We are approaching a time in our nation’s history when we will need to employ our military instrument of national power. Our national leadership, diplomacy, diplomatic sanctions, economic sanctions, alliance-building, and political rhetoric do not seem to have made much difference in the Ukraine and Crimea regions, as well as the Taiwan Strait. As we learned in war college, you go to war with the forces you have in-place. Right now, we’re having trouble finding them and training them, much less putting forces in-place.
How did this recruitment decline begin? When I sat on the stage of the US Army War College and debated the leading advocate for the end of the ban known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” I was asked how could I support such a ban when recruitment for linguists was down. My answer? The end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was not a recruitment answer for linguists or any needed troops. The end of the ban was for something else. There was still a need for a recruitment answer to our military’s accession problems. Becoming a social curiosity to our potential adversaries was not it.
And, I quietly explained how values-driven leaders in our all-volunteer military would be dissuaded from re-enlisting or simply leave at the end of their next, short-term active-duty service commitment. These were conservative leaders who bristled at anything being placed before their duty-oriented, service to country. We would likely experience a purge of needed expertise and values-driven leaders. Why would young officers ever aspire to command? I’m still not sure if anyone was listening. That was in 2010. And now the wheels of time have turned.
When you put “self” before “service,” military service becomes just like any other less-than-valued organization. Anything less than a military focused on expertness, fortitude, and duty, honor, and country, might as well be a dime-a-dozen organization: a Target store or Anheuser-Busch or Disney. I had many military members approach me later and tell me that they could not wait to get out, even though they were within five years of retirement with its many associated benefits. Any military service that placed itself second to one special interest, they said, did not resemble the service they joined.
And how has catering to special interest groups helped recruitment? That has become the latest “don’t ask, don’t tell” reality. And now critical race theory has been deemed by the Secretary of Defense as a national security interest. Really? And now the service wants to pay for its members’ trans-surgeries if they so elect. Really? And the recruitment numbers remain horrible.
And now, a couple of weeks ago, the Army Secretary blamed lagging Defense Department recruitment statistics on—wait for it—people like me. Those of us who risked our lives for our country are being blamed for (I guess) bringing these truths to the light of day. I’m really sorry, Madam Secretary, but when the truth becomes “right-wing rhetoric,” the Army is lost. And that is just the latest.
Now try these excuses on for size: “Americans are having fewer children,” and “Americans are more protective of our children,” and “more 18- and 19-year-olds are going to college.” Heaven forbid it that anyone would ever discern anything for which they would give up their very lives. Right. To me, better excuses are “[i]n today’s current society, being in uniform, whether it’s becoming a police officer, a border patrol agent, or in military uniform, seems to be frowned upon.” That one seems more plausible to me. But the Army Secretary might accuse me of right-wing rhetoric. So, let us leave the excuses behind and stick with the truth.
Returning to a military focused on expertness, fortitude, and values of duty, honor, and country, will garner you more volunteers in our all-volunteer force. Putting service before self will keep them there.
And, our leaders better get to it. We will be needing to employ our military soon. On this fiftieth anniversary of the end of the draft, it seems to me that those crafting excuses for a lagging all-volunteer force should start by looking for those excuses in the mirror. Trust me, aggressors in the Ukraine and across the Taiwan Strait are looking squarely at us. And should we ever give up on defending the defenseless, then those aggressors will first look on our military instrument of national power as a social curiosity that failed.