{"id":49129,"date":"2022-11-18T14:27:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T14:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/11\/18\/four-ways-to-begin-fixing-the-army-recruiting-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:18:10","slug":"four-ways-to-begin-fixing-the-army-recruiting-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/11\/18\/four-ways-to-begin-fixing-the-army-recruiting-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Four ways to begin fixing the Army recruiting crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Calling the Army recruiting shortfall a crisis is like saying that the Titanic had a \u201csmall\u201d problem in its crossing of the Atlantic. The Army\u2019s shortfalls, at least six years in the making<\/a>, are an existential threat to the Army and, by extension, a major threat to our national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea are cooperating in a manner<\/a> that increases regional instability and could open up a multi-front mix of hostilities up to and including war, at the time and place of their choosing. And, this all comes at a time when our Army is shrinking precipitously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three service secretaries recently penned in a Wall Street Journal piece the ways in which the American public can assist them<\/a> in manning the force. What has been missing from the discussions is what the Army can do to help itself, since recruiting is bar none, the first essential task that the Army must perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without new recruits, there is no Army. Yet time and again, the Army takes its proverbial \u201ceye-off-the-ball\u201d and feigns surprise when the \u201ccrisis\u201d emerges, even blaming the national press<\/a>. Instead, the Army must look internally and take the following four actions to demonstrate its seriousness to fix this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Army must put its best and brightest into Recruiting Command. Today, it is an open secret in the Army that the path to promotion lies in any assignment other than recruiting. We send our best and brightest young and mid-career leaders from tactical unit to tactical unit to training center staff rotations multiple times in succession but rarely to recruiting units.<\/p>\n\n\n\t