Posted on 04/04/2023 9:47:42 PM PDT by 11th_VA
AURORA, Colorado -- Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service is struggling to add new airmen to its ranks and will likely miss its active-duty, reserve and Air National Guard recruiting goals this year.
Speaking Tuesday at the Air and Space Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium in Colorado, Kendall pointed to decreased interest in wanting to serve in the military as one of the main contributing factors to a projected shortfall in this year's recruiting numbers.
"We are currently projecting about a 10% shortfall this year in the active Air Force and more in the Guard and Reserve," he said. "We are swimming upstream against reduced propensity to serve nationally across the board and a limited percentage of qualified candidates."
Kendall's speech follows a Military.com report last year on a Pentagon study that found 77% of young Americans would not qualify for military service without a waiver due to being overweight, using drugs, or having mental and physical health problems.
The struggle to find new recruits from that small pool was already present during a difficult 2022. Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service, told reporters at last year's Air and Space Force Association's conference that the service was behind recruiting targets by between 1,500 to 2,000 airmen for each component of the reserve and Guard.
While the service managed to meet its active-duty goals last year, Thomas said that it had reached into its bank of recruits who had delayed entry into the service. Typically, the Air Force starts out with 25% of its recruits ready to begin training by the start of the year, having already signed up the previous year -- often through the delayed-entry program. That number dwindled to 10% for the start of fiscal 2023, leaving the service in need…
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
The policy announcement cited an increase in tattoos as another headwind to filling the ranks.
2-3 million illegals a year under Biden - and they can’t get a few thousand of them to sign up?
Its a good fit for the deep-state — they’ll fill their numbers, get maleable people with no connection to American history or values, and people who will shoot at Americans if necessary.
I guess MS-13 can sign up now …
Its because they haven't achieved total control yet. We are still in the subversion stage, but nearing crisis stage.
They missed some of the balloons too, at $400,000 a missile instead of $50-$100 a bullet/cannon shell.
Nice shootin’Tex!
What next, re recruiting Cub Scouts and Brownies for Mini-ROTC?
Turns out the LGBTQPWhatever crowd isn’t as big as the bots and social media shills made it look, huh.
Y’all S*** your bed, now you get to sleep in it.
Ouch. Comments are going to be removed real soon!
Somebody there really hates Israel.
Or it was successful enough to turn off the normies.
Ouch!
There’s talk in the news about a military draft.
Their failed policies are the reason they can’t recruit enough men now. The next step, they might force Americans to join.
"No Russian ever aimed an ICBM at my little ol' grandmother's hou- Oops, I guess they did!"
Regards,
I assume they've expelled every airman who refused the vax, posted a Confederate flag or other form of "hate" on their social media, or refused to participate in a Pride event.
Told my son to stop the Navy tradition in my family. He was planning on signing up.
I got an extended family member who went straight from college to the Navy. Got into flight school and is now in flight training. He was really excited. Now, it appears he can’t wait to get out. I guess the military has become a real sh*thole loaded down with foreign freeloaders and “refugees”. I’ll bet they’re all ready to bleed and die for America if called on to do so. SARC/
Most commentators sound sane. That’s a relief. But there were far too many anti-Israel comments there too.
Most of the comments look like they were written by neo-Nazis.
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