(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Several Army officers claimed that the military institution is denying soldiers’ scheduled discharges in the midst of a historic recruitment crisis.
A recent study from the Pentagon found that 77% of Americans age 17-24 are unfit for duty due to obesity, drug use and other health issues. That data, coupled with the large gaps in recruitment for 2022, put the entire military in a rough spot.
According to the Daily Caller, the recruitment and retention disaster impacted all branches of the military and highly-elite tactical groups.
A letter, written and signed by 61 aviation officers and submitted to Congress, explained how the effect of the lack of qualified enlistees led to the easing of military standards.
The letter also described how Army bureaucrats took advantage of a line in the Army contract to extend the airmen’s service by three years.
“Army Aviators have been misled by Human Resources Command, the U.S. Military Academy and Reserve Officers’ Training Course Aviation Branch Representatives, and our Career Managers on the exact length of our service contract,” the officers wrote. “They are request[ing] an inquiry into the U.S. Army’s Human Resources Command (HRC) due to significant mismanagement relating to the enforcement of Active-Duty Service Obligations (ADSOs) for Army Aviation Officers.”
The vaguely worded contract allowed for the extension of the seven-year term of service by three years to make up for a training course generally acknowledged to overlap with initial training. Three of the officers gave statements to the press on the condition of anonymity.
“It was a contract we signed as cadets in ROTC or at West Point,” one aviation officer said. “Those contracts are kind of sketchy because they technically don’t exist. It’s a made-up document. It’s not a Department of the Army form.”
The HRC alerted the officers of the contractual change in February.
Army recruiters struggling to meet recruitment goals explained that one of their major hurdles is gaining access to high schools, as teachers and administrators treat the institution with hostility.
Several Republican representatives launched an investigation into the recruitment failures as well, finding that wokeness is also a major deterrent to young people who might enlist.
