The military is also discussing allowing service members to use platforms like TikTok to attract recruits. But now the Pentagon is reviewing whether individuals who have been asymptomatic for a shorter period of time could join without a waiver. “That’s where they’re trying to win the hearts and minds.”įor example, in the past ailments like asthma and ADHD could disqualify someone from serving if the recruit had symptoms after their 13th or 14th birthdays. “Changing the mind of parents is the really tough part, particularly if these are parents who worked really hard for their children to go to college,” said Kate Kuzminski from the Center for a New American Security. She noted that recruiting ads increasingly target the parents of potential recruits. The military considers parents one of the biggest influencers for service.Īn expert on military personnel policy says that middle class parents, including those who are newly middle class, often encourage their kids to go to college before selecting a career, which hurts recruiting for enlisted personnel. military official familiar with the recruiting issues, who believes a lack of familiarity with military service contributes to that perception.Īmong Americans surveyed by the Pentagon who were in the target age range for recruiting, only 13% had parents who had served in the military, down from approximately 40% in 1995. “They think they’re going to be physically or emotionally broken after serving,” said one senior U.S. The survey sheds light on how both Americans’ view of the military and the growing civilian-military divide may also be factors in slumping recruitment, and how public attitudes could cause recruiting struggles for years to come. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver to join, down from 29% in recent years.Īn internal Defense Department survey obtained by NBC News found that only 9% of those young Americans eligible to serve in the military had any inclination to do so, the lowest number since 2007. The pool of those eligible to join the military continues to shrink, with more young men and women than ever disqualified for obesity, drug use or criminal records. Spoehr said he does not believe a revival of the draft is imminent, but “2022 is the year we question the sustainability of the all-volunteer force.” left Vietnam and the draft officially ended. He said the military has not had such a hard time signing recruits since 1973, the year the U.S. ![]() ![]() ![]() Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank. For example, the funding would help researchers come up with ways for Air Force loadmasters to load or unload a rocket, rapidly launch one from “unusual sites,” figure out where it might be able to land and detect enemies, and even investigate whether the rocket could airdrop its payload after reentry.“This is the start of a long drought for military recruiting,” said Ret. Instead the funding is meant to help the Air Force understand if and how it can use the rocket for military applications. The Air Force was clear in its budget justification that the service does not intend to invest in developing Starship. Once completed it will be the world’s “most powerful launch vehicle ever developed,” the company boasts.īut don’t pull on your Halo Orbital Drop Shock Trooper cosplay just yet. A fully reusable heavy launch rocket, Starship is designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond, according to SpaceX’s website. While the Air Force did not specify which commercial rocket it hopes to strap its cargo to, Ars Technica pointed out that only one matches its description: the Starship rocket being developed by the private space exploration company SpaceX.
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