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After Hours. of

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Full Measure After Hours.

0:41

Hi everybody Cheryl

0:43

Atkinson here. Welcome

0:45

here. to another

0:47

edition of Full Measure Hours. Hours.

0:49

Today we America's military recruiting

0:52

crisis, missing recruiting goals

0:54

for the first time since

0:56

we converted to an

0:58

all first time since years ago. to

1:01

an all-volunteer force 50

1:04

years ago. We have

1:06

been sending billions We

1:08

have been sending billions of dollars in

1:10

aid and munitions and all kinds

1:12

of stuff. to to Ukraine. and

1:14

now to And now to Israel, some

1:16

while some critics say we've

1:18

been letting our own national

1:21

security, our own military force,

1:23

languish in some ways. You know that I

1:25

You know that I talk about

1:27

and write about information manipulation quite

1:29

a bit. bit. This is sort of

1:31

an aside aside you do a

1:33

Google search for to Ukraine, you will come up

1:35

come up with all kinds of results

1:37

and news articles that all tell

1:39

you how great it is and how

1:42

necessary it is for the United States

1:44

to send as much aid as

1:46

Ukraine supposedly needs quote as long as long as

1:48

it takes. not You will not find

1:51

and there's there's plenty of it, at

1:53

least it's not showing up in my search

1:55

results. One of the One of

1:57

the criticisms is that we're sending things

1:59

to Ukraine. that other countries have paid

2:01

for and were in line to

2:04

receive from us. So Ukraine has

2:06

gotten bumped to the top of

2:08

the list at the expense of

2:10

some of our allies. Additionally, critics

2:13

say some of the support that

2:15

we are sending to Ukraine is

2:17

leaving us depleted. For example, the

2:20

US ammunition stockpiles were said to

2:22

be uncomfortably low, according to a

2:24

defense official some months ago, when

2:27

it came to one type of

2:29

combat rounds. Analysts say that's the

2:31

circumstance with other things as well.

2:33

But today we're going to talk

2:36

about the state of the US

2:38

military when it comes to recruiting.

2:40

We're putting all this focus on

2:43

helping other countries and many people

2:45

would agree that we should do

2:47

that and yet is enough attention

2:49

being paid to the things that

2:52

are making us less strong. So

2:54

50 years ago July 1st, 1973,

2:56

the army instituted the all-volunteer force.

2:59

That ended the draft, which had

3:01

gone on for 23 years. It's

3:03

also called Conscription or Forced Service.

3:06

I'm going to quote from the

3:08

U.S. Army website army dot mill,

3:10

a little bit of history about

3:12

conscription. It says, in the years

3:15

since the U.S. Army was formed

3:17

on June 14, 1775, the nation

3:19

has used conscription only sparingly, and

3:22

that it has been pretty unpopular.

3:24

throughout America's history, even during the

3:26

fight for America's independence and the

3:28

Revolutionary War. The longest uninterrupted period

3:31

of conscription in the nation's history

3:33

began. June 1950, as we entered

3:35

the Korean War, the draft then

3:38

became so ingrained in the culture

3:40

that, according to this article, I'm

3:42

looking at, the House of Representatives

3:45

voted to extend the authority as

3:47

late as 1963 in a vote

3:49

of three hundred eighty seven to

3:51

three. Then a commission called the

3:54

Gates Commission led to a bill

3:56

that changed everything. And Nixon

3:58

signed the bill

4:01

September 21, 1971

4:03

1971, after passed the

4:05

legislation. the leading to

4:07

the leading to the which

4:10

took effect on July 1,

4:12

1973. July 1st, 1973, 50 ago

4:14

this year. And part of part

4:16

of that was a move

4:18

to increase the pay. and

4:20

other compensation to try to attract

4:23

enough people. the So the annual and

4:25

and housing compensation translated

4:27

to current dollars of

4:29

an E1, which I think which I

4:31

think is an entry level guy or girl. or jumped

4:33

80 80% as a result of this

4:36

legislation. It increased

4:38

to to $4,406 in 1973. That

4:40

1973. That was annual

4:42

pay and housing compensation,

4:44

not counting any bonuses.

4:46

And that was a

4:48

big increase compared compared was

4:51

at the time at overall

4:53

men's mean income in

4:55

the United States. States. 50 50

4:57

years later, as be be discussing. the

5:00

The military is having trouble. qualified

5:03

qualified recruits. know It's hard to know if they're

5:05

really able to get at the heart of

5:07

what the problems really are. really

5:09

are. said that after after years

5:11

of conflicts around the the world,

5:13

that polling shows youth have a youth

5:15

have a disproportionate perception of

5:17

their likelihood of being injured,

5:19

killed, or suffering from post

5:21

-traumatic stress disorder if they

5:24

join the military. military. This This article

5:26

that I'm reading from goes on to say

5:28

that a large percentage of women believe they

5:30

will be sexually harassed or assaulted if they

5:32

join the military. or And there

5:34

was a poll that showed far

5:36

fewer people today believe patriotism is

5:38

important. believe those in

5:40

1998 when asked those in 1998

5:42

when at least when the poll

5:45

was done, only 23 % responded

5:47

that patriotism was important. was

5:49

But in 1998, that number was

5:51

that number was 70%. A A lot of that

5:53

blame can be laid, I think, at

5:55

the feet of those who teach or

5:57

decide what curriculums go in in schools. schools.

6:00

Today's military age adults value flexibility,

6:02

self-expression, individual identity, and leisure all

6:04

things that you really can't get

6:07

a whole lot of in the

6:09

military. Again, do we blame the

6:11

schools there? And the youth of

6:14

today are much more likely to

6:16

believe that climate change is a

6:18

greater existential threat than China or

6:20

Russia. Looking at the numbers now

6:23

in terms of recruiting goals, we

6:25

first fell short last year. The

6:27

army was about 15,000 recruits too

6:30

few. They missed about 25% of

6:32

their goal of 60,000. And then

6:34

for this year, when I first

6:37

checked to start reporting on the

6:39

story, four of the six military

6:41

branches, depending on what they call

6:44

a military branch, were on track

6:46

to miss their recruiting numbers. I'll

6:48

tell you how that's turning out.

6:51

At last check, in just a

6:53

moment. What are the reasons young

6:55

people are giving officially? in answering

6:58

an army survey, well, they say

7:00

they don't want to leave their

7:02

family and friends. That's the top

7:05

reason why young people say they

7:07

might avoid a military career also

7:09

high on the list, continued worries

7:12

about post-traumatic stress disorder, and most

7:14

of all, fear of death. Recruiting

7:16

tactics have shifted and changed, as

7:19

the militaries tried to figure all

7:21

of this out. You may have

7:23

seen this really entertaining naptown funk.

7:25

Spoof of the hit song, Uptown

7:28

Funk by Bruno Mars. You can

7:30

find that online if you search

7:32

Nap Town Funk. You'll see the

7:35

YouTube video of this. It's Mid-Shippman

7:37

at the U.S. Naval Academy in

7:39

Annapolis, Maryland, in this very clever

7:42

recruiting video that tells young men

7:44

and women how great a career

7:46

in the Navy is. Then there

7:49

were things like the movie Top

7:51

Gun and the sequel Maverick in

7:53

2022. Those definitely inspire inspire. would

7:56

be Navy and Air recruits

7:58

with sort of

8:00

this of this excitement.

8:03

excitement, but may know about the the

8:05

the military is using. A

8:07

new approach, a new approach, the Navy, to

8:09

an active -duty drag queen?

8:11

queen, which is a male impersonator of

8:13

an exaggerated version of a woman. of

8:15

a using a drag queen to

8:17

serve as a serve recruiting ambassador. ambassador.

8:20

About 10% of people surveyed say

8:23

that they don't trust military They

8:25

don't trust military leadership based on the

8:27

way recent missions have been handled and

8:29

you can't help but think of. think of

8:31

the .S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which

8:33

was so botched in summer

8:35

of 2021. 2021. Thirteen U.S. troops and

8:37

troops civilians were civilians

8:39

were murdered in that

8:42

withdrawal. There was also a messed-up

8:44

U.S. drone was also a messed up

8:46

U .S. drone strike as part of that

8:48

that killed 10 innocent Afghans, including seven children.

8:50

And in the process, there the process, there

8:52

were hundreds of Americans stranded. the

8:54

country after all of the money and

8:56

time we spent there in the lives

8:59

lost. lost. Afghanistan was handed back over

9:01

to the Islamic extremist Taliban, the

9:03

same group that we have been fighting

9:05

for two decades. been fighting for two And there's

9:07

another factor that may influence. that may

9:10

and their parents who might encourage

9:12

them not to join the military. join

9:14

the if you see these

9:16

images online or on

9:18

television showing injured vets. who,

9:20

by implication, have been abandoned by

9:23

our government getting help or asking

9:25

for help from help donors. These

9:27

are vets with no or with

9:30

or with mental health problems. pleading

9:32

pleading for assistance, us showing us that

9:34

they are not being taken care of

9:36

after their service. That's gotta put

9:39

some people off. people off. And then we

9:41

talk talk about vaccine mandates. The COVID

9:43

The COVID vaccine was forced

9:45

on healthy men and women

9:47

who didn't want it. At

9:49

least 8 ,000 enlisted service members

9:51

were booted for not getting the

9:54

vaccine. of Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds

9:56

of thousands, had applied. applied. for waivers

9:58

to try not to get vaccine, but

10:00

they were forced to get it,

10:02

even though, as we now know,

10:04

the vaccine doesn't prevent transmission or

10:06

infection and doesn't typically make otherwise

10:08

healthy young people sick, but they

10:11

were forced to get this experimental

10:13

vaccine. To some, that certainly was

10:15

not a good look in terms

10:17

of attracting people to the military.

10:19

What to do is the big

10:21

question. And we're going to talk

10:23

about all of this with Department

10:25

of Defense press secretary Brigadier General

10:27

Pat Rider. Give

10:33

me an overview of what the recruiting

10:35

status is today for the US military.

10:37

Sure. Well, first of all, we are

10:39

facing some significant recruiting challenges. It's obviously

10:41

a very competitive environment right now in

10:44

terms of recruiting talent throughout America, and

10:46

the military is not immune from that.

10:48

But we are actively employing a variety

10:50

of methods to try to recruit the

10:52

best that America has to offer to

10:54

fill our ranks. I assume the military

10:57

puts a lot of effort into researching

10:59

the wise, what it would take, why

11:01

people do join or why they don't

11:03

join. What are some top lines that

11:05

you've learned is why people are not

11:08

joining in the numbers that you would

11:10

like them to be joining? Yeah, so

11:12

it's very interesting. So there's a few

11:14

things at play here. First of all,

11:16

there is an extremely competitive market right

11:19

now for talent. Unemployment is at record

11:21

lows, and so people have options. And

11:23

so the military may not be their

11:25

first choice. Another thing that we find

11:27

is that there may be fear for

11:29

personal safety or fear from being away

11:32

from friends and family. And so the

11:34

pandemic didn't help for about two years.

11:36

Our recruiters are not able to go

11:38

into high schools and to connect with

11:40

communities to connect with potential recruits. And

11:43

so one of the things that we're

11:45

looking at is how can we reach

11:47

those individuals and help It helped build

11:49

their knowledge about what the military offers

11:51

and in other words reduce that. knowledge

11:53

gap, but then also reduce the potential

11:56

stereotypes about what military service actually means.

11:58

When I was here before you all

12:00

had launched some ads that I think

12:02

are, to me they're effective, I don't

12:04

know how effective they are at actually

12:07

moving bodies into the military, but the

12:09

TV ads where the children are talking

12:11

to a parent about something they'd like

12:13

to do and they kind of fade

12:15

from one scene and to talk into

12:18

the parent, the parent kind of understands.

12:20

What are some specific things that you

12:22

all are doing like that? I haven't

12:24

seen as many of those ads. I

12:26

think I've seen them lately, but not

12:28

as many. What are the things you're

12:31

doing very specifically to reach out? Yeah,

12:33

so there's a variety of things, both

12:35

at the Department of Defense level and

12:37

in each of the services is actively

12:39

not only doing the research that you

12:42

mentioned, but also employing active campaigns, whether

12:44

it's advertising, whether it's getting out into

12:46

schools, whether it's connecting with communities, and

12:48

importantly talking to influencers like you So

12:50

for example, the Army just rolled out

12:53

a new updated Be All You Can

12:55

Be campaign to really talk to potential

12:57

recruits, to young Americans, and to their

12:59

families and to influencers about the fact

13:01

that the Army can afford opportunities for

13:03

you to achieve your full potential. The

13:06

Air Force similarly has updated its campaign

13:08

to highlight the opportunities that exist. and

13:10

all the services are really doing that.

13:12

So it's a full core press across

13:14

a variety of means and methods to

13:17

really reintroduce America to its military. If

13:19

we are far short in some areas

13:21

of recruiting goals, what does that mean

13:23

in terms of our safety and military

13:25

readiness? Should people be worried? Yeah, so

13:28

first of all, what's interesting is that

13:30

while we do have some recruiting challenges,

13:32

our retention right now in the US

13:34

military is in an all-time high, which

13:36

is... which demonstrates that once people join

13:38

us they want to stay with us.

13:41

So that's good news. And so in

13:43

terms of our ability to protect the

13:45

nation, we are very confident that we

13:47

will continue to be able to do

13:49

what we need to do. our

13:52

our nation, to protect

13:54

our interests and

13:56

to be ready to

13:58

go to war

14:00

if we're called to

14:02

do that. called to doesn't

14:05

diminish the importance of recruiting. And so

14:07

again, we're taking a full so press

14:09

to try to identify a variety

14:11

of ways that we can reach out,

14:13

communicate out, a military career can offer.

14:15

career the benefits that come with that. come

14:17

with intangibles of what military service

14:19

means to those who who join. For

14:22

example, once you become a U .S.

14:24

military member. and you you serve

14:26

you you are a veteran for life. And

14:28

so And so again, taking a variety

14:30

of means, it won't happen overnight, but

14:32

we're confident that we'll see that trend

14:34

reverse. reverse. Do you Do you feel as though

14:36

we have enough people in the

14:38

right specialties to appropriately handle our national

14:40

defense right now? now? We do. I mean,

14:42

I think it's important, again, to understand

14:45

that the military is going to continue

14:47

to need to meet recruiting goals every

14:49

year. an So right now issue right now

14:51

in terms of our readiness. We have

14:53

the most combat experience in in the military

14:55

that the world has ever seen right

14:57

now. now, and so we're confident that we

14:59

can meet our national security needs. But

15:01

we also can't rest on our laurels.

15:03

We need to continue to lean forward to

15:05

continue to to reach out to reach out to

15:07

recruits. and explain to them to

15:09

the opportunities that exist and

15:11

why they should consider a military

15:13

career. career? They took my thoughts, but if my

15:16

They took my in my but if my numbers

15:18

the numbers In my head correctly, the numbers

15:20

you all the branches are It looks like some

15:22

of the branches are meeting their goals. looks like

15:24

the like are, it looks like the reserves and

15:26

the guard might be meeting their goals be exceeding

15:28

them the or force, which is very small. force, which

15:30

is very have you been able to figure out

15:32

why? to figure out why they can can reach recruiting

15:34

goals some and why they're not in

15:36

other branches. Well, really depends

15:39

on what people want to

15:41

do in the military, and

15:43

so And so different services provide

15:45

different opportunities. opportunities. So each of of

15:47

the services, again, is working

15:49

very hard to identify how best

15:52

to reach out to potential

15:54

recruits and highlight the benefits of

15:56

military service, whether it's education

15:58

and training, whether whether it's benefit. whether it's

16:00

the intangibles that we've talked about in

16:02

terms of being part of something that's

16:05

bigger than oneself. And so again, each

16:07

of the services is going to continue

16:09

to look at how they can best

16:11

do that. And so the Army in

16:14

particular, again, they have endeavored on a

16:16

very aggressive campaign to reach out and

16:18

show Americans why being a member of

16:20

the Army is going to help you

16:23

achieve your full potential and be all

16:25

you can be. What is that campaign

16:27

involved? So a variety of things. Again,

16:29

as I mentioned, reaching out to communities,

16:32

reaching out to high schools. One of

16:34

the things that the Army has done

16:36

that's very unique that other services are

16:38

looking at is providing essentially a future

16:41

soldier preparation program. So one of the

16:43

challenges in recruiting is the small pool

16:45

of eligible recruits, potential recruits. So reaching

16:47

out to those that may not have

16:50

met the initial academic or physical fitness

16:52

requirements and working with them to help

16:54

them improve their health, improve their academics

16:56

so that they can reapply and try

16:59

again to get into the army and

17:01

they're having some really good initial success

17:03

with that program. Three controversies that you

17:05

can tell me if you think they've

17:08

impacted recruiting. You talked about COVID, not

17:10

so much a controversy about that, but

17:12

the COVID impact. The vaccine mandates got

17:14

a lot of publicity in the press.

17:16

There were... tens of thousands of people

17:19

in the military who applied for exemptions

17:21

and thousands I think who were released

17:23

because they didn't want to get the

17:25

vaccine. What is the impact of that

17:28

publicity, do you think? Yeah, well, first

17:30

of all, when it comes to the

17:32

military, it's important to remember that number

17:34

one, we need to be ready to

17:37

the polar our members anywhere in the

17:39

world, any time. And so vaccines in

17:41

and of themselves are nothing new. In

17:43

fact, George Washington mandated a smallpox vaccine

17:46

and is a member of the military

17:48

for 30 years. All of us have

17:50

had to take and continue to take

17:52

multiple vaccines. So when we applied the

17:55

vaccine mandate, that was a lawful order

17:57

and while that has been rescinded, we

17:59

continue to encourage our members to become

18:01

vaccinated because again, I need to be

18:04

able to count on you to go

18:06

where I need you when I need

18:08

you to get there. So the research

18:10

that we have done demonstrated that again,

18:13

the biggest reason why people didn't want

18:15

to serve was concern about personal safety,

18:17

concern about being away from friends and

18:19

family. And there's a general lack of

18:22

understanding about what the military opportunities are

18:24

and what it means to serve in

18:26

the military. Do you think the vaccine

18:28

mandates impacted recruiting or have you even

18:31

studied that? We have studied that and

18:33

of course you know very small numbers

18:35

in terms of that being a contributing

18:37

factor to why someone may not want

18:40

to serve. So again part of what

18:42

we've got to do is get out

18:44

there into the communities and highlight what

18:46

the potential benefits of military service are

18:48

the kinds of things that you can

18:51

see and do that you can do

18:53

anywhere else other than in the military.

18:55

Number two, the military has gotten a

18:57

wrap oftentimes publicity-wise in terms of what

19:00

some people call the wokeness. They hear

19:02

again, there's publicity about incidents and cases

19:04

that go on. I noticed the Marines

19:06

seem like they have good recruiting numbers

19:09

and that's sort of the place where

19:11

maybe people think wokeness won't be as...

19:13

entered as much. I'm just going off

19:15

of my general impressions. But what do

19:18

you think is the impact of the

19:20

notion that the military is changing into

19:22

a different kind of body that some

19:24

people wouldn't want to be part of

19:27

because of the, what they call, wokeness?

19:29

Yeah. Well, I've been a part of

19:31

this organization for 30 years. I've seen

19:33

all echelones, all aspects, and I can

19:36

tell you one of the things about

19:38

the United States military. Without a doubt,

19:40

it is the most combat, credible, experienced

19:42

fighting force that the world has ever

19:45

seen. We come to work focused on

19:47

our number one priority, which is defending

19:49

this nation and ensuring that we are

19:51

conducting operations to protect not only our

19:54

nation's security, but our national interests around

19:56

the world. And so that's what we

19:58

will continue. to do do. as

20:00

we And as we reach out to communities

20:02

and as we reach out to potential recruits,

20:04

we want folks to know that you can

20:07

be a part of something bigger than yourself,

20:09

that you can be a part of an

20:11

organization that will make a difference will make will

20:13

help you whether you decide to stay for

20:15

a few years. stay for a whether you decide

20:17

to stay for a career, you

20:19

will leave this organization a changed person,

20:21

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com .com there any way to

21:33

even know or the top one or two

21:36

there any way to even know, are say top

21:38

one or two reasons that people say they

21:40

join the military? shows there's a I think,

21:42

you know, the research shows there's a variety of

21:44

reasons. So for example, I for me, I decided I

21:46

went to an air show when I was 10 years

21:48

old old I saw the airplanes and I saw the

21:50

blue uniforms and I was just blown away by

21:52

the the professionalism, even at that age. And I wanted

21:54

to be a part of that. I wanted originally

21:56

joined that. For four years. I thought do

21:58

do this for four. I'll get out and

22:01

do something else. And just every single

22:03

opportunity that was given to me, it's

22:05

just one better thing after the other.

22:07

And I think a lot of people

22:09

have that same experience. So some people

22:11

will join because you can get college

22:13

money, education, training, skills. Some people join

22:15

because they want to travel and see

22:17

the world. But the one thing we

22:19

all have in common is that we

22:21

become a part of this team that's

22:23

bigger than ourselves. And once you remember

22:25

the US military, you will be a

22:27

US veteran. and you can say that

22:30

with pride for all of your days.

22:32

I think you've touched on this because

22:34

you've repeated a few times, but if

22:36

you are giving somebody the big pitch,

22:38

but in a very general sense about

22:40

why they might want to join the

22:42

military, and I know it may depend

22:44

on the person and what their needs

22:46

are, but what is a good overview

22:48

of what you think is a really

22:50

good top line? Well, I think that

22:52

it's an organization where you can have

22:54

a sense of purpose. And it's going

22:56

to set you up for success, again,

22:59

whether you want to stay for a

23:01

couple of years or whether you want

23:03

to stay for a career. The point

23:05

is, it's a great place to start,

23:07

and it's a great way of life.

23:09

And you will see and do things

23:11

and experience things that you never thought

23:13

possible. And at the end of the

23:15

day, you can look yourself in the

23:17

mirror and feel like, you know what,

23:19

I'm doing something that's not only making

23:21

myself feel better, but I'm doing something

23:23

that I feel like is contributing to

23:25

a good, is contributing to a great.

23:27

And then I know this is a

23:30

complicated formula, what people get paid and

23:32

so many factors. But what can somebody

23:34

realistically make if they have a career

23:36

in the military? If someone's gone, how

23:38

much do they even earn beyond the

23:40

benefits? What are the benefits after they

23:42

leave? Sure. I mean, the good news

23:44

is, you know, the military is completely

23:46

transparent. You can go online and you

23:48

can see what the military pay tables

23:50

are there in terms of time of

23:52

service grade rank. as well as the

23:54

benefits that we provide if you join

23:56

the military. And then depending on how

23:59

long you serve, those benefits will change,

24:01

right? So in the military, there's the

24:03

opportunity to earn pain. towards retirement, but

24:05

again, as a veteran, you will also

24:07

have access to veterans benefits, you know,

24:09

through the VA and other mechanisms. So

24:11

all of that information is available online.

24:13

I would encourage people who are interested.

24:15

At a minimum, go talk to a

24:17

recruiter. Talk to somebody to find out

24:19

the facts about what it means to

24:21

serve in the military and how it

24:23

can benefit you for the rest of

24:25

your life. Do any guys who are

24:28

not as high up as you guys

24:30

and girls? Is it realistic to say

24:32

15, 20 years in a career that

24:34

they can earn? $800,000 salaries? Yeah, I

24:36

mean, a lot of it depends on

24:38

the particular, you know, career field you're

24:40

in when it comes to bonuses. But

24:42

again, it's a great, graduated pay scale.

24:44

And again, all that information is available

24:46

online. But yes, I mean, it's very

24:48

competitive pay, considering the types of skills

24:50

and, you know, capabilities that we bring

24:52

to the fight. And then what is

24:54

the takeaway you think people should have

24:56

about about? America's military recruiting process right

24:59

now and the status if we're looking

25:01

at the overview. Yeah, so we're very

25:03

confident that we will be able to

25:05

turn the trend around when it comes

25:07

to the challenges that we face with

25:09

the recruiting right now. Again, it is

25:11

a very competitive job market. The pandemic

25:13

didn't help in terms of our ability

25:15

to communicate and reach out and educate

25:17

and inform people about what a military

25:19

career or military service offers. So if

25:21

there's one thing that we're good at.

25:23

in the US military it's solving problems

25:25

and we're confident that we're doing the

25:28

right things that the military services are

25:30

doing the right things to do that

25:32

to get the word out and encourage

25:34

people to be a part of this.

25:36

So importantly job number one again is

25:38

defending this nation and ensuring that we're

25:40

ready to go to war if we

25:42

need to go to war. We are

25:44

at the end of the day a

25:46

war fighting organization and we are not

25:48

going to lower our standards when it

25:50

comes to our war fighting mission. But

25:52

as we look at potential recruits, it's

25:54

important. for us to

25:57

look at with the

25:59

end in mind,

26:01

is a a war and

26:03

combat credible, capable

26:05

organization. what are potential

26:07

barriers to service that could prevent?

26:09

could prevent eligible candidates

26:11

from joining us. so the services are

26:13

looking at those kinds of things,

26:16

whether it's what is the minimum age

26:18

to join. Are there waivers there

26:20

waivers available, for example, for single parents

26:22

who want to join? join? tattoo policies, looking

26:24

at at that, does having a

26:26

tattoo somehow make you less combat So

26:28

looking at those at those kind of

26:30

potential barriers to entry ensure that

26:32

we can reach the largest potential

26:34

recruiting population get the get the best

26:36

and brightest of America into our

26:38

military ranks, because at the end

26:41

of the day, what we want who

26:43

are people who are gonna show

26:45

up who are capable, effective, trained,

26:47

and ready to defend this nation. So

26:49

specifically, the policy change, do do you allow

26:51

some tattoos does does it depend on

26:54

the service? It depends. Each

26:56

of the services have their own

26:58

policies. So as we we look at

27:00

potential recruits for the military,

27:02

each of the services is looking

27:04

at policies. with the with the understanding

27:06

that we're never gonna lower

27:08

our standard when it comes to

27:10

combat effectiveness and being a and

27:12

being a war fighting organization. And so And so

27:15

at at potential barriers to entry. So

27:17

for example, what are the minimum

27:19

age to serve? Are we looking at waivers,

27:21

for looking at waivers, for

27:23

example, for single parents joining

27:25

the military? comes to when it comes to

27:27

things like waivers for tattoos. There was

27:30

a time in the military when you couldn't

27:32

have a tattoo on your forearm. But

27:34

the the question is, how does that

27:36

affect your ability to fight? How does

27:38

that affect your ability to defend this

27:40

nation? so those those kinds of questions to

27:42

say, we we doing ourself a disservice? by

27:45

by unintentionally limiting

27:47

qualified, people who could be

27:49

a part of this organization and contribute

27:51

to our national defense. our national defense? Same

27:53

with, tattoos. is the is

27:55

the marijuana policy different past marijuana

27:58

use? Are people allowed if had

28:00

past marijuana used to get in the

28:02

military now? So marijuana still federally is

28:04

illegal and so as people apply for

28:06

the military there are waivers for example

28:08

in terms of if you've used marijuana

28:10

in the past each of the services

28:13

looks at that for example so whereas

28:15

maybe you know in the distant past

28:17

if you had used it one time

28:19

then your chances of joining were obviously

28:21

very low but looking again at seeing

28:24

the force of the trees of the

28:26

trees of okay Understand, you've done this

28:28

in the past. However, once you join,

28:30

you recognize you're subject to drug testing,

28:32

you're subject to our standards, and we'll

28:34

continue to meet those standards. But again,

28:37

recognizing the fact that particularly as certain

28:39

states make it legal, again, we want

28:41

to reach out to get the most

28:43

highly qualified, diverse set of service members

28:45

we can to ensure that we can

28:48

defend our nation. We're going to go

28:50

ahead and take a look at those

28:52

policies and make sure. that, you know,

28:54

again, we're being smart about this. Why

28:56

didn't the no high school degree work?

28:58

Again, you'd have to talk to the

29:01

army on that specific aspect. Anything else?

29:03

You're looking at anything else that maybe

29:05

should be allowed or looked at differently

29:07

specifically that you guys are examining? Well,

29:09

I think that this is going to

29:12

continue to be an ongoing iterative process.

29:14

Things that, you know, again, looking at

29:16

potential barriers to service in terms of

29:18

seeing the forest through the trees here.

29:20

the United States military has a responsibility

29:22

to defend this nation and fight our

29:25

nation's wars. And so we want to

29:27

be able to capitalize on the best

29:29

talent that America has to offer and

29:31

we're going to look in every corner

29:33

of this country and draw from the

29:36

most eligible pool of candidates. And so

29:38

what we don't want to do is

29:40

inadvertently shoot ourselves in the foot, so

29:42

to speak, by not looking at all

29:44

potential options to ensure that, again, we

29:46

can continue to do our mission. Anything

29:49

else you'd like to add? I just

29:51

want to say again that as someone

29:53

who has served 30 years in the

29:55

United States military, it is an absolutely

29:57

great way of life. Like anything, it

29:59

can be challenging. There are good days,

30:02

there are bad days, but through it

30:04

all, the kinds of experiences that you

30:06

will have, the things that you will

30:08

see, the opportunities of missions that you'll

30:10

get to be a part of. It's

30:13

like no other experience you can have.

30:15

And so we strongly encourage people who

30:17

may be interested in joining to reach

30:19

out to a recruiter, talk to someone

30:21

who's in the military, get the facts,

30:23

and hopefully someday we'll see you serving

30:26

alongside us. That

30:31

was Brigadier General Pat Ryder. And

30:33

at last check, which right before

30:35

I recorded this, I took a

30:38

look. The Army, Navy, and Air

30:40

Force were about 24,000 below their

30:42

recruiting goals for the year with

30:45

the Marines and Space Force on

30:47

track or slightly ahead of theirs.

30:49

If you'd like to see the

30:51

full story that I put together

30:54

on our military recruiting crisis, you

30:56

can go to full measure dot

30:58

news. And look for or search

31:01

for the story called Military Recruiting.

31:03

That's at Full Measure Dot News.

31:05

The story will have aired on

31:08

Sunday, October 29th. I hope you

31:10

enjoyed today's podcast and that if

31:12

you did, you'll leave a great

31:14

review, subscribe to it, and share

31:17

it with your friends. If you

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like this type of discussion in

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the subject matter, you'll want to

31:24

check out my other podcast, the

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31:54

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