be All That You Can Be! Something has to change!?

Current active duty, prior recruiter, and going back to recruiting duty again. There are many, many issues regarding this. First, while confidence in the nation and government are at an all time low, there are many patriot hearted individuals that can and will say yes to the call. They see their service to the country as an honor still, even if they're all almost unanimously fed up with the current government. However, I can tell you from personal experience, the new medical system, which can and does find ANYTHING out on you medically, even stuff you forgot about or happened when you were an infant, (and mom and dad forgot to tell you about), is drug up. Its turned what would normally be a 2 week application process into an 8 week ordeal. In the mean time, people often have to have a plan for survival, and in that period of uncertainty, they will often go out and seek something outside the military and decide to go with what is paying them now versus what they could make. Another major issue is social media; its given a voice to the younger generations to vocalize their dissent at some of the normal hardships of military life. It spreads a negative message on what is often perceived to be a personal level. As is often the case, the 1% of non-hackers cause 99% of the problems. And third, its a much more incumbent problem, the truly toxic leadership exhibited in many, many cases. What would normally be grounds for the future leaders of the military has turned into a politically charged race-to-backstab, or to pump up the egos of those calling the shots. It turns many people off, and they don't re-enlist. End result of all these issues causes and completes a self fulfilling prophecy; less people in the military equates to a tougher life for those within it, which drives down retention, which creates more problems, which creates more social media posts, which further dissuades many from joining. To solve the problem is a simple solution, yet dauntingly challenging in its execution.

1) The new medical system is here to stay. Some will say its good, some will say its bad. Good for finding the truly qualified, bad for turning away people that have historically been able to join in fair time allowances, with issues that are amongst the usual problems that people whom are in now may have had and completely unhampered their contribution to the military as a whole. I am unable to provide a solution for this, as saying "lets go back to the proven way prior" will be met by people reminding me that the new system was implemented to streamline the application process and to find out whats truly in someone's medical record, and probably some words of 'the military only wants the best of the best', while not realizing that people can, and have, been incredibly delayed or turned away for not disclosing something as benign as having their tonsils taken out at such a young age that they don't remember it having happened.

2) Social media posting. You can't stop a person from saying whats on their mind, even if its a totally exaggerated, emotionally charged script used to gain attention. "I was in for four years, never join, life sucks, etc, etc." Before what was word of mouth to a few people close to the individual, is spouted without care to an audience a thousand times the size. And since people in masses are cynical as a whole by nature, they will err on the side of negativity and write off the military as a viable option. The best you can do here is to fix the underlying issues of the military and encourage those that hear the trumpet of the bereaved to step up and voice back the truth and positive reality of what the military is, does, and what it represents.

3) Toxic leadership. This is the largest angle of attack, in my opinion. Without a biblical tirade of examples of such leadership, I'll throw a few blanket statements out there. Making mid level rank is a very quick endeavor, and with retention as low as it is, it shortens the gap of time that would allow a normal person the time to learn true leadership skills, and side with continual band-aid patches of blunt, brute force over compassion and finesse. Rank and evaluation go hand in hand, and instead of being the best at what you do, competition turns many people into Yes Men, scrambling for padding and numbers for their performance reviews, often collecting said titles and prioritizing themselves over unit cohesion. Lastly, many view their fellow servicemember as replaceable. "Oh, he's unhappy? Tough it up, this is the military, get out if its too hard for you. Hey, we're gonna need a new guy." Tough love, while still used, is fading into obscurity as young leaders choose to not invest their time in building someone up and instead demanding a replacement that falls into line with their own thinking, without question. Easier to roll the dice and replace instead of pause, evaluate, plan, and implement.

I can state, and to much objection by most all, that its not the way of thinking of the newer generation; the most basic question has always remained the same: Do you want to do good for your country or not? Broken down to such a base form, the reasoning itself changes from generation to generation, but the end result does not. The X amount of people in the country to Y amount of people whom join scales approximately the same. But in that same breath, if you become convinced for any of the new reasons to not join, its not that you don't hold that patriotic flare in your heart. Its because you have become convinced that the military is not what its been sold as, and instead, a festering pit of toxicity, hard life styles, little to gain, for a flag that increasingly feels less and less proud to represent. Objectivity kicks in, and while they may choose to remain an America loving patriot, how they express that will not be by raising their hand and taking the oath. This change requires a combined effort of the branches senior most leadership to take a hard look at themselves, at the state of the active duty military, and make the hard decisions to move back from the current political / social fads and return to traditional military values. I will be branded a foolish optimist, and I accept that mantle with pride as I say this: Promote cohesion, comraderies, install better leadership mentoring, and -mean- it, instead of going through rough motions to mark a wicket on a check list and say "Yes, we do do that", and the problem will begin to solve itself. Retention goes up, day to day life becomes better, the military is something to be proud of joining again, and more people will decide they want to join up. Next year is my 20th year active duty, and I have a few more in me after that. I've seen the rise and fall of trends, and the current one is unprecedented. But I truly believe that fixing, (or at least, planning for and around), these few core issues creates the domino effect that leads back up to a properly manned and prepared military.

The Afghan pull fubar probably made kids think twice...

This has nothing to do with being Gen Z. They said the same thing about millennials like myself. Most of my Gen Z and millennial age soldiers are fully willing to commit to a mission without a problem.

Bigger issue (to me at least) is this: I can go to a trade school and make 30-40 bucks an hour, along with (relatively speaking) making my own hours (including working odd hours for extra pay). Why would I join an organization that will dictate what I do and where I will go? Nor do I get paid extra when asked to do extra. What about the high schooler or college graduate with coding experience? Nah, they can make way more on the civilian side. What about if the military also streamlined how it prosecutes sexual assault? Why would parents want to send their sons and daughters to organizations that allowed Vanessa Guillen to get sexually harassed and murdered by fellow soldiers, along with obscuring the evidence around it?

I agree that some of the medical DQs are BS. ADHD is one of them, and certain surgeries are another. The amount of the paperwork that the DOD chooses to do to see if a medical waiver will be accepted is ludicrous. I waited 6 months for a shoulder surgery 5 years prior was being considered for waiver, to include having to see a contracted orthopedic surgeon. That's long enough to turn a lot of recruits away. Sports teams and school systems can do these way faster; there is no reason the military could as well. For example, what if we could take reservist PAs and docs who aren't doing anything at annual training or drill to do clearances and consults? Or use AI to screen waiver packets and do risk assessments?

Unfortunately with the way information moves, there is no single answer. However, raising age limits and increasing waivers for service connected disability for GWOT veterans could be part of the solution.

The reason for my answer has to do with the understanding of the sacrifices that GWOT veterans have already made and many are still willing to serve, regardless of the rating and are still trained to some extent.

Let Retiree's fill admin roles at battalion levels and higher. That would free up officer's and senior NCO's to do more training and lead at the company levels.

Simple bring back the draft. No deferments. Have mini sessions for those overwight etc. If they do not qualify you train them to get GEDs lose weight. Mini boot camps. Look at what Israel had been doing for many many years. You can always have these kids do other things beside the military. Get them right out of high school. No college etc deferments. Mandatory two years foa all. It has worked for other countries. Some kids just not cut out for the military but a lot of options to look at. Training, training to become tax paying citizens. I have grankids and great grand kids. I would like to see them all get a little respect and discipline plus learn some skills. Whether it be at a nursing home, National forest firefighting, or helping out in schools, hospitals, VA clinics, hospitals and homes. Or just working for the local parks and recs. Just getting off the couch and learning. Two year delay before college for some. To exceptions. We need to look at what other countries have been doing for years

Present the military as an alternative to college. Present ABVAV Scores(if that’s what they are still called) as recruiters present ACT/SAT scores. Hey man/woman, with you score, I can make sure you get into this MOS/Rate. Don’t lie to them; just to meet your quota. They talk to their friends.