It was bound to happen. Another unwanted side effect of woke culture is raising its ugly head. The U.S. military is now at its lowest levels in over 80 years, and the reason is not general disinterest, as some would have you believe. Military experts have sounded the alarm about the Biden administration's "woke" policies within the Department of Defense as the U.S. military is poised to be the smallest it has been in eight decades, while facing emerging global threats.
Retired Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille accused the White House of treating U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East like "cannon fodder," claiming that the Biden administration's leadership has heavily impacted the recruitment crisis.
"The few in the military have always carried the burden for the many, but the alarming decrease in numbers not only poses a threat to our national security and defense strategy, but it also raises a question: can we confront the emerging global threats? This is not a recruitment issue. This is a leadership problem," Sarraille told Carley Shimkus on "Fox & Friends First."
Sarraille continued: "Talent begets talent, and quite frankly, why would this younger generation want to go work for an administration that uses their troops as cannon fodder in the Middle East like we're seeing? The administration, instead of creating a lethal force in raising our technology capabilities, has decided to implement woke progressive policies like renaming bases and funding or providing additional funding for DEI programs.”
Mike Glover is an Army vet and a counterterrorism expert. He teaches a special operations prep course in Utah. Glover has seen the number of sign-ups for his course dwindle as the various military branches struggle to recruit new service members. He believes the crisis stems from low morale, which has ultimately been impacted by a progressive policy push within the DOD.
In an interview with Fox and Friends he stated, "Part of it is national pride. We had a lot of national pride. We had purpose. I know my generation in the military after 9/11 had significant purpose, but a lot of men and women in the military don't have a lot of purpose and that's what we're missing across the board. I think, as a nation, especially in the military, so it's not surprising morale is at an all-time low."
Glover thinks that the military needs to re-focus all of their efforts on the mission, and away from DEI initiatives. He believes that could ultimately bolster the fighting force and help each branch recover from years-long recruitment struggles.
"I think the number one thing I would do is focus on the mission," Glover said. "The mission is protecting our country. I think these woke politics and this ideology that has embedded itself in our military is bad for service. Like the unique thing about the Army that I grew up in was you could be all you could be, and then it was an Army of one as a motto. Now we're focused on focusing on individuals when it should be the team effort. I think the esprit de corps lies in combat arms and special operations. I think we need to focus on that first, because a lot of men and women are being asked to sacrifice everything, and if they feel like they're not fighting for anything, that's a problem."
Glover is correct: Pride in one’s country is crucial in the military. Think about it. If you are a young adult who, from the time you were a young child, had been told that the country you live in is an oppressor and exists only because of systemic racism and other crimes against humanity, you wouldn’t rush to the recruiting office. Others, of the non-snowflake type mentality, who don’t believe the lies perpetuated by the left about the country are turned off in a totally different manner. These are people that believe the country is worth fighting for but are dismayed by the state of the military itself.
Our country will begin the year with 1,284,500 troops, the lowest number since before the U.S. entered the Second World War, back in 1941.
Only the Marines and recently formed Space Force met their recruiting goals, while the Army, Navy and Marines missed their recruiting goals by a total of 41,000. Last week Ashish Vazirani, the acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness, spoke before the House Armed Services Committee and informed them of the shortfall. He explained, "That number understates the challenge before us as the services lowered end-strength goals in recent years, in part because of the difficult recruiting environment." He then went on to say that the “all-volunteer force faces one of its greatest challenges since its inception,” which was in the 1970s when the draft was eliminated.
He then went on to offer more excuses, saying that recruiters claim that Generation Z have a “low trust in institutions and have decreasingly followed traditional life and career paths.”
While that’s true, it’s the left that negatively affects so many young minds. Leftists hates traditional values and do everything they can to disrupt rational normalcy. Twenty years ago, 25% of military age youths never thought about joining the military; today it’s drastically higher at 50 percent.
Vazirani went on to say: "This has led to a disconnect between the military and a large share of society. The youth of today are not saying no to what the military has to offer, they simply don't know much about military service. While the picture of the current recruiting environment is acutely difficult, the Defense Department and the military services are working together to resolve issues, improve processes, and expand awareness of the many opportunities military service offers. We must reach today's youth where they are with a message that resonates with them and motivates them to act."
You can’t take impressionable minds and fill them with hate and repulsion by disparaging their country day after day and year after year and expect them to want to join the military.
By the same token, you can’t portray the military as a clown show by trotting out recruiting campaigns that feature mental cases like the Island Boys and a man dressed as a woman and believe that you are appealing to the masses. The left has a woke consensus that drives their agenda. They assume no consequences for their actions; instead they project the repercussions on people and things that they want to destroy.
Recruiting isn’t the military's only problem. As Mike Sarraille pointed out, are we even sure that they are the fighting force that we need them to be in the face of rising global tension?
The left is weakening all of society, and the military under the Biden administration's lack of leadership is sure to reflect that in some unsettling ways.
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