Why the Army cannot meet its recruiting goals
In 1959, the 4th Infantry Division stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA, was tasked to put 1,200 draftees through Basic Combat Training, followed by Advanced Infantry Training. The draftees arrived via troop train in the middle of the night. Lee F. Cobble, our wonderful First Sergeant, was there looking to cherry-pick the draftees we might want in our rifle company. Sergeant First Class Calvin C. Havens, our great mess sergeant, greeted the bewildered young civilians with hot soup, warm bread, and hot chocolate.
1SGT Cobble (a former Darby’s Ranger) checked on the trainees every day, looking for young men who were physically fit, mentally alert, and adapting well to the Army’s way of doing things. We wanted young men who were "gung-ho patriots." Young men with a strong work ethic. Young men who wanted to be the best they could be. Young men who possessed a deep and abiding love of the country they considered to be the best in the world.
Our pay and allowances were meager. But we found ways to reward excellent performance with awards such as "Soldier of the Month." Skin color was not a factor. In fact, the skin colors of our officers and senior NCOs were such a mixture that we looked olive drab. Merit was our common denominator. And Captain Jack D. McClure, our fine company commander, made sure you knew your job and did it well or you ended up in some other unit.
After President Nixon ended the draft in 1973, the advent of the all-volunteer Army, with much better pay and accommodations, produced a force that, using lessons learned in Vietnam and Cambodia, blew Saddam’s army out of Kuwait in 100 hours. After 9/11, former enlisted man, General Tommy Franks, led a multi-nation force that quickly destroyed Osama bin Laden’s base camps in Afghanistan. And, in just three weeks, the 3d Infantry Division was toppling Saddam’s statues in Baghdad.
Then disaster struck with the Obama-Biden-Hillary "taking America down a peg or two," and the "Russian reset," telling Russian President Vladimir Putin he would pay no price for seizing western Georgia and the Crimea. Next came the firing of over 200 generals and admirals who wanted to come to the aid of our beleaguered troops in Benghazi. But the fatal blow to what had been the world’s finest all-volunteer force was its conversion by President Obama into a sociology experiment, with lower physical fitness standards, even for Airborne and Ranger training.
Fast forward to today: Under the Biden* Regime, patriotic soldiers, NCOs, and officers striving to be the best they can be are "racist" and, therefore, unwelcome in today’s "woke" Army that spends valuable combat training time discussing how many slaves were owned by old white men who wrote the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
For anyone wondering why the U.S. Army cannot even come close to meeting its recruiting goals, here’s your answer: Few patriotic young men and women want to sit around discussing why the U.S. "needs to be taken down a peg or two." Or, which pronouns to use when addressing each other. Q.E.D.
Suggested reading: "The Rise of Wokeness in the Military," by Lt. General Thomas Spoehr, USA (Ret.), Imprimis, June/July, 2022. "Ukraine and the Malevolent Legacy of the Obama Administration," by Victor Davis Hanson, Amgreatness.com, October 9, 2022.
Nota Bene: The average age of the "old white men" was 44. .
©2022. William Hamilton.
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