Why nobody wants to join the military

[smokingman]

Combine that with the leading cause of death for 18-45 year olds (a population also referred to as "Military aged") is drug overdoses (primarily fentanyl) and we have a shrinking pool to draw the 23%.

I've been retired (from the USAF, not from working) so long it's like we were flying balloons back when I was in uniform. Not literally, but from a "we didn't have this woke BS 86-07" standpoint.

All branches are affected by a lack of newbies coming through the door. Even when recruitment was in the dumpster pre-911 the USMC made it's goals IIRC. That branch will be affected more than the others by not making recruitment goals. Basically 20% turnover every year IIRC.

Bigger problem: officers don't get promoted by quoting Jim Lovell (Houston, we have a problem.) I saw this in the mid-late 90s during Slick Willie's reign of making all government larger except the DoD (that's how Algore reinvented government.) Using the pre-Desert Storm standards, a lot of units weren't fully capable of carrying out the wartime requirements. A writer for the Air Force Times (pre-Gannett, back when it was a good read) used the analogy, "The Air Force doesn't measure how much water is in the cattle's watering tank, they count the number of dead cows in the pen" referring to the cannibalization of aircraft for spare parts and treating wartime spares (aircraft parts on aircraft pallets ready to go in 24-72 hours) as an auxiliary warehouse.

Just to review: the Military needs young folks, a lot of them.

I got out in 1998. Was not woke,but Clinton gutted and eliminated quite a few bases in the USA...and yet even back then we where building more bases in other countries. Currently we have embassies in 1/3 of the countries in the world,but bases in half. Interesting times.

Any friendly wagers on a draft within 3 years?

 

[smokingman]

They should join INGO. No doom porn here.

View attachment 260040

I am sure our just in time supply system,banking system,government bureaucracies,and autocrastic over lords will never let us down. Ever.


Ok. .......Well,I will find some and post it lol.

 

[Route 45]

Well,I will find some and post it lol.

 

[Ark]

Citing a Feb. 16 congressional hearing, a DoD report reveals that 77% of Americans in the above age group could not physically qualify to enter the armed forces - a 6% increase from 2017.

Add to that criminal records,mental health issues,drug use,and the inability of many to pass even basic entrance exams even after "finishing" high school. Those who will not join woke indoctrination are not even included in any stats,but they exist I assure you.

"In response to this challenge, the U.S. military is adjusting its fitness requirements for some jobs, especially those that aren’t physically demanding, such as technology-based positions."

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

This is starting to look like that website where you enter all the requirements you have for a husband and it spits out a statistic showing that you've ruled out 99.999998% of the entire human race. When you take out all the men who are just fat, all the men who are skinny little twinks, all the drug users, the illiterates who participation trophy their way through high school, the "mentally ill" who are the majority of zoomers now...who's left?

The obvious first step, as the article says, is putting fat people in all the admin and soft skills and Chair Force support type jobs. So the fobbits will start to look like actual hobbits. Then the standards will be relaxed for combat MOSs, and attrition will shoot through the roof. You know what happens when you make fat people run a lot? Well, take it from me: It trashes your joints and then you can't run anymore. Those people in that image in the article? They're a year from anything resembling combat fitness...at least.

Who knows, in 20 years maybe we'll be hiring skinny mercs from Africa because we're all too WALL-Efied to put on a plate carrier and run 100 yards.

 

[KellyinAvon]

I got out in 1998. Was not woke,but Clinton gutted and eliminated quite a few bases in the USA...and yet even back then we where building more bases in other countries. Currently we have embassies in 1/3 of the countries in the world,but bases in half. Interesting times.

Any friendly wagers on a draft within 3 years?

Both @Trigger Time and I have shared this before: there will be a full mobilization with no draft (full-mob can bring back the retirees) before there is another draft.

From 1865-1917 (52 years between drafts) the world hadn't changed that much. From 1973-2023 (50 years since the last draft, scary ain't it?) the world has changed A LOT.

Retirees (non-medically retired) can be recalled to active duty by their service if they have not completed the 30 year service commitment, (I stopped getting letters from the Air Force Reserve Personnel Center several years back: hit 30 in Feb 2016.)

The DoD can recall retirees to active duty under 10 USC 688. This breaks it down to "not medically retired, retired less than 5 years", "not medically retired, retired more than 5 years", and "medically retired".

One thing I noticed over the years was the AFRPC (Air Force Reserve Personnel Center, in their many letters they sent me) listed my Primary AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) as 3S391 (Manpower and Organization Superintendent.) That's what I was when I retired, could still do it.

They also listed my secondary AFSC (what I was for 13 years prior to retraining in 1999) as 2S071 (Supply Management.) It always stuck with me the AFRPC seemed to think I was still fully qualified as a Supply troop in 2016, even though I'd been out of that career field for over 16 years. 2016... was 7 years ago.

I'm sure if DoD ever invoked 10 USC 688 on me it would be since they think I'm still a fully qualified Supply troop. That career field was cut WAY too much in the 90s and will absolutely need more folks in a shooting war. SHTF it doesn't matter I don't recognize the computer system they are using now. Trucks, forklifts, and warehouses haven't changed much since the Reagan Administration (or the Kennedy Administration for that matter.) Aircraft pallets are still 463L Pallets (4 as in April, 63 as in 1963) haven't changed since before I was born.

I'm not world-wide qualified for deployment as I was in 2007 due to medical conditions. Can I work in a warehouse and drive forklifts somewhere that's not a tent city in BF Egypt? You bet!

 

[actaeon277]

Both @Trigger Time and I have shared this before: there will be a full mobilization with no draft (full-mob can bring back the retirees) before there is another draft.

From 1865-1917 (52 years between drafts) the world hadn't changed that much. From 1973-2023 (50 years since the last draft, scary ain't it?) the world has changed A LOT.

Retirees (non-medically retired) can be recalled to active duty by their service if they have not completed the 30 year service commitment, (I stopped getting letters from the Air Force Reserve Personnel Center several years back: hit 30 in Feb 2016.)

The DoD can recall retirees to active duty under 10 USC 688. This breaks it down to "not medically retired, retired less than 5 years", "not medically retired, retired more than 5 years", and "medically retired".

One thing I noticed over the years was the AFRPC (Air Force Reserve Personnel Center, in their many letters they sent me) listed my Primary AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) as 3S391 (Manpower and Organization Superintendent.) That's what I was when I retired, could still do it.

They also listed my secondary AFSC (what I was for 13 years prior to retraining in 1999) as 2S071 (Supply Management.) It always stuck with me the AFRPC seemed to think I was still fully qualified as a Supply troop in 2016, even though I'd been out of that career field for over 16 years. 2016... was 7 years ago.

I'm sure if DoD ever invoked 10 USC 688 on me it would be since they think I'm still a fully qualified Supply troop. That career field was cut WAY too much in the 90s and will absolutely need more folks in a shooting war. SHTF it doesn't matter I don't recognize the computer system they are using now. Trucks, forklifts, and warehouses haven't changed much since the Reagan Administration (or the Kennedy Administration for that matter.) Aircraft pallets are still 463L Pallets (4 as in April, 63 as in 1963) haven't changed since before I was born.

I'm not world-wide qualified for deployment as I was in 2007 due to medical conditions. Can I work in a warehouse and drive forklifts somewhere that's not a tent city in BF Egypt? You bet!

I was asked by a coworker, a 'what if' they called me back.
Well, I didn't retire, I'm well past my inactive reserve.
Then there's the whole... I'm several generations out of date on both Reactor Operations, and Electronics (nuke).
The best I could do, would be MAYBE work on S8G reactors (Ohio class), since I prototyped on it.
But, operating the prototype for training is NOT the same as qualifying in the fleet.
And my fleet experience was S5W, which was out of date when I was on it.
And they're not going to retrain me for either, as the cost to train a RO was quarter of a million, back in my day.

So, I guess I'd be mopping the floor at nuke school maybe.