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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaknrkuYBjE
Start the video at 15 minutes 20 seconds

Bring back the Draft.

With the current leadership of this country. I would not try and recruit anyone. I would never salute The Whiner in Chief, under any circumstance. So, I would not try and convince anyone to enlist. The Rump military police will be watching everyone to make sure they grovel when he comes around.

Make the service something to be proud of. Every time there's no direct threat, a society becomes complacent. Ancient Rome was a classic example. They had to buy off Genghis Khan! We must have a cohort that can defend America. Only the most patriotic should be there, but many see a chance for advancement. I'm for both. The automation will be extensive and relentless. However we have to fight, someone has to know how. Don't accept low standards of competence or character.

It’s ok young man. You won’t go crazy, you won’t be homeless, you won’t die in the military. Better to be a live wimp than a dead or crazy hero. But the navy been very good to me giving me a Purple Heart, and paying me for a loss of sanity. I was able to experience some normalcy. . Life is precious, freedom is not free. Muslims die for 72 virgins but America has lost its soul trying to get rich. Why would a man die for a country that rejects the after life, that has gay chaplains that don’t believe the gospel. Straight chaplains that deny the power there of.

The enemy don’t quit but soldiers feel like it after one or two tours. What are you gonna do make he army Muslim so you fight on the same level. Make the army like the IDF and truly fight terrorism. But you will have to do a lot of killing. What makes a Muslim soldier fight in Afghanistan for over 30 years and win. Do they have ptsd? They love it! Their kids love it!

Is their hate stronger than the love of our country. The government wants us to submit our sovereignty to the one world government. What about declaring peace and isolation. Nobody is grateful for democracy anymore. You don’t need those 15000 to defend our country. Only we do to police the world. That is going nowhere. But Israel is handling itself,out there. Give men a chance, no more foreign wars just our borders. Protecting our international financial interests has no soul except for the few rich persons. We can take care of ourselves and use our money wisely doing it and feed the poor.

Stop science, pay off the debt. Peaceful use of the soldier. Defend democracy but don’t give it away. Preserve it for ourselves. Make democracy right for us before fighting someone else’s war and then try to give it. NOT. Correct human nature. Is mister trump going to start wars you think. The kids think so.

Treat your people the way you want to be treated. Get rid of DEI, woke crap. The military is here to protect the USA. There is no place for all this BS about who you sleep with being brought up in public. There are 2 genders, male and female. That's it. The American Flag represents everyone, if your feelings are hurt by looking at the American Flag, than you should be removed and given a general discharge. If you can't handle that, you have no business in the military because you won't be able to handle combat. Treat your veterans well, dont discard them like trash. They are your biggest recruiting tool. That's just to start with.

I would institute a mandatory two year program for ALL graduating seniors not currently enrolled in a college for the coming semester - no deferments except for verifiable handicaps. Also, no washing out of the military; once you're in, you're in. After a time once you've learned discipline, leadership, goals, and a little about life, you can then decide after two years if you want to reenlist, or use your benefits for school. Either way, you'll finally be making wiser decisions about your life.

Legalizing marijuana, and wokeness has killed the military. Why would a clean and sober straight person want to join today's military?!? Answer is not many. Heck, half of America is either stoned out of their mind or too queer to fight. Just my opinion for today.

Look at the pool they were using back whenever and look at the pool they are using today.
Look at the differences and you may find so politically incorrect or acceptable answers.

This is my opinion and not what I am in uniform. I would make a horrible recruiter as sometimes I let my professional feelings at work get in the way of wanting to help recruit somebody into the service. That said, if somebody wanted to join, I would ask them why. It doesn't hurt to ask them why, because many of them haven't given it a good thought. What is going to motivate them to drive on when the tough gets going? Whats going to get them up in the early morning even after they had a late night. I want them to happy with their decision and not someday be like I didn't give them my honest opinion. To your question specifically, I feel like politics can have a major effect because of how polarized politics are right now. No question about it, I feel it is bigger than economy. I think our political and military leaders need to accept that. They need to tone down the rethotic that will somehow affect our military from recruiting the best that we can. We need people to join not out of loyalty to a specific political party, but to the service and that of the nation. Only saying that because I had a civilian state to me that she would not join under President Trump. I have served under several Presidents starting with President Obama.

My family has a long-standing commitment to military service, I'm retired USMC, and my two sons, too. The military has turned "woke" accepting mentally troubled types, transvestites, DEI, etc. Until that insane policy is reversed, the military will have trouble recruiting

More Jr ROTC classes

Who wants o stand formation when the GUY next to you is wearing lipstick?

They need to get the recuites trained to a standard that they can get employment in that field, they should not need to get training past the training they receive ie a&p licensing food service light vehicle maintenance so on so forth. Make it like a community college or trade school.

We need an Army that is 100% Army. Get rid of all the DOD, civilian jobs, etc. that displaced Army jobs. Cooks, clerks, post engineers, etc. I enlisted in 1962, and that was the way it was, and, it worked!!!

I joined the military because I wanted to use the G.I. bill to go to school afterwards
I did not waste my parents money to go to school because I wasn’t sure I would finish

You can offer the recruit something they want and sign papers that prove he’s gonna or she get what they want
You can always take the recruit to a post that deals with basic training and show them what they have to go through

I left out #5) Americans don't feel threatened. 9-11 was the last time I remember our country feeling truly threatened. My own daughter asked me if she should drop out of college and enlist. She wanted to bring the perpetrators to justice. WWII was one of the biggest military recruitment surges. Millions of men and women entered into service, and the folks back home built Victory Gardens, rationed goods, darkened their homes, hunkered down and sent care packages and letters to their loved ones fighting the war. Blessed be the Peacekeepers, but without challenges we never seem to see the heroism and sacrifice that we see during periods of conflict.

The problem stems from social media and wokeness. The kids today are pampered and wallow in their feelings without thought of hard work and effort. The worse part is that the current government encourages this behavior and lifestyle. From what I’ve observed, currently the drill sergeants and drill instructors are handcuffed and need to follow procedures that enable the new recruits to behave in ways that are unproductive in becoming a hard rough and ready military troopers.

The Retired USMC Commandant, GEN Charles C. Krulak, address the source of our present day recruiting and retention problems nearly a quarter of a century ago...

Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics (JSCOPE)
REMARKS AT JSCOPE 2000
By General Charles C. Krulak ,USMC [ret] { USNA '64 }
JANUARY 27, 2000

From someone who attended the annual Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics (JSCOPE) on 27-28 January, 2000.

GEN Krulak gave the keynote speech. It was a 'keeper.' He received a full-house standing ovation at the end. The text is transcribed below.

The Question & Answer session was also superb. You should have heard him defend his Marine Corps' 'no mixed-gender' basic training policy [he is not against mixed genders in the military, just mixed training ] before a gaggle of female USMA cadets and USNA midshipmen, after the Q&A session. The guy is absolutely magnetic. He charmed them while defending his position with enthusiasm, reason, and integrity. Even those who disagreed with him were positively impressed by his openness, sincerity, and honesty.

During the Q&A, Krulak came out and said that every one of the Joint Chiefs, in private, agreed with a 'no mixed-gender' basic training policy but none were willing to stand up to their civilian bosses to defend their professional military judgment -- sad. He said that it had become known within the Pentagon that 56 Marine General Officers would 'turn in their suits' if mixed-gender training were imposed on the Marine Corps, against their best military judgment.

The Marines drew a line in the sand, and the opposition folded.

GEN Krulak's Note to those to whom he sent this speech.

"JSCOPE is a Joint Services Organization that has been in effect for some 20+ years...they meet annually to talk ethics/values/leadership.

I gave that address yesterday in Washington...with a "header" and a 30-minute Q&A. It had students from all service academies plus officers from General/Admiral to ensign/2nd lt."

Begin text of GEN Krulak's keynote speech:

"We study and we discuss ethical principles because it serves to strengthen and validate our own inner value system ... It gives direction to what I call our moral compass. It is the understanding of ethics that becomes the foundation upon which we can deliberately commit to inviolate principles. It becomes the basis of what we are ... Of what we include in our character.

Based on it, we commit to doing what is right. We expect such commitment from our leaders. But most importantly, we must demand it of ourselves.

Sound morals and ethical behavior cannot be established or created in a day ... A semester ... Or a year. They must be institutionalized within our character over time ... They must become a way of life. They go beyond our individual services and beyond our ranks or positions; they cut to the heart and to the soul of who we are and what we are and what we must be ... Men and women of character. They arm us for the challenges to come and they impart to us a sense of wholeness. They unite us in the calling we now know as the profession of arms.

Of all the moral and ethical guideposts that we have been brought up to recognize, the one that, for me, stands above the rest ... The one that i have kept in the forefront of my mind ... Is integrity. It is my ethical and personal touchstone.

Integrity as we know it today, stands for soundness of moral principle and character - uprightness - honesty. Yet there is more. Integrity is also an ideal ... A goal to strive for ... And for a man or woman to "walk in their integrity" is to require constant discipline and usage. The word integrity itself is a martial word that comes to us from an ancient roman army tradition.

During the time of the 12 Caesars, the roman army would conduct morning inspections. As the inspecting centurion would come in front of each legionnaire, the soldier would strike with his right fist the armor breastplate that covered his heart. The armor had to be strongest there in order to protect the heart from the sword thrusts and from arrow strikes. As the soldier struck his armor, he would shout "INTEGRITAS", (in-teg-ri-tas) which in Latin means material wholeness, completeness, and entirety. The inspecting centurion would listen closely for this affirmation and also for the ring that well-kept armor would give off. Satisfied that the armor was sound and that the soldier beneath it was protected, he would then move on to the next man.

At about the same time, the praetorians or imperial bodyguard were ascending into power and influence. Drawn from the best "politically correct" soldiers of the legions, they received the finest equipment and armor. They no longer had to shout "INTEGRITAS" (in-teg-ri-tas) to signify that their armor was sound. Instead, as they struck their breastplate, they would shout "HAIL CAESAR", to signify that their heart belonged to the imperial personage - not to their unit - not to an institution - not to a code of ideals. They armored themselves to serve the cause of a single man.

A century passed and the rift between the legion and the imperial bodyguard and its excesses grew larger. To signify the difference between the two organizations, the legionnaire, upon striking his armor would no longer shout "INTEGRITAS", (in-teg-ri-tas) but instead would shout "INTEGER" (in-te-ger).

Integer (in-te-ger) means undiminished - complete - perfect. It not only indicated that the armor was sound, it also indicated that the soldier wearing the armor was sound of character. He was complete in his integrity ... His heart was in the right place ... His standards and morals were high.

He was not associated with the immoral conduct that was rapidly becoming the signature of the Praetorian guards.

The armor of integrity continued to serve the legion well. For over four centuries they held the line against the marauding goths and vandals but by 383 AD, the social decline that infected the republic and the Praetorian Guard had its effects upon the legion."

See also: https://isme.tamu.edu/JSCOPE00/Krulak00.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHPUhlE7fTw
https://youtu.be/GN7_wG7rBEM?si=pYx7bejVcRYkDzt5