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Engagement Party

The Army's Recruitment Challenge

Engagement Party

CNN

News, Entertainment News, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6986 Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year the Army missed its recruitment goal; it had 65,000 spots to fill and came in 10,000 short. Audie talks with a former recruiter about what he saw as some of the challenges the Army faces when it comes to recruitment, including cultural shifts around everything from marijuana use to mental health. And we hear from Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth about how the Army is responding to recruitment shortfalls.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:14.9

There are certain jobs that get easier when the economy gets worse, Like military recruitment. During the economic crash in

0:23.2

2008, recruiting surged. With few jobs out there, people were lining up to join. This former army

0:30.0

recruiter told us he basically had to dodge people at his office when he went to lunch.

0:35.0

We used a joke in the office that you would see somebody walking towards a building and you're like,

0:39.3

okay, oh, we gotta hide behind the desk.

0:41.3

Of course, a lot has changed since then.

0:43.3

Senate Republicans are questioning the United States top military official over what they claim is a, quote,

0:49.3

woke military agenda.

0:51.3

These Gen Z kids are just like, why would I go get shot in the Middle East

0:55.3

when I can get shot in the comfort of my middle school? Tonight, the U.S. Army is releasing

1:00.3

a scathing report saying leaders at Fort Hood in Texas ignored complaints of sexual harassment

1:06.0

from Vanessa Gien, the specialist who disappeared last April and was killed by a fellow soldier.

1:11.6

Most of the veterans I know support ending the war. They do think that 20 years has been too

1:16.6

long. Last year, the Army missed its recruitment goal. It had 65,000 spots to fill and came

1:22.8

up 10,000 short of that target. The obstacles to changing those numbers reflect, let's call it,

1:29.8

a culture clash. There are more high schoolers interested in college, more single parents,

1:34.8

more people who know the military's problem with sexual assault, more who watched the U.S.

1:40.0

spend 20 years in wars that it could not win, And fewer who would qualify even if they wanted to join.

1:47.8

And more, who are more likely to come across social media posts from people who have enlisted.

...

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