The United States has had an all-volunteer military since American combat operations ended in Vietnam in 1973. Today, only 6% of Americans serve or have served in the military.

The Army, Navy and Air Force are not meeting their recruitment goals by tens of thousands. In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense reports recruiting is the worst it’s been in 50 years.

In addition, the Pennsylvania National Guard missed its recruiting goal in 2023 by 25% and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard was off by 45%.

Why aren’t more American men and women joining up? What can be done to recruit more people into the military? Does it put the nation’s security at risk?

Mission Readiness is an organization of retired generals and admirals that are concerned about the high percentage of young people that are ineligible for military service.

Thursday on The Spark, Steve Doster, Pennsylvania State Director of Mission Readiness, talked about one of the reasons it is so hard to recruit,"We're looking at that 17 to 24 age cohort. That is the recruit age population. And the latest data shows that 77% are not eligible for military service. And there's three underlying conditions there. It's obesity or other health related issue. It's a criminal record which often manifests itself in a drug offense, or they don't score highly enough on the military entrance exam to warrant placement in one of the branches of service."

The military branches are competing with other employers at a time when the unemployment rate is low and employers are finding it difficult to hire enough employees.

Doster addessed the labor situation,"When you look at the military, the military does not make millionaires. We do not pay our men and women in uniform enough. So when they're looking at a workforce, they're they're gauging salary, they're gauging family life, they're gauging, safety and personal security. And I think all of those things factor in. We heard from lawmakers when we released our report in the Capitol a few weeks ago that not only do we have to address the underlying readiness concerns of youth, but we also have to do a better job of promoting military service as a patriotic duty."

Doster indicated improved schools would help recruitment,"Without the investment in education, the other thing suffers. The military recruitment suffers. And what we have is a motivated group of generals and admirals that see that connection. These generals and admirals, they could sit on corporate boards and make a lot more money than they do volunteering with me. But they see if we don't invest in the human capital on the front end, we are going to have serious challenges and national security concerns on the back end."

Is national security at risk because fewer people are serving,"We still have the best military force in the world. I think we have some challenges to overcome. But my members don't come at it that this is a risk that we need to stay up at night. But it's something that we have to solve. And the role of a general or an admiral is to look to the future. And that's what my members do."

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