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

I would be interested in how you plan to staff a larger Active Component military without presenting an attractive career option (i.e. you can't have a professional, active duty military without "lifers'), SPC Michael Budzinski.

Or.. we could just go with conscription...

As we all know the term lifer doesn’t apply to all. It rather applies to the loser without skills with no other option than the military. They often know little about their MOS, often the company screw up with usually at least 2, love grouping themselves, promotions don’t come easily, often the professional ass kisser, lazy, ultimate coffee drinker praying for conversation to avoid work and enjoy giving anyone underneath a difficult time while getting little respect. Even though a system in place with promotion quota times there must be a greater purge. The story of the military lifer.

War (i.e. Military Affairs) is an extension of politics by other means...

Politics -- in and of itself -- does not "degrade" military capabilities. Politics (for lack of a better word) is the wellspring from which the miliary flows. If the wellspring is poisoned by cultural rot, national self-doubt, and demoralization, then the military will collapse.

LTC John Wilson Having read through your synopsis of politics, I offer the following statement as how we are unfortunately at this juncture. My belief about politics in our military has continued to erode our nation’s effectiveness throughout the world’s leadership as well as our own ability to protect ourselves from external & internal (government) capabilities. At the top of this pyramid - President - politically biased (utilizing military force at his discretion unless calling forth a situation leading to actual war). Questionable morality - in the years leading up to the present, the morality of our military has been decided by politically motivated unelected representatives of our government with exception to the President, himself. Case in point, Rachel Levine (transgender by personal choice), holds the assistant secretary of health position. 1963, US AR 40-501 banned transgenders from serving. In the 1970’s, Gays who did not engage in homosexual acts while serving received General Discharges. Those who did were given undesirable DC’s. Those caught or identified would face court martial & sentenced to hard labor in prison if convicted. In 1981, USDOD released directive 1332.14 banning homosexuals from serving. During the ‘90’s, President Clinton initiated his policy DADT. At that point & up to the present, the Military has been flipped upside down. All political! Certainly, by that time, the foregone conclusion would leave us to the dilemma we are now facing. My point is as follows: Yes, whatever sexual persuasion you choose does cause an affront to fellow servicemen/women - why - in order to preserve our moral code from time beginning. Other cultures from a historical perspective have faced these imperfections & will continue until we change societal experiments. Speaking for myself, our military is like reading “Open only in case of emergencies”! Use us as we were trained - to serve & protect! Every veteran’s life is not to be discarded like an empty beer can at the whim of politicians! Ask yourselves “Does it really matter”? Come up with your own answer!

SGT Michael Lawler - You've merely provided detailed examples of the very cultural rot, national self-doubt, and demoralization that I alluded to. And these things will impact the military regardless, unless and until the military reacts -- APPROPIATELY.

In other words, Military Leadership must -- respectfully and lawfully -- stand up against moral rot and demoralization that impacts readiness and effectiveness as a matter of principle by speaking out publicly, and (if needed) public resignations. Additionally, Service Members should lawfully leave the service and potential volunteers refuse to serve (kind of like they are dong now). If is hard for them to discard people who are not willing to allow themselves to be discarded.

By virtue of the United States Constitution -- that all Service Members swear an oath to protect and defend -- the Military remains subservient to the Civil Government. Therefore, politics will continue to erode our military -- unless.... Politics falls downstream of culture. The Military -- subordinate to Civil politics -- may only take principled stands and/or seek to positively influence the culture.

In his address to the Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798, President (i.e. Commander-in-Chief) John Adams stated:

"while it is rioting in rapine and Insolence: this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition Revenge or Galantry [i.e. selfish lust], would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. OUR CONSTITUTION WAS MADE ONLY FOR A MORAL AND RELIGIOUS PEOPLE. IT IS WHOLLY INADEQUATE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ANY OTHER…” [EMPHASIS ADDED]

General Douglas MacArthur many decades later stressed in a 1951 speech"

""In this day of gathering storms, as moral deterioration of political power spreads its growing infection, it is essential that every spiritual force be mobilized to defend and preserve the religious base upon which this nation's founded; for it has been that base which has been the motivating impulse to our moral and national growth.

History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual reawakening to overcome the moral lapse or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."

Any incentive to induce good people to military service that does not address and reinforce a culture based on good moral and religious standards consists of noting more than applying a Sponge Bob Band-Aid to a sucking chest wound or an amputated leg as the casualty bleeds out.

You cannot fix the military until you fix the politics. And you cannot fix the politics until you fix the culture. The good news, though, is that these things can be fixed. And when they are, good people won't require much incentive.

The bad news is that change will require heroic moral and physical courage to take a stand and speak out. But stand we must.

It matters!

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102#:~:text=An%20Address%20so%20unanimous%20and,done%20so%20much%20honor%20to

LTC John Wilson I sincerely appreciate your finer points of characterization of the dilemma our country faces in the ongoing affair recruiting enlisted as well as attaining men & women searching to provide their expertise & moral leadership to advance our military superiority through out the world. Unlike your present status of rank, I am only able to provide my viewpoint anecdotally in the enlisted ranks. Therefore, I am only able to address first hand accounts observed in my short tenure. My role as an NCO was to provide experience, expertise, leadership, & trust when approached by the men & women who served under my direction. Even though witnessing various responses & assuring positive outcomes from the training recieved by myself as well as other NCO’s in the Platoon, our focus was to work together as a cohesive team. Recruitment also focuses on attaining personnel within the unit as opposed by receiving new recruits. I believe recruits involved men who were still being drafted up until 1973. Men & women through VOLAR were absorbed into the ranks with an emphasis on a specific skill set. Needless to say, the times were different - many advanced through the system but a small percentage were mustered out for various deficiencies. Recruiting didn’t focus on morality, even though the documentation did reflect more or less a recruits personal code of ethical responses. So, after observing future generations & the conflicts presented still requires a filtering process. My father, a WWII Veteran( Purple Heart with clusters & a Bronze Star received during Okinawa) had a few discussions regarding various topics centering on his role as a Platoon Sergeant. His primary task was to delegate various tasks within the Platoon & above all provide a sense of TRUST. He didn’t focus on morality(he did adhere to the Geneva Accord of capture) even after witnessing the atrocities of the enemy upon his own unit. He wasn’t concerned about the perversity as what occurs today, etc., etc.. His summation was “we” gave up in Vietnam. My understanding was “US Military” gave up! Depending on what history has revealed through the short lifespan of our country, depends on noteable learned men who looked past their contemporaries & sought a course of action to instill upon future generations. What they faced appears to me as the same issues we faced during my generation as you & our country faces currently. What is left for future generations is to “fix” what placates our country now. Therefore, LTC Wilson, thank you for reaching out to me & enlightening me with a more precise & favorable detailed explanation of how to collectively problem solve the matters at hand. Cerebral challenges allows someone like myself to think outside of himself in order to promote necessary viewpoints. I follow your viewpoint & look forward to more dialogue in attaining a deeper understanding of the present quagmire which confronts us all!

On the bright side more girls are enlisting.