

Part of this trend is a lack of knowledge about the great opportunities the military offers. 11īut perhaps the biggest difference from past years is that fewer young people are expressing a willingness or propensity to serve in the military.
Act pro v17 outlook 2016 full#
A full 36 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 have not been fully vaccinated. Given the military requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine, there is no doubt that a reluctance to receive the vaccine is contributing to the recruiting crisis. According to a source who prefers to remain anonymous, reportedly 7,000 volunteers are tied up in that system today that is taking an average of almost 62 days to process one application. MHS Genesis provides much greater visibility into a potential recruit’s prescription-drug history, but it has resulted in delays and unnecessary processing times. 10 It has not helped matters that the Department of Defense chose 2022 to bring online a new health care record, the Military Health System (MHS) Genesis, which has delayed the processing of new recruits.
Act pro v17 outlook 2016 drivers#
9 The biggest drivers are obesity, vision, asthma, mental health issues (such as severe anxiety), low scores on the qualification test, and a history of crime. Second, the pool of young people qualified to join the military without requiring any exception to the standards continues to shrink: It has gone from 29 percent in 2016 to 23 percent in 2022. 8 This creates intense competition for young people. Major corporations, such as Amazon and Starbucks, are offering starting pay over $15 an hour along with generous benefits, such as health care and education. Unemployment is near record lows (3.6 percent in June) 7 and many organizations are having trouble finding staff. The recruiting crisis is the result of the confluence of several negative factors, creating a perfect storm for recruiters. The Navy has called 2022 “arguably the most challenging year since the start of the all-volunteer force.” 6 But the Army is clearly having the worst of it. Every branch of the Armed Forces has been facing a recruiting challenge this year. 5 Faced with such personnel shortages, cuts to the force structure (such as brigade combat teams) are inevitable. General Martin believes that the Army will have between 445,000 and 452,000 active-duty soldiers at the end of FY 2023. The Army, consequently, is the smallest it has been since 1939. 3 This unattained recruiting goal will translate to a shortfall in the authorized end strength by more than 10,000 soldiers.

2 Today, the Army believes it will fall far short of the revised goal of 55,400.

The Army started FY 2022 with a goal of more than 70,000 recruits for the active force. The Army has steadily revised its recruiting downward based on its projections of what its thought it could achieve. But FY 2022 is on track to be the worst year for military recruiting of all. These include 1999, 2005, and 2018, when either the economy was booming (recruitment is generally higher when the economy is weaker) or when casualties in a conflict were perceived as too high. Since the transition to an all-volunteer force in 1973, there have been years when the military services missed their recruiting goals. Subscribe to The Agenda > 2022: The Worst Year for Military Recruiting Get exclusive insider information from Heritage experts delivered straight to your inbox each week. interests.īoth the Administration’s and Congress’s reaction to this situation has been underwhelming and unequal to the size of the challenge. combat units will have diminished strength at a time when the world is increasingly presenting challenges to U.S. Unless this trajectory is corrected, U.S. Without the necessary numbers of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Space Force guardians, the most technologically advanced equipment is useless. A recruiting shortfall translates directly to understrength units with less combat capability. The Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, General Joseph Martin, is projecting that the Army will fall short of both its authorized end strength and its recruiting goals by tens of thousands of soldiers by the end of fiscal year (FY) 2023. The Army and other services are reporting historic challenges in achieving their recruiting goals. military recruiting is having the worst year since the start of the all-volunteer force in 1973.
