Free Republic

While some Republicans blame the COVID-19 vaccine or “wokeness” for the Army’s recruiting woes, the military service says the bigger hurdles are more traditional ones: Young people don’t want to die or get injured, deal with the stress of Army life and put their lives on hold. They “just don’t see the Army as something that’s relevant,” said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of Army marketing. “They see us as revered, but not relevant, in their lives.” […] Guiding the Army’s efforts are surveys intended to help pinpoint why young people dismiss the Army as a career. […] Officials said...

Reversal comes as Congress considers bill seeking redress for military's discharged vaccine refuseniks. The United States Military Academy is reimposing restrictions on unvaccinated cadets despite the lifting of the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, reports military attorney R. Davis Younts, a reversal that comes even as Congress mulls legislation seeking redress for service members dismissed for vaccine refusal. The Department of Defense rescinded the military vaccine mandate pursuant to the Dec. 23 enactment of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included a measure repealing the mandate. During the height of the pandemic, West Point implemented a policy prohibiting cadets...

A senior US general has privately told Defence Secretary Ben Wallace the British Army is no longer regarded as a top-level fighting force, defence sources have revealed. They said this decline in war-fighting capability - following decades of cuts to save money - needed to be reversed faster than planned in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Washington -- Nine military officers who had worked decades ago at a nuclear missile base in Montana have been diagnosed with blood cancer and there are “indications” the disease may be linked to their service, according to military briefing slides obtained by The Associated Press. One of the officers has died. All of the officers, known as missileers, were assigned as many as 25 years ago to Malmstrom Air Force Base, home to a vast field of 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos. The nine officers were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a January briefing by U.S. Space...

Amid the Army’s historic ongoing recruiting crisis, the Army Enterprise Marketing Office has decided to reboot its former “Be all you can be” slogan in a look reminiscent of the 80s. The famous slogan first appeared during the 1981 New Year’s College Football bowl games. The slogan is set to launch in March of this year and is being praised as a step in the right direction to better meet recruitment numbers.Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, the Army Reserve Officer in charge of the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, told Stars & Stripes, “[The Army is] not returning to ‘Be all you...

A female U.S. Army service member from West Penn, Pennsylvania, died suddenly on Christmas Day. U.S. Army Fire Control Specialist Pfc. Briana Kromer, 21, died suddenly at the residence of her fiance in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, while on leave from her post at Fort Still, Oklahoma. According to a fundraising campaign created by Deanne Snyder, Kromer was found unresponsive while in the shower at her fiance’s home. In spite of their best efforts, they were unable to save her. ... Her mother, Michelle and Bri were out shopping Christmas Eve. She went to church then we went to domaggios to eat...

An Army captain was separated from the service for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine as the GOP attempts to roll back Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s military vaccine mandate. Capt. Stephen Rogerson (a pseudonym) has served in the Army for 17 years, and on Dec. 6, a three-person administrative board voted to separate him from service. On the same day, the House passed an $858 billion defense funding bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2023, that included a provision to rescind the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. But soldiers like Rogerson are “falling through the...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—In an effort to root out racism, the Salvation Army announced they will no longer be accepting any donations in the form of bills or coins that have white people on them.“Ever since we learned that racism is everywhere, all the time, ingrained in every aspect of life, we realized most U.S. currency depict the faces of white men who only did evil, racist things in their lives,” said the Commander-in-Chief of the Salvation Army, Clurvis Bellman. “We then decided the best way to feed, clothe, and comfort the poor and needy is to stop accepting money tarnished with...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia soldier killed during World War II has been accounted for, the military said. Army Cpl. Joseph H. Gunnoe, 21, of Charleston, was reported missing in action in November 1944 in Germany. He was declared killed in action after the war, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Tuesday. Gunnoe was assigned to Company G, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His unit captured the town of Vossenack, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, on Nov. 2 but was forced to withdraw four days later. Scientists used DNA, anthropological evidence and circumstantial evidence to identify the...

Richard M. Fierro, who served for 15 years in the military, was at the nightclub in Colorado Springs with his family when the gunman opened fire. “I just knew I had to take him down,” he said.

To all of my Marine friends I say Oorah! To all of my Army friends I say Hooah! To all of my Navy friends I say Hooyah! To all of my new Space Force friends I say Hua! And to all of my fellow Airmen I say Fore!

A battalion commander is forbidding soldiers under his command from wearing their Army-issued fleece jackets while on a rotation in South Korea, where local average temperatures during the winter frequently dip below freezing. "The fleece cold weather jacket is not authorized for wear as an outer garment," Lt. Col. Geoffrey Lynch, commander of 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, said in an August memo reviewed by Military.com.

A first sergeant at Fort Hood, Texas, is making soldiers take the stairs after banning the use of elevators in the morning in a bid to keep the troops fit. "In order to promote physical training and fitness, the elevator will not be used before 0900 Monday through Friday," First Sgt. Avery Peoples said in a memo reviewed by Military.com dated Oct. 26. "This policy applies to personnel assigned to Dragon Troop and visitors." When reached by Military.com, Peoples only replied, "Don't call me again," and hung up.

Soldiers are leaving the Army National Guard at a faster rate than they are enlisting, fueling concerns that in the coming years units around the country may not meet military requirements for overseas and other deployments. For individual states, which rely on their Guard members for a wide range of missions, it means some are falling short of their troop totals this year, while others may fare better. But the losses comes as many are facing an active hurricane season, fires in the West and continued demand for units overseas, including combat tours in Syria and training missions in Europe...

Max Boot can rest easy. In no time at all, General Patrick J. Donahoe will have a chance to truly let his liberal freak flag fly, as no doubt he will. Noted Drag Queen enthusiast, Iraq war warmonger, and NeverTrumper, Max Boot, attacked me by name in the failing Washington Post last week. He called me a “random . . . troll,” “MAGA extremist,” and part of the “far-right forces trying to subvert American democracy.” Based. Truly, it is an honor to be insulted by a man so utterly wrong about everything. I am disturbed only by the fact that...

Amid vaccine mandates, complaints of "woke" policies and indoctrination, and a tight jobs market, the Army fell 25% short of its recruitment goal this year, about 15,000 soldiers, the Associated Press reported. The shortfall actually is worse, because the original target of 485,000 active-duty soldiers was cut by 12,000 in April and further reduced later to 466,000.

When asked about how the army plans on addressing the concerns of its soldiers while dealing with ongoing recruitment struggles, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth emphasized the importance of “positive command climates and inclusion,” and rebuked accusations that the Army is becoming “woke.” […] “You know, we get criticized, frankly, sometimes, for being woke,” said the secretary. “I’m not sure what woke means, I think woke means a lot of different things to different people. But first of all I would, if woke means, you know, we are not focused on war fighting, we are not focused on readiness,...

The US Army’s first transgender officer has been indicted for attempting to pass medical information to the Russians in a bid to aid Vladamir Putin’s campaign in Ukraine.A grand jury came to the conclusion that Jamie Lee Henry, who is a Major in the Army and transgender, and his wife Anna Gabrielian (confused yet?) committed conspiracy and illegally disclosed “individually identifiable health information.” The indictment was unsealed on Thursday after the two were arrested.Breaking 911 provides some further details.BREAKING: First openly trans Army officer charged in plot to give U.S. military medical info to Russians to help in war against...

Major Jamie Lee Henry, the Army's first trans officer, and Dr. Anna Gabrielian were indicted for trying to give secret records to the Russian government The files included medical records of senior military officers at North Carolina's Fort Bragg and of their families The base is home to 52,000 active duty soldiers, as well as the US Army's Delta Force and Special Operations Forces Gabrielian was allegedly fueled by her patriotism for Russia, and told Henry not be a 'coward' when she expressed concerns about violating HIPPA Henry allegedly tried to volunteer to fight for Russia against Ukraine, but was...

The US Army has a major recruiting problem and can't find enough young people who meet the basic requirements to enlist, according to Army Times. Lt. Gen. Maria Gervais, second in command for Army Training and Doctrine Command, sounded off Thursday about the troubling developments. She highlighted disqualification rates for potential recruits jumped from 30-40% (pre-Covid) to a whopping 70% this year due to obesity, low test scores, and/or drug use.Gervais pointed out the service has experienced a "nosedive" in recruits since July 2021. She explained Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) scores were 10% lower during the virus pandemic...