Posted on 05/10/2021 6:35:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Bloomberg is out with a Monday report chronicling the sad state of affairs the US military has found itself in - notably trying to lure eligible recruits from Generation Z with a cartoon series dubbed "The Calling," which will run on YouTube during May and June.
As Bloomberg notes, "The Army—the U.S. military’s largest service—faces a complex set of problems: the eligible recruiting pool into all military services is small; and the newest generation of prospects, Gen Z, has had almost no contact or knowledge of the military, which has largely fought wars abroad since 2001. The Gen Z cohort grew up with technology, the internet, and social media."
The videos feature Emma, the self-proclaimed spoiled kid; David, the Hawaiian kid who at first didn’t let himself dream about becoming a pilot; Rickie, who grew up in a religious Haitian family in Florida; Janeen, a singer performing on cruise ships who joined the Reserves with the help of her Vietnam-veteran father; and Jennifer, born to first-generation Dominican immigrants, who worked long hours to make ends meet. -Bloomberg
It gets worse.
According to the report, almost 71% of those aged 17 to 24 - roughly 24 million out of 34 million people - are ineligible to join the military because of "obesity, lack of high school diploma, or a criminal record," according to Pentagon data.
In order to lure the eligible Gen-Z'ers, the Army will be spending $425 million on marketing, with the goal of recruiting 60,000 to 70,000 active-duty soldiers, along with 40,000-45,000 National Guardsmen, and 13,000 to 17,000 members of the reserve. To do this, prospective recruits will be served content on YouTube via 15-second trailer. If a person watches at least 10 seconds of the ad, they will see a two-to-three minute episode of the recruiting cartoon, followed by an invitation to hop over to the Army's website.
"Gen Z flips through social media like it is an Olympic sport, and in order to get them to stop their thumbs for a few seconds, you’ve got to surprise them," said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, the Army’s chief of enterprise marketing. "The Calling has got a much more different look and feel than anything else than not only the Army has done—but nobody in the military has done something like this."
America's foreign adversaries must be laughing their asses off.
Only 29% of Generation Z eligible for military service because of obesity, lack of high school diploma, or a criminal record: Pentagon pic.twitter.com/BZHV9xnoG0 — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 10, 2021
They have the same problems. Every country does. Even in the Middle East
But China has millions of cannon fodder to throw at the problem. We don’t
After earning his Associate’s, my son took a semester off from college to work on the Trump campaign. During that time, he met a lot of former military men who encouraged him to join, so he considered going into the Reserves before starting on his Bachelor’s degree.
I told him to wait until Trump was re-elected.
A shame. The military lost out on a tall, strapping, incredibly smart patriot who speaks 4 languages and has been a solid shooter since he was 12 years old.
As a white conservative Christian, he would be branded a domestic terrorist under Joe and the Ho.
I tend to agree but in this day and age, with our education system being what it is, but what do you do with those that don’t show up?
Even today a dishonorable discharge is almost non-existent. Kids get a General, wait 6 months and then file to have it changed to Honorable. So their lives aren’t effected by the dishonorable discharge.
Liberals have destroyed EVERYTHING. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.
I was always for a truly universal male draft at age 17. It would consist of basic and infantry training for 6 months or a year then release with no direct enlistment. I would even require a 3 month hiatus before a trainee can enlist in the regular military. Fear of the military which fueled the draft riots and antiwar nonsense would not exist because everyone would have experienced the military. It would not be something that gets one behind one’s non drafted peers in the education and job markets. Comes a war and a necessity, a more than sufficient number of men would be lining up to enlist. But the draft must not include women or women should go to a separate organization and train for home defense and organization but must not have the choice to enlist for combat.
Now we can have women in the draft too.
Fairness in equality.
Well there are a hundred million gun owners so ...
It is a bit late to defend the nation. We have been conquered already. Millions have walked across the border and took over the political system that and our treasure.
My son has a similar story. After getting his bachelor’s degree and waiting for acceptance to med school, he approached the National Guard. I told him to wait until after Trump got reelected. He gave up in frustration when the National Guard recruiter couldn’t tell him when, even what year, or where he would go to basic training. He is an Eagle Scout, an athlete, an honors student, and speaks English, French and Arabic. They should have been happy to have him but just gave him the run around. Now he’s glad he didn’t join because who want to defend Joe and Ho, or be “defending” the democrats in the capitol building with no ammunition.
My brain doesn’t work right, so I can’t even be drafted.
A better question is why those who can would do so.
Trannies?
Hilarious photo in post - looks like John Candy ... lol !!!!
That dude is a real porker. Be funny if he doesn’t even have a sling.
The thing that would stop China is armed American snipers in every home
Sort of looks like a Republican Space Marine, lol. (grand theft auto)
Perhaps our turn to hire the Hessians! Or form an American Foreign Legion!
I have long advocated for inexpensive pre-basic training camps, with the idea to get them in shape and physically fit *before* basic training. All you need is about 1 square mile, divided by flat and paved hills of several grades.
The campers wear civilian clothes, eat personalized meals in the mess hall and sleep in wooden barracks. They are trained by former and retired military. They eat three meals a day, and exercise five days a week.
The typical PBT would be 3 months, with more than that for those with special skills so they are worth it.
Hopefully, they will enter Basic with a fitness advantage over their peers; and since classes are limited by their worst members, their entire class should do better.
The Military, Army anyway, has been getting softer for decades...perhaps, due to today’s more sedentary youth, the pressure to go soft is greater.
Decades ago, discipline was stronger, non-UCMJ punishments were normally used (punishments like pulling K.P. (kitchen police), etc and getting cussed at by the D.I.’s)...stuff that punk, big city kids could understand but stuff that did not go on their records...so not to screw them up years in the future.
Now, the Military is just a mercenary force, not a military that defends the Country....and there are down sides to being in the military...relatively low pay but long hours and no good means for quitting prior to contract expiration.
When I went to Marine Corps boot camp in 1973 there was a fat boy platoon that got overweight recruits into shape. Once the weight goal was achieved, they were cycled into a regular platoon to begin the process of becoming a Marine. No reason why they can’t start that up in all the branches.
What follows Gen-Z?
Gen-AA?
Does this portend a drinking problem?
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