As the U.S. Army struggles with recruitment, the service is cutting its force by about 24,000 in a restructuring that it says will help the service fight in future wars.
The almost 5% of jobs cut will mostly affect posts that have remained empty and not actual soldiers, according to an Army document published Tuesday.
“The Army is not asking current soldiers to leave. As the Army builds back end strength over the next few years, most installations will likely see an increase in the number of soldiers actually stationed there,” the Army said.
Most of the jobs being slashed are related to counterinsurgency positions that grew during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but are not in high demand today.
There also will be about 10,000 posts cut from cavalry squadrons, Stryker brigade combat teams, infantry brigade combat teams and security force assistance brigades, which are used to train foreign forces.
The Army “is currently significantly over-structured,” according to the document, and there aren’t enough soldiers to fill existing units. The service is also looking to optimize itself for large scale or multidomain combat operations, a shift away from a close combat, counterinsurgency structure. . . . (read more on Fox News)
What People Are Saying
Some comments made on the article:
“Wow, the justification for slashing positions is a pretty creative spin. If you cut the force, then it’s easier to make a much lower goal. Spin it anyway you want, Woke policies and much lower standards = recruiting shortfalls. It’s not rocket science.”
“I’ll give you the answer. When the current administration demonizes white conservative men, who make up about 64% of the armed forces, as “racist” and “extremists” it shouldn’t be a surprise as to why recruiting is down. Couple that with the fact the Secretary of the Army said she doesn’t want “legacy soldiers” i.e. recruits who have family members that have served. The blame for low numbers can be put directly on the Biden administration. Who would want to serve when the administration hates you?”
“After serving 23 years including OIF, OEF, Desert Storm I have watched the standards drop , discipline disappear and physical standards lowered. theres a reason we havent won a war since WW2. The leaders today are more worried about everyone being inclusive and not keeping the Military a fighting force designed to engage the enemy, we were so worried about casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan that orders were to basically avoid contact, we do not have the strong leaders we once had. Politicians are to busy being involved and turning our military into an all inclusive club. The Military needs to be ran as it was designed, not by political leaders who cater to the whims of the public and follow the latest trends. We would NOT survive a war similar to whats happening in Ukraine. yes we have technology but we do not have the discipline or desire to fight or defend our Country. we have let the Political leaders dismantle the Military and brain wash our past few decades of youth to be defiant and entitled. Men want to be women and vis versa, hate the Flag and Country expect everything to be handed to them, and give back nothing. The real Soldiers, Marines and Airmen are leaving in droves because they are sick and tired of carrying everyone else and dealing with the latest bunch of brain washed recruits who are all inclusive and cant perform or refuse. At one time we weeded out those who couldnt make it physically or mentally only those who met the standards could wear a uniform.”
“The way we used to work – as brothers! The sweat and salt pouring off our bodies in the heat was a badge of honor. We weren’t just a team. We were family. We were brothers. You did not want to be the last guy to jump and would fight to be first. We were as proud as young men could ever be. Defending our freedom and the American way of life was what it was all about for us. Not anymore. They can say what they want, but now it’s all about the individual.”
“The majority of military recruits are white and I would guess that majority holds most of the higher skilled positions. I say most most because I was in the military for 7 years and met many minority soldiers who were extremely bright and capable. That said, when America’s leaders join the woke minority to discredit everything white, including our history why would intelligent whites or any patriot defend a country with no identity?”
“My husband is retired military with 35 years. He says he would not serve in today’s military, it’s too woke and they are not training recruits with discipline and not training them in a way to keep them alive should they be in a war. They are too conscious of gender nouns and pronouns and hurt feelings.”
“23 years in the Navy. My son is 13 and is apologetic when he tells me “Sorry Dad but I’ll never serve.” I tell him it’s Ok. I wouldn’t do it now either.”
“As ex-military, no young man or woman wants to join an Obama/Biden-created woke-racist military, where men dressed as women have become their commanding leaders and Tampax machines are in the men’s commode. We’ve lost troops while China is gaining more. We have no spare ammo or materiel which will take years to replace, while China is creating stockpiles. We have no fuel reserves because Biden won’t drill, while China has a surplus. And thanks to Biden, American no longer has the once-massive energy capacity or ability to manufacture and create weaponry, while China has built a coal plant a week, for two years. Our offspring still believe in America’s values, but one of those values is not selling your soul and joining a military with leaders hellbent on suicide. The once indestructible cohesiveness and brotherhood in our powerful military began to degrade the day Obama was elected, and it is now totally disrespected by Biden.”
“A strong, proud national identity will attract strong, proud recruits – it’s not rocket science. Underperforming recruitment is weak leadership followed by poor moral and no national pride, an atmosphere or wokeness and weakness, a lack of respect for service and a lack of a clear distinction and understanding of honor and respect. If you have no pride in your country, you will not be willing to die for it. If you have more pride in your gender identity than your love of country, you will not serve your country. As a combat veteran of this great nation, even I, today, would not want to die for it as the country in its current state is not worth dying for; that is a sad state of affairs. I only hope that this country’s downward spiral is stopped and that we bring back national pride and bring back all our industry for without it, we are all doomed. China currently has these things that we had – they know what they are doing.”
“who wants to fight for this woke country? If I could take back my service I would. This isn’t the country I fought for.”
“The political army is playing games with the data. IF you delete positions you are supposed to fill, then the differential between your established manpower needs and the positions to be filled drops. So that differential shrinks and makes your situation appears less critical? Is the Army saying that we were paying for positions they could never fill or never needed to fill? Money for nothing? And since the inability to fill them makes our recruiting and leadership look bad, by deleting them the apparent shortfalls statistically shrink: Making the crisis less of a ‘crisis’ of their poor management from the TOP down to the recruiters office.”
“I’m currently in the Army (22 years and counting). Without a doubt, the Soldiers coming in today are substandard as compared to even 10 years ago. Generations of TV and constant phone time has destroyed them. It’s sad.”
“Gotta love DC babble. Less is More! Only the gov’t can come up with this head scratcher: “We are cutting our already depleted army in order to help us fight better!” When you can’t recruit the soldiers YOU said you needed to be an effective fighting force year after year…simply change the number, move the goalpost, “clarify” the objective” or revise the description/strength of the opponent.”
Evidence that the DEI/CRT agenda in the military DOES hurt recruiting and retention
If they can’t recruit, wouldn’t they try to hold on to what they got?
They got each other.
That’s a lot.