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

I really can't say. I don't know what things look like on the inside any longer. I'm sure things in the military are different compared to when I was in.

The militaries greatest challenge in 2023 is that recruitment is down because the young adults today have realized they can get paid to stay at home. Why would they want to join the military and risk their lives to defend ours?

The U.S. Military's greatest challenge in 2023 and in the years to come is not Woke-ism, it's not recruiting better members, it is better educating our service members through Transition Assistance and taking care of our veterans AFTER their military service that better prepares them for the civilian population. This is an ongoing and underrepresented problem that no one is talking about.

For example, we all know and have heard for years now that 20 veterans kill themselves everyday due to suicide, but do we know why? I do. It is because there are underlying/internal issues that veterans need help in addressing coupled with the abuse of drugs and alcohol which all lead to suicide. 20 per day CLEARLY indicates that there is a problem that our government is not touching base with. Fun fact, more veterans have died by suicide than have died in most of our wars COMBINED. If you want numbers here they are; 6,000 military members died overseas in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict. If we do the math, this means that veterans die by suicide everyday more than they did in this recent war.

Another example is the 2/3 of military service members DO NOT go through the Transition Assistance program like they should, for whatever reason, leaving them s.o.l. at the end of their service. If we do our research, the VA DoD report 100% attendance rate for Transition Assistance classes, however, this is only due to the people who showed up. Meaning, it doesn't count for the rest of the military personnel who did not attend.

These are just a few concrete, researchable examples. I have more. The military's problem in 2023 is that there has not been a significant solution to the problems stated above and military service members are some of the most important people that we need to be taking care of. Lack of representation for our military members is another issue. Service members should be informed that they need to be preparing to leave the military as soon as they get in the military.

My name is John. Contact me if you need to. Especially for my prize.

[login to see]

The Pentagon needs to show high school grads that when their enlistment is over there will be a continuation of the military work/job when they are discharged. It is discouraging after 3 or 4 years of service to come home & start civilian life with NO means of earning a paycheck. I personally think the draft should be abolished, especially since it discriminates against lower income minorities. NO American citizen should be forced to defend this country. NOTE: WE have NEVER been attacked yet by anyone because our Constitution allows ordinary citizens to be armed like a militia. Always remember that our Military is very young people & they make mistakes.

Dealing with the current trend of pushing a woke ideology that is more concerned with social engineering than it is with preparing the members of the armed service for their primary duties, which should be the preparation and conducting of military operations in the defence of our national security. Our country's military cannot afford to be dealing with these political controversies while our nation's enemies are properly training and outfitting their military with the latest advancements that they can purchase. Our enemies warriors are not worried what gender they are or what they call themselves. The main concern of our enemies is that if they have to go to war with someone is their military units better trained and outfitted than their opponent's military units. With Russia at war currently with the Ukraine, China eyeing Taiwan, rouge countries like N. Korea improving their nuclear capabilities and terrorist groups around the world like ISIS planning their next wave of attacks, the United States can little afford a lag time wherein they would be able to properly outfit and train a disciplined and properly prepared fighting force.

Dealing with the current trend of pushing a woke ideology that is more concerned with social engineering than it is with preparing the members of the armed service for their primary duties, which should be the preparation and conducting of military operations in the defence of our national security. Our country's military cannot afford to be dealing with these political controversies while our nation's enemies are properly training and outfitting their military with the latest advancements that they can purchase. Our enemies warriors are not worried what gender they are or what they call themselves. The main concern of our enemies is that if they have to go to war is the military better trained and outfitted than their opponent. With Russia at war currently with the Ukraine, China eyeing Taiwan, rouge countries like N. Korea improving their nuclear capabilities terrorist groups around the world like ISIS planning on their next wave of attacks, the United States can little afford a lag time to properly outfit and train and disciplined and properly prepared fighting force.

At this moment in our countries history we are battling between inner national terrorists and the proper rule of law. Until we become a TEAM (Together Everyone Accomplishes More) and discontinue this angry hate for those who are not like (you) our military forces will always be at odds. Until (we) realize that it is about the service and not the individual our military services will continue to have TEAM issues. If we do not stop looking at each other as different and come together as a whole our military is going to become a circus of attempting to satisfy every little inequality that surfaces. We are not individuals in the military. We are (one) of the (whole). A number, a green box, a service member, nothing more. We voluntarily sign on the dotted line to give our lives to our country be we of another race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or any other thing that makes us different from another. Embrace that and we will be a united, strong military. Once you put that uniform on you are no longer an individual. You are part of something so much bigger. Until we stop thinking individualistically we will ALWAYS be at odds from within. You are not John, Jane, Jack or Dorothy. You are Airman, Private, Seamen or what ever rank you are. PERIOD!

I am a former USMC and I was the Family Readiness Officer's Administrator Assistant and the biggest thing I saw others were being mismanaged by senior enlisted. There is a saying that if they don't like you they will make your life a living hell! There is no second chances and I saw first hand good Marines go down a dark hole that the senior enlisted would target them! Bullying needs to stop! Everyone is going through something and it's also our duty to get help for those that need it and for those that don't want it give them a little bit of space to work through it!

Recruitment, maintenance, funding, and AI. Recruitment is challenging because of a lack of qualified civilians and bad decision making by military leaders (such as the highly publicized mess in the aftermath of the Bonhomme Richard fire, an example and by no means the only one)
Maintenance directly impacts recruiting, as nobody wants to join when ships are rusting through and helicopters are falling out of the sky
Funding is the eternal issue, there will probably never be enough and we need to be good at working with what we have, for instance, maintaining a ship or helicopter is cheaper than replacing it most of the time. (Not always)
AI is a powerful tool already and will keep getting better. If there is not already, we should be looking into how it can be utilized by both us and our enemies and how both uses can be countered or sabotaged. The AI toothpaste cannot be put back in the tube and we need to seize the initiative before our adversaries do

I think recruitment and retention are always going to be an issue. My biggest concerns are our current leadership and the ability to respond/defend against the leaders of the world that are currently at unrest.