Erik J. Anthes is a former Army officer with three deployments to Iraq and was a Carnahan Fellow at the University of Missouri where he earned his Master of Public Affairs degree. Divergent Options’ content does not contain information of an official nature, nor does the content represent the official position of any government, any organization, or any group.
Title: An Assessment of the Recruitment Challenges of the U.S. Military After Two Decades of War
Date Originally Written: October 23, 2024.
Date Originally Published: November 18, 2024.
Author and / or Article Point of View: The author believes the U.S. has begun to lose faith in its once most admired institution, the military, due to strategic failures during the Global War of Terrorism. This loss of faith contributes to a dangerous inability to recruit qualified candidates, impacting the United States’ readiness in an ever dangerous world.
Summary: Recruitment and overall readiness continues to cast a shadow over every branch of the United States’ military, leaving many military and civilian officials asking, “Why?” How are those civilian and military leaders charged with recruiting so out of touch with We the People? The difficult truth is that the military has divorced itself from the very thing that united Americans and gave us hope; winning. The military is no longer winning in the eyes of our population.
Text: The disastrous withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan culminated 20 years of selfless sacrifice by America’s sons and daughters into an embarrassing crescendo of failure. Senior officers continually lied to themselves and the public about the prospect of a victorious outcome [1][2]. Back home, Americans were told this investment of American blood and treasure would result in a democratic Afghanistan free of oppressive Afghan Taliban control. Despite Afghanistan’s precarious history of never submitting to a conquering or occupying force, Americans believed in their leaders.
These same leaders conflated reports of their partner units’ lethality and training with their own, while fully subsidizing vital logistics capabilities in one of the most difficult environments on Earth. Two decades of little white lies of Afghan readiness to govern[3] ultimately metastasized into a fatal finale where U.S. forces found themselves obliged to make a deal with Afghan Taliban security forces to prevent a massacre of American forces and Afghan civilians under siege at Kabul’s airport in August 2021 — the same Afghan Taliban responsible for harboring the terrorists that perpetuated the attacks on September 11, 2001. Even with an agreement in place, 13 Americans were killed by a suicide bomber before the evacuation was complete[1].
Americans have also become further disappointed with the military’s commitment to its own people. What took many Americans off-guard is the military’s eagerness to force long-tenured service personnel out of uniform for refusing a vaccine[4]. Regardless of your position on the mitigation steps used to prevent infection by the COVID-19 virus, 8,000 trained and ready personnel were told because of their refusal to receive injections that their service wasn’t needed any longer. This was despite recruitment already emerging as a challenge. Alarmingly, the discharge characterization for 70 percent of those who refused injection was characterized as “General,” prohibiting from future reenlistment and access to GI Bill education benefits they earned and counted on for post-military reintegration into American society compared to honorably separated peers[5]. The White House and Pentagon have both rescinded these mandates without totally rectifying the unjust destruction of the careers of those who refused in all but 43 cases[6].
When most young men and women consider the military as an option for their career, retirement benefits can weigh heavily on their decision to serve. The legacy “20-and-out model[7],” or “High-3” served as a great recruitment and retention tool combined with healthcare, housing, and potential upward mobility. Unfortunately, the simple High-3 legacy model is no longer offered. Instead, retirement is a calculation that will see disparate outcomes depending on selections made with optional contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan[8]. Further, housing issues at installations are highlighted routinely in Congress and the media for black mold infestations, faulty plumbing, and inadequate heating and cooling systems in hot summer and cold winter weather[9].
One demographic the military has relied on historically, and whose support is declining as an ally in the endeavor to replenish the ranks: Their own veterans. Veterans are returning to their communities speaking bluntly to young people with facts and personal observations from serving[10]. This includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. They share their frustrations and well-placed anger that their bodies and minds are worn beyond their years. They’re no longer keeping hush the open secret that more and more veterans need representation by attorneys to get an accurate disability rating and compensation by the Veterans Administration’s own rules[11]. In fact, Veterans are the only Americans that must prove they are deserving of care. When they see the U.S. Government’s entitlement programs handed to those who didn’t serve, including large populations of undocumented migrants that hadn’t previously lived in this country, there is a justified feeling of abandonment as they are left to navigate a complex bureaucracy with the very government they served now seemingly acting as their adversary.
These facts are some of the issues crippling recruiters and their efforts, whose realities are not making mission for months and years on end to their own career’s detriment. The reality for our military is that, after decades of already bearing the strain of “doing more with less,” units have no relief from being undermanned and over-stretched. Morale is low while there technically is no longer a war to fight[12]. Motivation wanes among the ranks, more noticed by the public than ever with social media influencers casting light on critical quality of life and discipline issues. Ironically, these honest brokers are mistakenly viewed by the military as hostile agitprop instead of part of the solution to these problems, especially surrounding failed recruitment strategies[13].
The military is no longer a better option in the eyes of the citizenry for young people than any other American or global corporation. The military used to be revered by Americans for being the outlier of employers early in one’s life. No more is that a fact. Mistakes are made, lower ranking troops are held responsible, take the full blame, lose their freedom, pay, rank, or eligibility for promotion, and the senior leaders face zero meaningful accountability[14]. This is the military’s version of the civilian “Golden Parachute” called a “Brass Parachute” such that they are rewarded with lucrative positions within companies that benefit from these massive and expensive failures[15].
Our saving grace is there are still young people who believe in our military and winning. This is our nation’s greatest asset and resource. However, a growing number of men and women who have worn the uniform are telling this younger generation the truth as they saw it. They returned victors in the moment, alive, to a divided society that cares little about each other. Their experience on the battlefields of the world isn’t relevant to the society they returned to. In uniform these same Americans were fawned over for following orders they knew would fail; yet the moment they returned to civilian life and spoke up about policies they have seen fail in the past they are deemed “conspiracy theorists,” “dangerous,” and other damaging tropes.
And so, as any eligible American considers the military will likely ask: “What’s the point?”
Endnotes:
[1] Inhofe, J. (2022, August 19). Afghanistan was a predictable, preventable disaster. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/15/afghanistan-withdrawal-pullout-military-taliban-chaos-evacuation-biden-inhofe/
[2] Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. (2021, August). What We Need To Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction. SIGAR | Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-21-46-LL.pdf
[3] Vergun, D. (2021, July 8). Pentagon official says afghans have training, capability for stability. U.S. Department of Defense. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2687389/pentagon-official-says-afghans-have-training-capability-for-stability/
[4] Tricare. (2021, September 17). 6 things to know about the army’s new mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy. TRICARE Newsroom. https://newsroom.tricare.mil/News/Defense-Health-Agency-News/Article/2794341/6-things-to-know-about-the-armys-new-mandatory-covid-19-vaccine-policy
[5] Myers, M., & III, L. S. (2022, August 18). The vast majority of troops kicked out for COVID vaccine refusal received general discharges. Military Times. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/04/27/the-vast-majority-of-troops-kicked-out-for-covid-vaccine-refusal-received-general-discharges/
[6] KCRG TV. (2023, October 3). Just 43 service members return after discharge from military for refusing COVID-19 vaccine. https://www.kcrg.com. https://www.kcrg.com/2023/10/03/just-43-service-members-return-after-discharge-military-covid-19-vaccine-refusal/
[7] Military Compensation. (n.d.). https://militarypay.defense.gov/Pay/Retirement/%5B8%5D Philpott, T. (2019, February 13). ‘Blended’ military retirement plan not as popular as projected. Military.com. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/03/blended-military-retirement-plan-not-popular-projected.html
[9] Kheel, S. B. (2022, August 9). Mold issues, poor housing conditions for troops are rampant. What can Congress do? Military.com. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/07/22/mold-issues-poor-housing-conditions-troops-are-rampant-what-can-congress-do.html
[10] Nostrant, R. (2024, April 12). Only one-third of military families would still recommend service, blue star families survey finds. Military.com. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/03/18/only-one-third-of-military-families-would-still-recommend-service-blue-star-families-survey-finds.html#:~:text=The%20likelihood%20of%20active%2Dduty,top%20issue%20with%20the%20military
[11] Benefits.com Advisors. (2023, November 7). Should I hire a veterans disability attorney? Benefits.com – We Make Government Benefit Program Information Easier to Understand. https://benefits.com/veterans-disability/veterans-disability-attorney/
[12] Wood, D. (2024, February). In 2024, the U.S. military is weak…and that should scare you. The Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/2024-the-us-military-weakand-should-scare-you
[13] Cops, A. (n.d.). Army BLOWS 100 Million Dollars in Failed Recruiting Ads. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGFxsifudd0
[14] McDowell, M. H. C. (2022, August 18). Why aren’t military generals being held accountable for preventable training deaths? Army Times. https://www.armytimes.com/opinion/2021/05/03/why-arent-military-generals-being-held-accountable-for-preventable-training-deaths/
[15] Brass parachutes: The problem of the Pentagon revolving door. (2018, November 5). POGO. https://www.pogo.org/reports/brass-parachutes
