U.S. Army Says ‘Woke’ Initiatives Not To Blame For Recruiting Shortfall

The Topline:?The U.S. Army maintains that new initiatives many have called “woke” are not to blame for the branch coming up tens of thousands of enlistees short on their recruitment goals last year.

Quote of the Day:?“I think there’s no question it’s hurting recruitment. I’ve heard this from recruiters, not just in Arkansas, but across the country … They join the army to learn how to kill the bad guys; they don’t join the army to learn to speak like they’re in a faculty lounge.”

-Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)

Recruitment Drop

Recruitment has been a challenge for all branches of the U.S. Military over the last few years, but the Army – the largest branch – is struggling the most, experiencing its worst recruitment year in decades in 2022.

In total, the branch came up 25% short – about 15,000 soldiers shy of its 60,000 recruitment goal for the year. Traditional thinking typically ties recruitment slumps to low unemployment, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

Critics say it’s no coincidence the shortfall comes amid an increased push for diversity and inclusion policies from the Pentagon and White House, as well as the controversy over vaccine mandates.

Army officials?say?that these factors are not driving recruitment issues. They cite a survey conducted among 18 to 29-year-olds which claims to prove that “wokeness” accounts for only 4 to 5% of those declining to sign on.

Major General Alex Fink, head of Army marketing, told the Associated Press that 13% of those young people surveyed were more concerned about things like racism and sexism in the military.

And…Officials also dismissed out of hand the idea that the now-lifted COVID vaccine mandate was a major deterrent.

Instead, military officials are blaming young people's fear for their own physical safety and saying that they simply don't want the stress of Army life. They also cited a “lack of trust” of the U.S. Military.

‘Wokeness’ In The Military

We learned last year that?U.S. Military academies?were teaching forms of critical race theory and other so-called anti-racism objectives.

For example…A Navy?training video?about preferred pronouns and “inclusion” garnered a lot of attention.

And two years ago, a Space Force commanding officer was?fired?after speaking out about apparent CRT and Marxism-rooted training he was receiving.

Some members of the Biden administration have denied the prevalence of some of these “woke” initiatives, while others have come out defending them. In 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said flat-out that CRT is not taught within the military.

But…General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, defended the studying of CRT and so-called “white rage” in a memorable moment before Congress.

“I wanna understand white rage,” Milley said. “What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out."

The basic argument of those against “wokeness” infiltrating the U.S. Military is that these initiatives and objectives not only stress differences instead of cohesion, but take focus away from vital training. They also worry about these initiatives creating de facto gender and racial quotas that could ultimately hurt our strength and readiness.