Posted on Jul 20, 2023
How would you solve the military recruiting challenges currently facing DOD?
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The recruiting struggles continue across all branches. What is causing it and how should it be addressed?
https://www.wsj.com/story/the-us-army-expects-to-end-up-15000-recruits-short-this-year-b5e9de86
https://www.wsj.com/story/the-us-army-expects-to-end-up-15000-recruits-short-this-year-b5e9de86
Posted in these groups: 
Recruiting
Readiness
79V: Retention and Transition NCO (USAR)
79R: Recruiter
8411: Basic Recruiter
Recruiting Readiness 79V: Retention and Transition NCO (USAR) 79R: Recruiter 8411: Basic Recruiter
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 436
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You can't fix the recruiting problem without fixing the social problem first. United we stand, divided we fall. Too bad "united" doesn't make any advertisement money or get anyone clicks or likes because it doesn't "outrage" anyone. Furthermore, the influence by social media either wholly controlled by our international political and military adversaries or infiltrated by a large number of their bots, can no longer be ignored as a further de-stabilizing factor. Statistics seem to generally indicate some 70+% of folks in this country are pretty centric and reasonable. They just don't have representation in politics or the media. When everyone thinks they are hated by their neighbor for being (often merely slightly) politically opposite or for whatever other reason (whatever the daily pick by media, social media, or politics is), or that they can never say anything that is right, a front sufficiently united to make the sacrifice of health, well-being, and life palatable for "this we will defend" is impossible. Under the current political strife and the uncertainty of what the common, actual consensus among our people is, the average person is understandably reluctant to make such a commitment. Even the thread on this post bears some evidence of the disintegration of our unity, especially considering this is an environment of very like-minded folks. I believe most here would actually be standing side by side as comrades in arms, came push-to-shove. Here like anywhere else in our country, we should be focusing and celebrating what we have in common instead of hating each other or fighting over what, in most cases, are really insignificant differences in comparison. If the person you are standing with is loyal, honest, helpful, trustworthy, dependable, and dedicated to get the mission done, nothing else matters. They deserve respect for whoever they are, and also for their sacrifices made for the common good. Just my humble opinion.
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In the past recruits have often been children or others who have had older family members who have served. In my family, four of our five sons have served in one capacity or another. One good incentive has been education opportunities. I have tried to be a good example to them, having served a combined 32 years of National Guard, active and Reserve service. While not every service dependent is a good prospect, many are and this is a great place to look for motivated and willing prospects for service--people already familiar with service life.
Also, at a time we have a border crisis and immigrants who want to be good American citizens, why not offer a military option for those who are willing and qualified to serve? In the past many draftees were migrant farm workers and many distinguished themselves in uniform. Anyone who wants to be an American should be offered this kind of opportunity.
Not every kid is a spoiled, overweight brat. Recruiters should visit campuses and look for the best candidates for service and make sure they are aware of the many benefits of serving and look for ways to motivate them. Academy prospects should begin preparation as early as junior high.
I was honored to begin my service as an enlisted member and I prized my first stripe as much as my silver leaf. Serving IS an honor--let's show it!
Also, at a time we have a border crisis and immigrants who want to be good American citizens, why not offer a military option for those who are willing and qualified to serve? In the past many draftees were migrant farm workers and many distinguished themselves in uniform. Anyone who wants to be an American should be offered this kind of opportunity.
Not every kid is a spoiled, overweight brat. Recruiters should visit campuses and look for the best candidates for service and make sure they are aware of the many benefits of serving and look for ways to motivate them. Academy prospects should begin preparation as early as junior high.
I was honored to begin my service as an enlisted member and I prized my first stripe as much as my silver leaf. Serving IS an honor--let's show it!
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Stop lowering the standards to pass. Increase Bootcamp back to 13weeks. Out back the basics for each service, advance fire fighting damage control, infantry etc... When I joined I did not worry that I was not fit enough to make it , I assumed I would be whipped into shape... Same thing I told those joining or asking me my opinion... Stop giving them a easy out... Make them do the full 9weeks then you can boot them. Pride and respect and friendships are made when you struggle together... Stop acting as if all Americans need to agree on everything... The military and organizations are not made or based on 100% agreement... The agreement is we will follow orders... Political parties change along with the will of civilians... Rules of engagement and what serve does not ... The military prepares for war, we do not chose or decide when it takes place... We carry out the mission before us ... We make due with what we have... Not wait until the perfect recruit or weapon arrives ...
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This is a great country and to keep it great everyone has to do their part. I would enact a Draft. Then you would have a choice enlist or get drafted for a minimum of two years active, two years Reserves. Our Democracy will fall from within, when it is taken for granted. The draft would be for ALL, male and female. Then restore the college entitlement and apprenticeship programs. No I am not a war monger, I just believe we all should do our part in keeping our country free. I served eight years. Some of the others I served with were engineers, who just enlisted but did not want to be officers. I learned a lot from these guys. I have no regrets having served. There are great educational opportunities in the military no matter which branch a person can get for just serving.. if you want it.
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The military lost its moral compass. There is no fixing that reality until those who live in Darkness face that truth.
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Start w8th going back to when it was worth joining, now days it's nothing but LGBTQ crap and men wanting to be females, females wanting to be men, Officer's as women when clearly they're males and vice versa and the same with Enlisted, I wouldn't have my Grandsons join at all
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Suspended Profile
Recruiting challenges are honestly just going to get worse. Social media and the ease of access to news really hurts the military. Wars and possibilities of war also don't help; especially ones so heavily contested. There are so many of us gen x and millennials who lived through the gulf war and OEF/OIF, raised kids and grandkids who're at the right age but, have seen how fucked up we are. It's a much softer time now too. It's a time where people make videos talking about how hurt they are and their mental instabilities. People have no idea what gender they are and have a heart attack over someone's pronouns. Sayings like, "man the f**k up" or "why do you care" are looked down upon and considered hurtful. This just isn't a good time for recruitment. It'd almost be better to recall all us broken and disabled vets. We'd know our jobs and it'd be a lot different. Lemme not even put that idea in the aether. Forget that last sentence LOL
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Shift to equipment which requires fewer service members to operate it
The M-777 155 mm howitzer has a crew of 7 plus the military has to buy a prime mover to drag it around.
The M-109 A 5–7 Paladin has a crew of 4 GVW and is 84,000 lb.
The GVWs for a HEMTT are:
69,000 lb
75,500 lb with a-kit
109,000 lb with b-kit
If you REALLY wanted a wheeled vehicle there are two available:
The French CAESAR 155 mm self-propelled howitzer crew of 5, can be crewed by 3 in an emergency
The Israeli ATMOS 155 mm has a crew of 2 – 6.
This is just one example. There are a LOT of places to trim personnel. We just need to get out of the mindset of “just get more privates to move/do XYZ”.
The M-777 155 mm howitzer has a crew of 7 plus the military has to buy a prime mover to drag it around.
The M-109 A 5–7 Paladin has a crew of 4 GVW and is 84,000 lb.
The GVWs for a HEMTT are:
69,000 lb
75,500 lb with a-kit
109,000 lb with b-kit
If you REALLY wanted a wheeled vehicle there are two available:
The French CAESAR 155 mm self-propelled howitzer crew of 5, can be crewed by 3 in an emergency
The Israeli ATMOS 155 mm has a crew of 2 – 6.
This is just one example. There are a LOT of places to trim personnel. We just need to get out of the mindset of “just get more privates to move/do XYZ”.
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Something of a mythological issue. Great options mean fewer recruits. Combined with the huge percentage of youth who require waivers, even the willing interested sour on the first impression of bureaucracy.
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I would start by returning it to a military outfit instead of a transgender medical depot and homosexual hide out. Short version, reinstate psych evals. Then I would start treating the vets we already have with a bit more respect(and by "a bit" I mean A LOT) so that recruits dont see discarded toys of the government and start seeing that there is benefit in being honorable even tho the honorable dont usually expect recognition. The US government has taken a dump on their soldiers for so long, there's no wonder there is a recruiting problem.
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The WOKE MILITARY is ruining all of the ARMED SERVICES. Until it changes recruiting will be difficult.
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I t may be time to reconsider universal service with options to serve in the military or in public service for 2 years. A delay can be authorized for people in essential training. BCT should be extended a little to improve physical conditioning. People who have a hard time adjusting be sent to special training platoons, we had those and some good soldiers came out of them. Don’t let folks out just because they feel they don’t want to do that. Toughen up. Then make sure the benefits of serving honorably in the military are something to be desired in general such as subsidizing education of veterans to the extent we used to. Don’t exempt folks with ADHD and ASD as they can funnction well in structured consistent environments.
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First of all, what kind of person would want to serve? Someone who was RAISED to see the United States as WORTHY of service. Me, I was in a family that had served for generations, and my dad's great uncle was one of only three Generals of the Armies of The United States. It was in my blood, quite literally. But today? The United States is wasting it's money dissolving college debts, and spending money on illegal aliens. WHAT has it done for VETERANS? Look how veterans are treated! We have trouble getting jobs, when corporations would rather import cheap foreign workers under programs such as H1B. FIRST, cut off the flow of imported cheap labor. Hell, remove the authorization of those already here. MAKE the corporations hire Americans! Corporations are not people with rights! Thomas Jefferson hated them, calling them "Aristocratic, defying the rule of law." THEN, give them incentive to hire veterans, let's say by giving them tax incentives. When your employer deducts income taxes, don't they also have to chip in? MAKE VETERANS TAX FREE. This would benefit the employer... AND it gets to the point of making veterans visibly valuable, THEN people would want to serve! We are not civilians, DAMMIT, and if the civilians don't like it, too freaking bad!
That still doesn't address the fact I wouldn't want to serve under the current administration even with my family history, but giving corporations a viable reason to hire American veterans would be a very good start. Hell, just make veterans tax free for all taxes! Use something like id dot me for validation. If those who seerve the country represent just a small portion of the population at large, then it would not be a great hit in so far as deriving operating revenue from the population, but it WOULD be a damn good incentive for service, wouldn't it?
There's my input, submitted for your approval. Semper fi.
That still doesn't address the fact I wouldn't want to serve under the current administration even with my family history, but giving corporations a viable reason to hire American veterans would be a very good start. Hell, just make veterans tax free for all taxes! Use something like id dot me for validation. If those who seerve the country represent just a small portion of the population at large, then it would not be a great hit in so far as deriving operating revenue from the population, but it WOULD be a damn good incentive for service, wouldn't it?
There's my input, submitted for your approval. Semper fi.
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CPO Melvin Miller
Did you everwatch thr movie: A day without a Mexican. I was about the labor force in California that most Caucasions would or could not do. Every state pretty much has migrant workers that either stay in the state or ravel from one stated to aother to plant and spick crops and thenn process them. Meat packing plants etc hire immigrants because they would do the nastiest jobs that others will not. If you got rid of all tehm and started paying higher wages and benefits the economy would be ten times worse than it has been since Covid.
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Sgt Arthur Grant
OK, please consider that I have had business accounting courses. What does a business want? They want a "personnel resource" to "deliver" a specific labor product at the CHEAPEST rate possible so that the company can make the most money possible from the delivery of said product in some form. Now, in a free market economy, those with skills have to compete for jobs, and some deprecation in compensation occurs as a result of this. However, liberal Hollywood products would like to tell us that corporations cannot exist without cheap foreign workers. That's utter nonsense! As proof, I ask the simple question: "How did corporations exist before the availability of cheap foreign labor" They existed by not paying executives unreasonable salaries! Executives do not DESERVE huge salaries, they are not the ones doing the work. Those with the skills to perform skilled labor are the most important.
Now, menial labor jobs are not skilled, they are just labor units that provide basic functionality at the lowest rate possible. I'm not talking about so-called "minimum wage." I'm talking about a wage necessary for subsistence existence in the vicinity of the work environment. Can a lower worker afford to live in the vicinity of the job? If not, that is a failure of the company choosing an inappropriate site for operations. If you want good American workers, they have to afford the rents charged them by the apartments available in the area of the job site. Now the apartments are run by what? Other corporations, right? Corporations that want the most PROFIT, so they want to charge the highest POSSIBLE rates tolerated by the rental customers in the area. Tolerable rents are directly connected to the available salaries in said area for workers of the appropriate skills level.
It's not that US citizens will not do the work, they cannot AFFORD to live in the vicinity of the job.
Foreign labor is not the answer. We lived just fine without foreign labor for a long time. The problem with both rental rates and available salaries is connected to the very same problem: unreasonable corporate executive compensation. That's the way my basic accounting education allows me to view the situation.
Now, menial labor jobs are not skilled, they are just labor units that provide basic functionality at the lowest rate possible. I'm not talking about so-called "minimum wage." I'm talking about a wage necessary for subsistence existence in the vicinity of the work environment. Can a lower worker afford to live in the vicinity of the job? If not, that is a failure of the company choosing an inappropriate site for operations. If you want good American workers, they have to afford the rents charged them by the apartments available in the area of the job site. Now the apartments are run by what? Other corporations, right? Corporations that want the most PROFIT, so they want to charge the highest POSSIBLE rates tolerated by the rental customers in the area. Tolerable rents are directly connected to the available salaries in said area for workers of the appropriate skills level.
It's not that US citizens will not do the work, they cannot AFFORD to live in the vicinity of the job.
Foreign labor is not the answer. We lived just fine without foreign labor for a long time. The problem with both rental rates and available salaries is connected to the very same problem: unreasonable corporate executive compensation. That's the way my basic accounting education allows me to view the situation.
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Hit them in the face with Patriotism because we know the money is not going to cut it.
Also let's please blaming: woke" and DEI as the reasons why the young adults of today are not enlisting!
Also let's please blaming: woke" and DEI as the reasons why the young adults of today are not enlisting!
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Up the enlistment bonus and better commercials. Show how military experience will get you a better job in the civilian sector.
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It's a simple matter of economics and quality of life.
Is the life of a recruit greater than or equal to the life of of an equivalent position outside the service. The answer is almost overwhelmingly no. In the Roman military pay, food, and care were superior than the average person. If you made it to retirement you also were guaranteed a relatively huge stipend and retirement.
In the modern military, pay, food, and quality of life are on average significantly worse. Most members don't make it to retirement incentives that cannot be gotten until after a term is hardly motivation to join, when we have horror story after horror story on blast because of social media.
So how do we increase retention and enlistment
1) NCOs and officers all need course in organizational psychology
2) bad leadership needs to be identified and purged from service, publicly so people see changes are being made
3) quality of life, pay, and food need to be equal to or supercede the civilian equivalent.
4) implement tiered incentives based on time in service so that people don't have to wait until the end of service to get benefits
Is the life of a recruit greater than or equal to the life of of an equivalent position outside the service. The answer is almost overwhelmingly no. In the Roman military pay, food, and care were superior than the average person. If you made it to retirement you also were guaranteed a relatively huge stipend and retirement.
In the modern military, pay, food, and quality of life are on average significantly worse. Most members don't make it to retirement incentives that cannot be gotten until after a term is hardly motivation to join, when we have horror story after horror story on blast because of social media.
So how do we increase retention and enlistment
1) NCOs and officers all need course in organizational psychology
2) bad leadership needs to be identified and purged from service, publicly so people see changes are being made
3) quality of life, pay, and food need to be equal to or supercede the civilian equivalent.
4) implement tiered incentives based on time in service so that people don't have to wait until the end of service to get benefits
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Conscripted service. Every 18 yo should be required to provide a service to their country. Nearly every public service institution in America is understaffed. 18 months minimum service for which a one for one month of college tuition is provided upon successful completion. These are all paid as internships or apprenticeships.
It would of course be objected too at first as every change is. However overtime, this would be acceptable as the norm.
Also, as a path to citizenship for Dreamers and legal immigrants. Has been a very successful program in the past. 100's of thousands of Philippino's now US citizens due to this program.
It would of course be objected too at first as every change is. However overtime, this would be acceptable as the norm.
Also, as a path to citizenship for Dreamers and legal immigrants. Has been a very successful program in the past. 100's of thousands of Philippino's now US citizens due to this program.
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Get rid of the Anti Military Traitor joe Administration and his Pentagon lackeys! Go back to recruiting able bodied recruits and dump the woke wannabe but do not want to live the military life! Elect a president who is pro military, not some run and hide in Canada pot smoking druggie! The young people today do not understand havinto work 8 hours much less 24 hours in a war zone! Just my opinion!
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