U.S. military leadership is jubilant the service hit its recruiting goals this year after experiencing a significant slump in the number of new candidates signing up to join. But beneath the surface of this “win” is a troubling reality that could jeopardize the readiness of America’s supreme fighting force.
With the 2024 fiscal year coming to a close, heads of America’s military branches have been quick to tout their supposed success in hitting their respective recruiting targets. Throughout the past several weeks, the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Space Force revealed they all (barely) met their yearly goals for bringing in new talent to the service.
While the Navy signed up more recruits than it was targeting, it “will fall about 5,000 short” of its FY2024 goal because “it won’t be able to get them all through boot camp by next month,” according to Sept. 26 report by The Washington Post.
Despite the military’s perceived success in bringing in ample talent to fill its ranks, a closer look at what the branches did to achieve their respective goals reveals a startling decline in standards necessary to qualify for service and other alarming policy changes.
In 2022, for example, the Army axed a branch policy requiring interested recruits to possess a high school diploma or GED certificate to join the service. That change was announced the same week the Army “relaxed its tattoo rules, allowing potential recruits to enlist with tattoos on their hands and neck, which previously
