The U.S. Army is expanding its recruiting programs after falling far short of recruiting goals this year, according to reports.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth announced that a new recruiting task force is coming up with ideas to achieve the service’s 60,000 recruitment target. The Army enlisted just 75% of its goal for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
Wormuth and Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the Army, said that a new program that helps low-performing recruits meet academic and fitness standards is showing promise, but expanding it nationwide hinges on the results over the next month or two.
“We want to make sure that there is the amount of recruits that can do that. … The initial results that we’re seeing is this may fundamentally change the way that we do recruiting,” the Army secretary added.
Absolutely shocked that the US army missed its recruiting goal by 25%
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 7, 2022
How could anyone turn down an inspiring recruitment ad like this? pic.twitter.com/0PBv78DJf4
The recruitment shortage also seemed to prompt the Selective Service to post a tweet on Friday encouraging parents to enlist their sons: “Parents, if your son is an only son and the last male in your family to carry the family name, he is still required to register with SSS.”
The announcement comes after Wormuth got into a heated argument on Capitol Hill while explaining the importance of diversity for soldiers.
“We get criticized, frankly, sometimes for being ‘woke,'” she said on Monday. “I’m not sure what ‘woke’ means. I think ‘woke’ means a lot of different things to different people. But, first of all, if ‘woke’ means we are not focused on warfighting, we are not focused on readiness, that doesn’t reflect what I see at installations all around the country or overseas when I go and visit.”
“I do think we do have a wide range of soldiers in our Army, and we’ve got to make them all feel included,” she continued. “And that’s why a lot of our diversity, equity and inclusion programs are important.”
Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo slammed Wormuth for pretending not to know what wokeness is.
“Madam Secretary – you know exactly what woke means: dividing by race, promoting CRT, turning Army Green into climate change green. Soldiers don’t need safe spaces, they need a relentless focus on keeping America safe,” Pompeo tweeted.
