The U.S. Army is scrambling after missing recruitment numbers in 2022 by wide margins.
"The Army plans to increase its investment in marketing and is expected to expand a new program for struggling recruits, but leaders on Monday offered few new details on how they’ll fill the ranks after falling far short of recruiting goals this year," the Associated Press reports. "Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters that a new recruiting task force is coming up with ideas. But any new plans would have to gel quickly in order to reverse the dramatically low enlistment numbers over the past year. For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Army enlisted just 75% of its goal — falling 15,000 soldiers short of the 60,000 target. It was the only service to miss its recruiting goal, but all of the others had to dig deep into their pools of delayed entry applicants, which will put them behind as they begin the next recruiting year on Saturday."
The failure also seemed to prompt this tweet from the Selective Service.
Parents, if your son is an only son and the last male in your family to carry the family name, he is still required to register with SSS. Learn more about who needs to register at https://t.co/GYbRK99c09. pic.twitter.com/tzW6uKkyl5
— Selective Service (@SSS_gov) October 7, 2022
But under questioning from lawmakers on Capitol Hill Monday, Wormuth refused to acknowledge wokeness in the military has played a role in tamping down recruitment. In fact, she pretended not to know what wokeness is.
Madam Secretary - you know exactly what woke means: dividing by race, promoting CRT, turning Army Green into climate change green. Soldiers don’t need safe spaces, they need a relentless focus on keeping America safe. https://t.co/eYM15MCRxz
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) October 10, 2022
Meanwhile, the Army has been running recruitment advertisements like this:
Recommended
Absolutely shocked that the US army missed its recruiting goal by 25%
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 7, 2022
How could anyone turn down an inspiring recruitment ad like this? pic.twitter.com/0PBv78DJf4