The US Army on a verge of new crisis as warnings of a reduction in missions
The United States Armed forces facing a crisis as it’s at risk of being cut down due to the risk of not having enough new recruits.
US Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said at House Special Committee hearing, “If the situation in recruiting new recruits doesn’t completely change, I would be concerned that we might have to resort to downsizing the combat structure”.
The Secretary of the US Army indicated that collecting a sufficient number of volunteers this year will be a challenge, since the army is facing a huge shortage in the number of young men who apply to serve in the US army.
The US Army plans to gather about 64,000 soldiers this year and about 65.5,000 next year, according to previously published budget requirements.
The number of army soldiers was reduced from 482,000 in 2021 to 473,000 in 2023, and it’s expected that there will be 452,000 people serving in the armed forces in 2024.
The American Tom Dispatch website posted an article reveals that after more than 20 years of losing wars, recruitment into the US army is now officially in a state of chaos.
The article stated that on 2022, this service failed to achieve its goal at a rate of 15,000 recruits, which is equivalent to a quarter of its annual goal.
And despite the improvement in numbers in the first months of the current year 2023, army officials doubt that they will achieve their goal this time as well.
Other branches of the US army aren’t doing well either, as the US army witnessed a 9% decrease in the scores of the basic test, according to which the destination in which a recruit can serve is determined according to his level.
The strength of volunteers in the US army may have reached the point of collapse or the limit.
A report by the War on the rocks website last month indicated that the risky recruitment crisis began to unfold after the complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, as the number of the army shrinks due to the decline in the number of qualified volunteers.
