The Wall Street Journal reported on the current reality of the US army, as the US armed forces are at risk of declining because of the risk of not having enough new recruits, noting that “the children of American soldiers make up the majority of new recruits”.
And the Wall Street Journal considered that this issue is about to become a threat and bad news, in addition to the crisis of the Pentagon in terms of recruitment and readiness of the US army.
The Wall Street Journal quoted the former Army Chief of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, as saying that what they considered role models or influencers for them for recruits no longer encourage them to join the army, adding that mothers, fathers, uncles, coaches and religious preachers now don’t see children joining to the army is a good option.
According to Mullen, “The Army will miss this year’s recruiting target by 15,000 soldiers short of the 65,000, and the Navy will fall behind by about 10,000 recruits short of the 38,000.
The US Air Force will also fall short of recruiting 3,000 from the target of 27,0000, while the Navy has achieved the recruitment target this year, but has faced challenges.
Last April, the US military warned of the danger of contraction.
“Unless the situation in recruiting new recruits changes completely, I would be concerned that we might have to resort to downsizing the combat structure,” US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said at a hearing of the House Special Committee.
A report published by the “War on the rocks” website had indicated earlier that the risky recruitment crisis began to unfold after the complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, as the number of the army shrinks due to the decline in the number of qualified volunteers.
Some Western media talked about the problem of voluntary conscription into the United States Army due to Americans’ unwillingness to serve in the military.
