Army Sees Sharp Decline in White Recruits

You can’t make this up: “…the drop in white recruitment has baffled Army staff…” Really? Did the DOD really think marginalizing males and whites over the past years would have no consequences? The STARRS website has a thousand articles that warn the obsessive DEI push regarding race/gender instead of merit is a bad idea.

Army, get a clue!

___

The Army’s recruiting of white soldiers has dropped significantly in the last half decade, according to internal data reviewed by Military.com, a decline that accounts for much of the service’s historic recruitment slump that has become the subject of increasing concern for Army leadership and Capitol Hill.

The shift in demographics for incoming recruits would be irrelevant to war planners, except it coincides with an overall shortfall of about 10,000 recruits for the Army in 2023 as the service missed its target of 65,000 new soldiers.

That deficit is straining the force as it has ramped up its presence in the Pacific and Europe: A smaller Army is taking on a larger mission and training workload than during the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — leading to soldiers being away from home now more than ever.

A total of 44,042 new Army recruits were categorized by the service as white in 2018, but that number has fallen consistently each year to a low of 25,070 in 2023, with a 6% dip from 2022 to 2023 being the most significant drop.

No other demographic group has seen such a precipitous decline, though there have been ups and downs from year to year.

In 2018, 56.4% of new recruits were categorized as white. In 2023, that number had fallen to 44%. During that same five-year period, Black recruits have gone from 20% to 24% of the pool, and Hispanic recruits have risen from 17% to 24%, with both groups seeing largely flat recruiting totals but increasing as a percentage of incoming soldiers as white recruiting has fallen.

The rate at which white recruitment has fallen far outpaces nationwide demographic shifts, data experts and Army officials interviewed by Military.com noted.

They don’t see a single cause to the recruiting problem, but pointed to a confluence of issues for Army recruiting, including partisan scrutiny of the service, a growing obesity epidemic and an underfunded public education system.

Internally, some Army planners are alarmed over the data trends, but see it as a minefield to navigate given increasing partisan attacks against the military for its efforts to recruit and support a diverse force, according to interviews with several service officials.

The Army declined Military.com’s request to share its regional recruiting data, which could show what specific parts of the country are struggling.

Military.com had seen internal Army numbers that suggested that the shift in demographics was even more dramatic, but when presented with those figures, Army public affairs officials insisted that they were wrong and provided updated statistics included in this article, while blaming a system coding error.

The updated data provided by the Army did not break down recruit demographics by both race and gender at the same time, meaning that it’s unclear whether the sharp decline is worse among white women or white men, or if the drop was the same for both groups. . . .

. . . . .Meanwhile, the Army is seeking structural changes in how it recruits, including new recruiting career fields for soldiers aimed at putting the right talent into boots to hopefully help fill the ranks.

Even with recent attempts to boost its recruiting force and slick new marketing ads, it likely faces an uphill battle to overcome culture war issues that service leaders believe are, at a minimum, exacerbating recruiting problems.

But the drop in white recruitment has baffled Army staff and isn’t easily explained by any one particular factor, and no parallel demographic trends in the civilian sector are perfect comparisons. . . . (read more on Military.com)

Two quick examples where their messaging is off

(besides the oft-quoted example of the cartoon soldier Emma and her two moms video ad):

The Army was complaining about recruitment problems yet at the same time was promoting this on their website and official DOD social media. Who wants to serve with this troubled man?

Take a look at the Army’s recruitment website page on Basic Training. If you were a white male, would this inspire you to join?
https://www.goarmy.com/army-life/basic-training.html

Screenshots:

A woman carrying a man

A drill instructor looking not so mean to a woman:

Side note: “Pursue your own goals and interests”, not what the Army or country needs that’s bigger than them.

We are all for competent people of all races and genders to be in the military. But the Army page is pandering to women and minorities.

Then the page shows a video about a black soldier:

Then it shows another woman:

And then another woman:

This is only to the Chinese military’s advantage knowing that they are mostly going to fight women.

The page finally shows some white males:

The page ends with another woman and minority:

What is going through a white male’s mind seeing all this? Do they really want to be a part of this? It’s not racist for males warfighters to want to train and fight with fellow male warfighters. And there have been so many stories of lowering standards, which is demoralizing, such as these:

“We were on our final ruck in basic before graduation. There was a recruit named rowe. Her feet were bowed out to the side, walked like a penguin. She couldn’t keep up. DS Baker pulls me from the front, I was flag guy. He says “ look soldier we gotta quota to meet. she has to finish. And I’m making it your problem.” They literally linked us together with 550 and I dragged this lady for a few miles! mind you my ruck was already 75lbs. I was salty, but we made it.”

“Served 6 years as an Officer and recently left. I went in thinking this was the biggest honor of my life and wanted to do the hardest things possible to give back and give 20 years+. Fast forward to seeing people pushed through my Ranger graduation because of numbers/ difficulty actually removing individuals from the course. Airborne school graduation with individuals standing next to me that fell out of every run, failed pullup test and overweight… Deployment being handcuffed to actually accomplish something…They just sucked any chance of pride from these accomplishments away where I could sit back and say “Damm, I actually did it”. Lastly getting a chance to be an instructor and being forced to push individual’s into the force AS LEADERS, I was done. You could not remove terrible applicants from the school house because it would fall apart in a pile of paperwork. Disrespectful to an NCO or Officer? No problem. Failed a PT test? No problem, try again. Horrible attitude? No issue, they passed minimum standards. Failed academic tests? No issue, recycle and try again. I am absolutely the demographic the Army wants. I couldn’t be more patriotic, I couldn’t have been more motivated and the Army killed all of that. I would never trade those years because of the people I met, but the institution is absolutely broken. If the Army is pushing people like me away, I do not know who they want.”

Well, Navy recruitment is no better: Who is the Navy?