Re: "77% of American youth aged 17 to 24 will not qualify to serve the United States military without a waiver"

In article <[email protected]>
[email protected] wrote:
>
> Liberals are mentally ill.

No argument here.

The military touts a "recruit’s market" that should attract 
fresh blood into its ranks as each branch faces recruiting 
shortfalls following the coronavirus pandemic.

"In real estate, you talk about buyer's and seller's markets," 
Maj. Gen. Edward W. Thomas Jr., commander of the Air Force 
Recruiting Service, told Fox News Digital. "You know, this is a 
recruiting market right now. There are good opportunities to 
serve and good incentives to do so."

The military faced a drop-off in recruitment during the 
pandemic: Each branch met active component goals, but reserve 
numbers have fallen short each year. That shortage has now hit 
the Active component goals for the Army and Navy, with other 
branches just meeting their goals.

One significant factor that Thomas highlighted is the lack of 
engagement the military could pursue while schools remained 
remote in 2020 during nationwide lockdowns: A 2018 report by the 
Institute for Defense Analyses heavily focused on recruitment at 
the high school level, indicating the high value placed on that 
pipeline.

"Really in the long term … it's declining eligibility, declining 
propensity or interest in serving and declining trust in 
government," Thomas said.

"Today, 77% of American youth aged 17 to 24 will not qualify to 
serve the United States military without a waiver, 77%," he 
continued. "That's based on a variety of different reasons, from 
weight to medical issues to academic issues to behavioral 
issues, mental health issues. It's a wide variety with 77% don't 
qualify without a waiver."

And Thomas admitted that the perception around the military 
withdrawal from Afghanistan may have impacted recruitment in the 
last six months, but stressed that he would not consider it "one 
of the primary drivers."

The drop-off forced the military to reduce their goals, which 
they were able to do thanks to higher-than-usual retention.

"Back in 2020 and '21, we did reduce our recruiting goals 
slightly because retention was high," Thomas said. "We have not 
seen that in wanting to."

"What we saw when COVID hit, we had record high retention in the 
Air Force and I believe across the body," Thomas explained. "You 
know, frankly, it just wasn't a great time to transition out 
into the civil sector to be looking for a job. With all the 
uncertainty both in the market and people's personal lives with 
COVID, retention was high."

Thomas argued that the job market continues to play a major 
factor in the recruitment equation. With the nation facing its 
highest level of employment in 50 years, the military faces 
"fierce" competition with the general job market. The rate of 
unemployment spiked early in the pandemic but has since then 
returned to around 3.5%

"It's good for the nation in general," he said. "It makes the 
battle for talent all that much more ferocious."

To try and compete with that healthy market, the military has 
offered larger-than-usual bonuses, including up to $50,000 for 
certain fields, such as special warfare. Other fields for "hard 
to fill jobs" have incentives ranging from $3000 to $6000. The 
main goal is to keep trying to attract the best of the best, 
including varsity athletes, candidates with multiple language 
proficiency or candidates with expertise in niche fields 
including crypto.

Part of the problem may be due to the lack of understanding when 
it comes to the kinds of roles available in the military. In 
just the Air Force alone, Thomas noted that there are "about 130 
enlisted career fields."

"Almost anything you can do in a major city, maybe other than 
being a stockbroker, you know, or a few select jobs you can 
pretty much do in the Air Force," he explained. "So all of the 
peripherals that we recruit for, we're recruiting for medical, 
for radiology technicians, for dental technicians … you name it."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/military-recruitment-lags-record-
incentives