Army having trouble finding troops

 PJ Media:

The U.S. Army has not had a great year finding new recruits. Things have gotten so bad that they’ve actually dropped the requirement for a high school diploma or GED.

According to Military.com, the Army is a full 60% below its recruiting goal for this fiscal year:

The Army is tossing its mandate for potential recruits to have a high school diploma or GED certificate to enlist in the service, in one of the most dramatic moves yet in the escalating recruiting crisis hitting the entire Defense Department.

On Thursday, the service announced that individuals may enlist without those previously required education certifications if they ship to basic training this fiscal year, which ends Oct. 1.

Recruits must also be at least 18 years old and otherwise qualify for a job in the active-duty Army. They also must score at least a 50 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, an SAT-style quiz to measure a potential recruit’s academic ability.

A 50 on the test is a relatively low score, with 31 being the minimum to qualify for service. Combat arms jobs such as infantrymen and cavalry scouts need only minimal scores to serve, while admin work such as a human resources specialist or public affairs require scores of 100 or higher.

Every branch has suffered, with overall military recruiting down 23% this year.

The Army’s old policy was to accept new recruits at least 17 years old who hadn’t finished high school, with the permission of parents, on the condition that they finish high school before basic training.

The Army also relaxed its tattoo policy recently, allowing recruits who have tattoos on their necks or hands if they receive a waiver.

Recruiting has hit rock bottom, to the point that the Department of Defense has reduced its planned total force size (even after its budget gets a huge anticipated increase in the next NDAA).

For close to a decade, military officials have quietly warned of a pending crisis, reporting that the number of young Americans who even qualify to join the Army has shrunk to a minuscule level....

...

It doesn't help that the Army is pushing the CRT crap and doing other things to be woke.   It looks like many of America's youth don't care about defending the country.  That is quite a change when people like me finished college in three years to go to Marine Corps OCS.  I am still proud of my service in Vietnam.  As XO of a rifle company of Marines in Northern I Corps, it was my honor to be with such a fine group of men.

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