This week, a report revealed that hundreds of Army aviation officers who were expecting to leave the military will be required to serve for another three years.
Just a few months before the NBC News report was published, the Army Times reported that the Army expected to end its 2022 fiscal year with 20,000 empty seats after reaching just 75% of its enrollment goals.
According to NBC News, part of the Army aviation officers’ contract was “reinterpreted” quietly, a move that caused “uproar” among those impacted. Some of those officers “say their plans to start families, launch businesses and begin their civilian lives have been suddenly derailed.”
Per the report, Army officials are looking into the issue, which is related to a program known as BRADSO.
“Cadets commissioning from the U.S. Military Academy or Army Cadet Command from 2008 and 2020 were able to request a branch of their choice, including aviation, by agreeing to serve an additional three years on active duty,” said NBC. Some length of service requirements for the Army were extended in 2020.
Even before this controversy and the year-end enlistment shortfall, Defense Department officials had been “sounding the alarm” about low recruitment for months, said the Army Times. It said that a complex web of factors has impacted recruiting, including: more detailed medical screenings, a shrinking proportion of Americans eligible to serve, poor marketing practices, low civilian unemployment and more.
“The affected officers believe these recruitment struggles, but mostly retention challenges, led the Army to review its BRADSO interpretation,” said NBC News.
Last month, the outlet War on the Rocks reported that “other services barely met their active-duty recruiting goals last year, but it will be harder for them to do so in 2023,” and that the Marine Corps., the Navy and the Air Force all expect to have recruitment challenges.
“The U.S. military is shrinking, not because of any strategic choices, but simply because there aren’t enough qualified volunteers – and that may have enormous implications for the U.S. strategic position in an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world,” War on the Rocks said.
In January, Audacy reported that the Army planned to bring back the “Be all you can be” slogan used from 1981 to 2001 in a new marketing campaign. In March, the branch launched a marketing campaign featuring actor Jonathan Majors – just before he was arrested in New York City on assault and harassment charges, said KRLD.
As of this February, the majority of Americans surveyed by Gallup said they thought the U.S. was spending the right amount (37%) or too much (35%) on the military. Equal percentages of Americans (44%) believe the country is either as strong as it needs to be or not strong enough as far as national defense is concerned.
In response to the recruitment shortfall, the Army established the “Future Soldier Preparatory Course” at Fort Jackson, S.C., “where recruits who previously would have been turned away for excess body fat or poor test scores have a chance to improve themselves on the Army’s dime,” said the Army Times. The branch has also tried other tactics, such as loosening tattoo policies.
“I think there’s some soul-searching that has to go on about how to maintain the quality of the force [and] the effectiveness of the force in this [recruiting] environment,” said Dr. Beth Asch, a senior economist and manpower analyst at Rand Corp., according to the Army Times. Recent studies have shown that the majority of Americans actually know little about the U.S.
military, Audacy reported late last year.
Related
Related
