(Robert Jonathan, Headline USA) Amid recent recruitment woes, data suggested that the Defense Department may be losing a metaphorical battle of the bulge.
The Pentagon’s 2020 Qualified Military Available Study indicated that 77% of recruits were unfit to serve in the armed forces without a waiver of some sort.
“The state of America’s youth is not conducive to military service,” in part because “[h]igh fructose corn syrup was shoved down their throats by advertisers on [TV] commercial breaks,” PJ Media declared in reacting to the QMAS content.
Obesity, which is running rampant through the general population, was the primary—but not the only—issue.
“When considering youth disqualified for one reason alone, the most prevalent disqualification rates are overweight (11%), drug abuse (8%), and medical/physical health (7%),” the study summary noted.
The QMAS compilation also revealed that nearly 50% of the recruitment disqualifications were for more than one of these reasons.
In a perhaps related matter, the U.S. Navy recently erased fitness test assessment failures from service records as part of an effort to increase the retention rate for sailors.
Physically fit and clear-thinking potential recruits may also be unwilling to get bogged down in the pervasive far-left propaganda and related social-engineering that has found its way into the military as implemented by a DEI-obsessed, priority-perverse Biden administration.
In that context, late last month, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned that “woke activists in the Biden Administration are undermining military readiness, cohesion, and purpose.”
Making the situation worse in terms of national security, the inability to flatten the curve, as it were, comes at a juncture when the communist dictatorship in China is well on the way toward global dominance.
In a presumed recognition of missed recruitment goals, the U.S. Army recently announced a pre-boot-camp cram course. Other branches of the military may follow suit.
“A new program launched by the military branch coddles overweight, out-of-shape and intellectually challenged recruits in a 90-day training course that offers physical and academic instruction to wanna-be cadets before boot camp,” the New York Post reported last month. “… But veterans, former law enforcement officers and critics said the military hand-holding effectively lowers the quality of soldiers that end up serving in the Army.”
At least one recruitment hurdle—the military’s vaccine mandate—appears to have been removed for now. Facing a bombardment of already moot legal challenges, the Pentagon dropped the requirement in January.
Despite what Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., described as a “recruiting nightmare,” the DoD is hardly being pro-active in bringing back approximately 8,000 service members who were separated for declining the jab—or incentivizing them to reenlist.
During a congressional hearing, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gaetz that the ousted troops were merely welcome to seek reinstatement.
“I think it’s incumbent upon the individual to make that decision and reapply,” Austin said. “The mechanisms are there.”
Matt Gaetz to Lloyd Austin:
"Your department broke the law in administering the Vaccine mandate, and that's not me saying so that's the inspector general for the Department of Defense."pic.twitter.com/81UAkb5vxf
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 29, 2023
