Compass Points - Recruiting Woes
Marine 2nd Lt's new book
Compass Points - Recruiting Woes
Marine 2nd Lt's new book
August 23, 2023
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Years ago, some college students declared they would not fight for their country. As a result, enemies were emboldened. Today, the military is having trouble recruiting because many young people do not want to serve. What signal does this send to the enemies of the United States?
While there are many reports that the US military is struggling to recruit, most reports say the Marine Corps is the lone service that is not struggling. Unfortunately, that overstates the situation. It is true that the Marine Corps, so far, has continued to make their yearly recruiting goals while other services have not. Still, the Marine Corps is also struggling.
One indication is the decline in the pool. New recruits are either sent directly to boot camp or are placed in the delayed entry pool. “Poolees” participate in pre-boot camp activities. They learn their General Orders and they get in shape. Spending time in the delayed entry pool before boot camp makes it more likely recruits will successfully complete recruit training. But because the Marine Corps is finding it harder to recruit, the number of recruits being sent into the delayed entry pool is declining. The Marine Corps normally puts more than half of all recruits into the delayed entry pool. Now, some reports indicate that to make the current mission, the Marine Corps may be able to place less than 30 percent of the next Fiscal Year’s recruits in the delayed entry pool.
Why is it hard for the military services to recruit today? Marine 2nd Lieutenant Matthew Weiss thinks he has some of the answers. As reported in Military. com,
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There is one Gen Z officer who believes he has the answer to the military's recruiting woes. Second Lt. Matthew Weiss is a 25-year-old Marine Corps intelligence officer whose new book, "'We Don't Want You, Uncle Sam: Examining the Military Recruiting Crisis with Generation Z" lays out what he believes are some of the major problems his generation has with military service -- and what the military can do about it.
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There are even larger problems than just finding better ways to reach out to Gen Z. The Marine Corps has recruiting problems because many Marine veterans are no longer recommending service in the Corps. How serious is the problem? Compass Points readers do not hold back when talking about Marine Corps recruiting.
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-- "Too late. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps . . . . Furl the colors! I would rather be remembered for what we were vice what we’ve become."
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-- "I have tried to convey to retired Marines how severe the crisis is....and most don't get it. They don't understand the dynamics of entrance processing have changed. They don't realize the USMC is poised to start the next FY with a historically low start pool percentage."
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-- "The Marine Corps needs its veterans to help meet recruiting requirements. It also needs its veterans to save it from its current path to insignificance."
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-- "This is a tough time for recruitment and a difficult time for our nation in general."
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-- "Until both, civilian and military leadership realize that their social policies are what is causing the recruitment issue, the military will continue to find it harder and harder to fill the ranks. . . . retirees like me WILL NOT lift a finger to help in the recruitment effort!"
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-- "Retired Marines and those who served honorably are no longer recommending service. HQMC and DoD might want to ask why? The honest answers will be hard for the delusional to grasp."
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Any nation plotting an attack on the US or on US interests around the globe knows it will have to deal first with Marines. Our foes study the Marine Corps. Is the USMC strong today? Is the USMC equipped today? Is the USMC available today? The enemies of our Nation read public reports that Marines do not have the amphibious lift needed to stay on constant patrol. They read Marines have divested so much of their armor, air, artillery, and combat breaching and bridging that they cannot perform as combined arms teams. Then, they read of problems with military recruiting. Weakness in the US military, of any kind, emboldens our enemies.
Years ago, some college students declared they would not fight for their country. The year was 1933 when students at Oxford University made their infamous Oxford Pledge where they declared they would not fight for "King and country." Winston Churchill and others said the Oxford Pledge emboldened Hitler.
There are many reports today that the US military is struggling to recruit. There are also reports that the Marine Corps is not as strong and capable as it once was. Compass Points salutes 2nd Lt. Weiss for working to solve military recruiting and also salutes all those working to rebuild Marine Corps capabilities so that the idea of facing Marines will strike fear, now and forever, in the hearts of dictators everywhere.
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Military.com - 08/22/2023
A Gen Z Marine Explores Solutions to the Military's Recruiting Crisis in 'We Don't Want You, Uncle Sam'
By Blake Stilwell
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Compass Points - More Marines
Recruiting the few, the proud
June 3, 22023
https://marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com/p/compass-points-more-marines
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Veterans of Foreign Wars (vfw.org) 11/30/2022
Fewer Veterans are Recommending Military Service
By Dave Spiva
Part of this recruiting issue belongs to Marines who no longer wear the uniform. We have tangible skills, and with a little effort those skills can lead to a certification to teach these young folks. I teach archery to several venues of high school aged youngsters. They know I am a Marine, and they see the process on which I teach, while different from school, it is effective. They see discipline, adherence and enforcement of rules and a subtle expertise in that discipline. FOCUS is a part of the program and parents say second year students do better in school due to that attention on focus. Also a short community college course on wilderness living shows how proficient one can be in field skills (yeah I do offer crickets and worms for lunch on field skills day). (Thank you Subic Bay and MCMWTC). Once a month it is a hunter education class. All these classes interface with those potential poolees and while only a few find the way to High School ROTC and enlistment the idea of military service is introduced positively. Project 100,000 or a draft may be upon us unless young people meet service folk with whom they can relate. That’s us.
Thank you Polarbear and cfrog, times have indeed changed, and the detail of the situation now, as you explained, was helpful in understanding a few of the issues being discussed. Equally I have not yet read Lieutenant Weiss’s book, but it’s on the list. Couple of thoughts prevail. This current period in time is eerily like the mid 1970’s, and THAT was a very difficult time to say the least. The 25th CMC Robert Cushman in order to fill the quotas of the new AVF, said to Congress give us the man, and we will make him a Marine. Yes, epic fail prevailed. Tragedy ensued, with as example the death of recruit Lynn McClure who had diminished mental acuity to start and failed at everything recruit training. and was battered to death with a pupil stick in 1975. General Wilson became the 26th CMC in the summer of 1975 and told Congress pretty early on that the Corps had new standards and he was disinterested in lower standards to fill quotas. He famously told a congressional hearing that if it came down to he and his driver being the only qualified Marines by the new standards, than we would have a T/O of 2. Fast forward to a conference room setting in the O Club at Camp LeJeune, summer of 1981, General Barrow the 27th CMC was holding a round table discussion, being in the room, my recall, is that at least the 2nd MarDiv CG and MCB CG along with a dozen plus 06 and 05 officers participating. The cliff notes version goes that General Barrow who had reformed recruiting and recruit training, wanted to know if anyone had noticed an improvement in the quality of the young Marines reporting for duty in the past 12-18 months. Yes they all nodded simultaneously and vigorously, “much better young Marines!!” In the final bit of the discussion General Barrow explained that one of the cornerstones of the improvement was every recruit had to have a high school diploma or GED. The importance he went on, was not the sheepskin itself, but a testament to the fact a young man or woman “knew how to finish.” Thus the DI’s could focus on training rather than getting a less than qualified recruit somehow through recruit training. The same held true for OCS. Standards up, better lieutenants.
But now, here we find ourselves back to deja vu all over again. One is of the mind that it is good for Lieutenant Weiss to pipe up, and write a book. Old meets new. Okay we get it. Oldest Marine and youngest Marine get the first pieces of birthday cake. There used to be a feature in the old Marine Corps Gazette “nobody asked me but” which was pretty good because mostly company grade officers wrote the articles, and it was usually a good way to bitch and moan without being sent to the brig. So good on Lieutenant Weiss. We hear you. However, if we want a strong Corps, we can not relax standards. While one can appreciate the fact that a few Sikhs have made it through recruit training, one could argue they are Sikh Marines not US Marines. How can you be the same, when you have your own cover, haircut and beard aka grooming standards. The ethos of the Corps and its training is shared misery. Everyone is in the same boat, everyone either makes it our way or out you go. Thus, if the Corps wants to attract new recruits or ask us veterans and retirees to help it achieve recruitment goals, it has to track through 248 years of ethos and core values. Perhaps the only thing so far that I agree with the Acting CMC on is, being a US Marine is bonus enough. That said, old meets new, than we better damn well make it meaningful enough for a young man or woman to feel that it is worth their while, and if that means some adjustment well let’s analyze that criteria, and catch up with the times, if needs be.
Lastly there seems a serious undercurrent, not sure if this is a correct assessment or not, (pull me up short if off track) but if young middle class, working poor and other disaffected income strata, (who traditionally make up the vast majority of the members of the military services) see that they are doing the dying, maiming, and suffering the slings and arrows of military service, deployments and combat etc., for an effete rich spoiled class of oligarchs and upper middle class children refusing to contribute, and their own grandparents and parents are being asked to pay off the college loans of the hyper class than Houston we have a problem. Pound sand, fight your own damn wars of opportunity, because we are out. We will see how happy Binkie Binkerton is to send Binky the 4th off of the next shit hole that the MIC decided was worth our time, treasury, sweat, toil and blood not too mention tears of bereaved families who have more than held up their end of the bargain.
What comes next seems to be very much up grabs. Personally, I would rather see a smaller Corps made up of those who really want to be there than a T/O which is BS anyway, in which substandard Marines infect the rest of the Marines who have to spend 85% of their time dealing with and or fixing the misfit 15%. The folly of FD2030 may actually prove an advantage, if new tracked armor, new artillery pieces, new air assets, revitalized engineers, etc., etc., coupled with updated amphibious lift ultimately articulate into a stronger abet smaller Corps, that is fast on its feet, task organized and a danger to antagonize to the point of deployment, it may all work out. We shall see. Anyone got a shovel? There is a horse barn over there, has to be a pony inside all that horse shit somewhere.