What do you see as the military's greatest challenge in 2023 and why?

I think the “WOKE” agenda the far left Democrats are pushing has infiltrated our military. Military Commanders of today do not seem to have the guts to defer the politicians agenda.

DE&I will ruin the military and needs to be eliminated as quickly as possible

Recruitment and retention. The pool of new enlistees is getting smaller for many reasons, including drug use, overweight, and out-of-shape teens. Recruiters are attempting to meet these challenges. Since better-paying jobs are available this also hamstrings recruitment. The lack of and in some cases poor housing is another factor. Stricter requirements need to be put on the companies that are providing housing for families and single service members. Newer barracks need to be built at most bases. Housing for sailors, when their ships are in port for long periods, needs to be better. The COLAs need to be raised so service members don't need to rely on food stamps. These are just a few of the items that are weakening our armed forces.

Retaining qualified personnel and attracting capable and fit recruits. We need people with potential and intellect that can handle the varied assignments that are essential for our country's dealing with the issues our military has to face.

The readiness of our armed forces when it comes to focusing the task at hand instead of worrying about inclusion and wokeness. Downsizing of our forces as well.

A corrupt President Biden, and other politicians, who literally hate the freedoms America was/is founded on and whose determined to take ALL our freedoms away plus intentionally make the United States of America into a Russia, Venezuela, Communist China and/or Cuba

I think recruitment is the biggest challenge which is not being addressed as a priority,
Some recent developments include waiving marjuana convictions, but that change
will not successfully fulfill the recruitment goals needed. I suggest more advertising of
the benefits of paid education and careers within the military. There is plenty of patriotism
to go around but the military needs to emphasize the benefits available and not just rely
on their local recruiters.

The greatest challenge for our military in 2023, is getting it right. There has been so many changes in training, equipment, and the world; each of the armed forces will need to adapt, to keep the enlisted and officers necessary to get the work done...

The new cold/warm war. China is coming.

Amongst the various issues facing the military today, mental health is by far the most severe challenge and least resolved challenge the military has.

After serving several years, experiencing toxic leadership, work stress, home and family stress, maintaining good mental health is each members least treated hurdle. We often talk about how mental health matters, but what is the military actually doing to help prevent suicide or any other kind of psychological instability. If enlisted members seek help they are punished by medical for “not being psychologically fit”. If a member gets on any kind of medication, they are place on an MEB to determine if they will get medically discharged with no pension, further adding to stress and the suicidal ideation. As a person that has been in this situation before it seems like they front to care about the problem of mental health and suicide, but when it comes to taking action and supporting those who actively seek help and try to get better, those individuals are punished. My personal opinion is that we are tearing our military apart from within because of egotistical medical admins who “don’t want people in their military to hold everyone back” yes these are things that have been personally said to through my career.

A lot of people talk about retention being an issue. It seems the officer corps doesn’t get it. If we are kicking everyone out for seeking help, or they are killing themselves by blowing their brains out in their car because they are shunned for seeking help, or are being told to suck it up, how do we expect to solve retention issues. I can see why this next generation has no desire to lead the military. I can see why they don’t want any part in this. The military is going to put you in situations that can cause severe mental health problems. Then if you seek help for those problems, they are going to throw me away like yesterday’s waste and just replace me with another person who will go through the same thing. Last time I checked we are all on the same side fighting for the same outcome. We are all serving the same country. So I pose the question, why are we trying to destroy one another?

At the end of the day, we are in the military, which is the most discriminatory organization to exist, and for a good reason. I just think that if we took a different and better approach to helping our current members with their mental health, we could potentially resolve a lot of other issues that our military currently faces.