What could go wrong?
Op-ed by Col. Raul Lianez, USMC ret and Col. Bill Gray, USMC ret
American military recruiting is in dire straits. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently determined the Defense Department confronts its most challenging recruitment environment in 50 years, reporting the department “does not have sufficient plans, goals, and strategies to guide its recruitment and retention efforts.”
Recruiters for the armed services face a daunting task, especially amid a hot job market and polarized cultural landscape. Existing AI tools have the potential to streamline and focus their efforts, pre-identifying those most qualified and most likely to want to serve.
They can do this through readily available public data while also respecting individual privacy. It’s time to use these tools. . . .
. . . So what can be done? In the near-term, innovation is key, specifically the AI-enabled capabilities that can maintain respect of individuals’ privacy while efficiently identifying those young Americans most likely to have the interest and ability to join.
The data is already out there both in the public space and within the Department of Defense.
The capabilities exist to analyze this information at speed and in volumes previously not possible. It is time to put it in the hands of military recruiters to seek out the best, qualified candidates.
But aside from those contentious battles, the fact remains that current technology can more quickly identify individuals the military branches should recruit and the best service members they should attempt to retain.
Today, educational institutions utilize AI, analytics and industry market data to bolster their recruitment strategies and sway the choices of women and men in the military age bracket. Why not our military recruiters and career planners?
In the short-term; technology can revolutionize the way the military recruits and retains.. . . . (read more on Fox News)
What People Are Saying
Comments from the article’s comments section:
“You can’t fix woke with AI.”
“How about keep woke politics out. The current state of the army and how “progressive” it’s become is the main reason I am hanging it up at the earliest moment I can. When I joined it was so much nicer in 07. Now it’s a joke of an establishment. I want to be proud of my job, not cringe when every new policy is made.”
“You don’t need AI to recognize the problem. Ask current members why they are not re enlisting. Many of them are fed up with the woke policies that are being initiated for our service members. The same reasons many are turning to other options rather than joining the military in the first place. I wouldn’t trade my military experience for anything. But I also wouldn’t even consider joining today’s military as it crumbles under this woke ideology.”
“I’m a flight instructor when I’m home from my regular job. One of the things that I have spent years doing is helping young people prepare for a military flying career. Over the past couple of years, they have told me repeatedly that they are not interested in serving in a woke military with incompetent leadership. The majority of them are straight white males who are unwilling to join a service where things are clearly rigged against them. All the AI and fancy recruiting in the world aren’t going to fix those problems. That is what I’m seeing in my part of the world.”
“I agree with that assessment. However, most of the “wokeness” is higher up. My son joined this past year. His fellow soldiers and immediate supervisors, do not agree with the wokeness and do not like the commander in chief. He honestly does not encounter it much.”
“When you boot a good soldier for not wanting to take a shot that the experts claim is of very limited effectiveness, you have a tendency to lose that soldier and in many cases the next generation. I served a full career in the Army, it had its good and its bad times, but I chose to stay with it. Now I see what Biden and the Democrats are doing to the military, and I am advising my grandson to look elsewhere for a career. The Army in which I was proud to serve, no longer exists.”
“No amount of lib lies will fix the issue. As a retired soldier, I tell all young adults to avoid the woke military like the plague. #WokeMilitaryLosesWars”
“They keep dancing around the real reasons and will fix nothing.”
“Raise your kids to love their country, problem solved. You are welcome.”
“Don’t need AI to fix this:
The Platoon SGT to the Company Commander in our “modern military”: “They’re ready and prepar–oh wait we had to let Pvt Suzie and PFC Shenequa off from responsibility for their vital weapon’s system cause they’re pregnant so they are not deployable to a combat zone for approximately one year…Sergeant Charlotte and SPC Brianna need to have a detail to lift the M2 and .5o Cal ammunition supplies into their trucks because it’s too heavy for them. Private Ashley is on sick leave for LGBTQRST microaggression PTSD. Oh, and by the way, SSgt Ben isn’t available for three months for mandated parental leave, LT Chelsea can’t go because she’s(he) in the 6 month pre-surgical counseling for his, I mean her transition surgery. …More than half the company voted for trump so we’ll still need to get to JAG for updates on their investigation for believing there were “irregularities”….{Think it’s silly?… it’s SJW reality in the military now/today.}”
“No need for AI to figure it out….here is the starting list and not necessarily in any order:
- Military has gone woke
- Drag queen recruitment video
- DEI
- CRT
- Vaccine Mandate
- Lower standards
- Purging of conservatives
- Not focused on defending the USA — more concerned with all the above
- Etc.”
“Only 16% of Gen-Z thinks America is worth fighting for, therein lies the biggest hurdle to recruiting.”
“Forcing soldiers to get the Covid shot was a terrible idea. Forcing woke policies on soldiers is a terrible idea. The whole idea is to make young people WANT to join the military.”
“They condemn masculinity then complain no one wants to defend this sad country.”
“Recruiting is down because no one wants to sign up for a woke, equity diversity military, that’s not what a military machine is for. And as soon as we get a real president in office that straightens out all of this nonsense, recruiting will go up.”
“The military is finding out when you go woke you go broke.”
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