In the Tom Cruise movie Jack Reacher (2012), Reacher makes this observation about people who join the military: “There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it’s a family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next, you have those who just need a job. Then there’s the kind who want a legal means of killing other people.”
I think that motive number three is the main reason that American men and women join today’s military, but even that is losing ground.
Today’s military is not only not your father’s military, today’s military is not even the military it was ten years ago. This is undoubtedly why the Army missed its fiscal year 2023 recruitment goal by 10,000, the Navy missed its goal by 7,464, and the Air Force missed its goal by 2,700. Only the Marines and the Space Force met their recruiting targets, but just barely. (Regarding the Space Force, how long will it be before the U.S. military engages in intergalactic warfare?)
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According to U.S. Senator Jack Reed, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee: “Only 23 percent of Americans aged 17-24 are eligible to serve, as national obesity rates continue to rise and standardized mental aptitude test scores continue to fall. To compound this issue, less than 10 percent of the population have a propensity to serve—the lowest point in decades.”
Here is one reason why.
On August 9, 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin—after consulting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretaries of the Military Departments, the Service Chiefs, medical professionals, and leaders of the White House COVID Task Force—announced in a memo his intention to mandate that all military personnel receive the COVID shot. Said Austin:
All FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective. They will protect you and your family. They will protect your unit, your ship, and your co-workers. And they will ensure we remain the most lethal and ready force in the world.
Get the shot. Stay healthy. Stay ready.
Austin mandated the shot on August 24, 2021. A provision in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) repealed the mandate, but not before more than 8,000 military personnel from all branches of the military were discharged for refusing to take the shot. Before the bill passed, the Senate rejected an amendment to reinstate servicemembers removed exclusively for refusing the vaccine, as well as compensation for any salary and benefits lost due to the separation.
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The Department of Defense (DOD) is seeking to reenlist unvaccinated soldiers who were kicked out of the military. But so far, only 19 soldiers who were removed from the Army have rejoined and only 1 has returned to the Air Force. Many are not only not going back into the military, they are suing the federal government for back pay.
The federal government and the DOD simply cannot be trusted. Any former member of the military who is welcomed back can easily be discharged again for refusing to take the next shot. This is reason enough not to join today’s woke military. Many military families agree, and are now discouraging family members from joining the military.
Does it make sense for anyone to join today’s military? Perhaps if someone was homeless and destitute. But even serving in the military doesn’t mean that someone won’t be just as homeless and destitute when he gets out. It seems like all we hear regarding veterans is how they are homeless, hungry, suicidal, unemployed, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and how they suffer from PTSD. Just the other day I saw a homeless guy standing on the corner of a major intersection near my house. I saw only two things on the sign he held up when the light turned red: hungry and veteran.
