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The Army of the Woke
American Thinker ^ | 7 Oct, 2022 | Lt. Col. Darin Gaub

Posted on 10/07/2022 4:48:21 AM PDT by MtnClimber

The Army fell approximately 15,000 (25%) people short of meeting its recruiting goals this year, and some Pentagon officials focused on the tight job market as the culprit. Though access to civilian jobs and higher pay is a factor, the truth is broader and ignored at our peril. Rather than confront the reality of what is occurring in the military and the consequences of these actions, these same officials have decided to make blaming anything but the truth an Olympic-level sport and our nation’s readiness to defeat our adversaries is running in last place.

I served in the military for 28 years, both as an enlisted member of the Army’s Infantry, and as an officer in Aviation. As a former junior enlisted soldier I know what it takes to keep good soldiers in the military, and because I commanded up to the brigade level as an officer, I know that retention of quality servicemembers is a critical component and signal of successful command. While I never failed to exceed retention goals in my seven years of command, today I don’t think I’d sign up to serve at all.

Let’s take a more critical and accurate look at why the Army failed to meet recruiting goals.

1. The Commander in Chief of the armed forces leads an administration targeting its own forces with friendly fire. People know the Department of Defense is supporting the administration’s pursuit of “patriots” and as potential recruits themselves, or parents of potential recruits, they are saying “not now.”

2. The American citizen knows three-letter agencies are targeting innocent American citizens while ignoring the guilty. The potential for this to spill over into the Department of Defense does not bode well.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: communism

1 posted on 10/07/2022 4:48:21 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

The left does not seem to recognize how ridiculous their wokeism looks to non leftists.


2 posted on 10/07/2022 4:48:32 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

I was lucky enough to serve under only two Commanders-In-Chief...Nixon and Ford,both of whom served honorably as Naval officers. There’s no way in hell I’d serve under the likes of Osama Obama,ILLary or The Big Guy. I’d desert first and do my time at Leavenworth.


3 posted on 10/07/2022 4:51:58 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (I Miss Jimmy Carter)
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To: MtnClimber

4 posted on 10/07/2022 4:53:03 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: MtnClimber

Oh, they recognized it well enough to know they have to steal elections.

And young people are smart enough to refuse to serve a nation that is no longer a republic.


5 posted on 10/07/2022 4:57:04 AM PDT by mewzilla (We need to repeal RCV wherever it's in use and go back to dumb voting machines.)
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To: MtnClimber

There will be no woke military.

The People will not tolerate it and are voting with their feet ....walking away.

Let Millie and his unpatriotic running dogs suck eggs , fighting wars with the queers and ultra sensitives he prefers to enlist and promote.


6 posted on 10/07/2022 5:13:54 AM PDT by Candor7 (ObamaFascism:https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html)
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To: MtnClimber

Bkmk


7 posted on 10/07/2022 5:14:59 AM PDT by sauropod (Unbelief has nothing to say. Chance favors the preparbkmked mind.)
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To: mewzilla

The problem is..not sure how you fix this.
Leftist are okay leaving us vulnerable to our enemies.
Our enemies are the leftists friends.


8 posted on 10/07/2022 5:22:10 AM PDT by Leep (Hillary will NEVER be president! 😁)
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To: MtnClimber
Of course they don't. They live in a bubble of an echo chamber of academia, media, law, entertainment and government jobs.

The DC beltway is the worst example, but it is far from the only one. They interview and hire only their own kind. Any opposing viewpoints can safely be ignored as racist, homophobic, stupid or whatever.

9 posted on 10/07/2022 5:39:33 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: MtnClimber
The author is viewing our armed forces failure to attract young men through the prism of politics. The truth is also political but different that he sees:

1. Young men used to join a service because he could prove himself. As young guys hit the last stages of puberty, they look for an adventure, a quest to conduct the final stage of development, establishing to himself and his family and friends that he withstood the tests of manhood. That test has been reduced/diluted to include young ladies, so it's no longer as effective and after seeing the way vets are treated even now even something to be avoided.

2. Men of my generation joined because our fathers and grandfathers also served when they were young men. It became a family rite of passage. Today, thanks to the mass avoidance of the Vietnam War, far fewer sons have military heritages to look back on.

3. Even the dullest of wits can see that the current Department of Defense leadership is more motivated to encourage homosexual grooming and young, plump women in the combat units while discriminating against any normal male who comes from the mainstream, normal families. Why join any outfit like that?

10 posted on 10/07/2022 6:15:19 AM PDT by Chainmail (Harrassment, to be effective, must be continuous.)
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To: MtnClimber

Is the Military being “cleansed” of conservative members in favor of “woke” members that when told to open fire on peacefully demonstrating civilians will say “Yes Sir”?


11 posted on 10/07/2022 6:35:26 AM PDT by antidemoncrat (.)
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To: Chainmail

I agree, especially with #1.

Liberalism has transformed many great organizations into entities mainstream men are no longer interested in joining or following.

The military, boy scouts, YMCA, even the appeal of the NFL.

They’ve really destroyed some of the best institutions that had traditionally shaped or influenced the men of this country.

I’m a vet and eagle scout. I pulled both my sons out of scouts when the organization went gay, and didn’t encourage them to serve in the military.


12 posted on 10/07/2022 6:36:17 AM PDT by ConservativeWarrior (Fall down seven times, stand up eight. - Japanese proverb)
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To: Chainmail

Your No. 1 is a huge factor. The messaging from the military is disapproving of “hypermasculinity”, male aggressiveness, etc.. The messaging actually is that those kind of young men will have to change and become less masculine, less aggressive, etc.. More inclusive and less elitist. It’s literally wiping out one of the primary reasons young men have joined the military.


13 posted on 10/07/2022 7:08:47 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin (0 OOP )
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To: Chainmail

Our modern tech has helped to make boys grow up into sissies.

Starting at about 5 yrs old I grew up walking (accompanied by my dad) amongst beef cattle in the feedlot, hogs in the hoglot, riding a horse, driving farm tractors (no cabs), and learning machinery maintenence. By age 7 I was doing most of those things alone or with a sibling.

After Jimmah Cawtuh and the globullist cartel of the time demolished much of the US economy, I kept farming a crippled career; if for nothing else, to raise my sons to be manly men. That goal was a success. They both went on to serve in the military.

As exaggerated as nearly all western/war movies and tv series were in my youth, they at least portrayed men as men.


14 posted on 10/07/2022 7:45:30 AM PDT by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: MtnClimber

I have a neighbor who just joined the Army and is now in basic training. They have added a new week of training in order to cover all of the “new” stuff they now have to learn - but he said it was less than he was getting at his university.


15 posted on 10/07/2022 9:22:10 AM PDT by impactplayer
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To: MtnClimber
All those reasons mentioned are valid but the elephant in the room is that an appallingly small percentage of American youth are fit to serve, something like 23%.

When your recruiting pool becomes that small and the traditional resources say no, the military is left with three options.

Downsize to meet the supply of new bellybuttons.

Lower the standards to keep the numbers up.

Hire foreign mercenaries that will do the soldiering Americans won't do.

16 posted on 10/07/2022 9:28:42 AM PDT by pfflier
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