US confronts military recruitment crisis with smallest force since WWII, falling short by 41,000 personnel, prompting concerns under new defense bill.
via DailyMail:
The United States is set to enter 2024 with its smallest military in more than eight decades and faces one of its ‘greatest challenges’ as it tries to boost recruiting from Gen Z, Pentagon officials said.
Under the $886 billion annual defense bill passed by Congress this week total active-duty troop numbers will fall to 1,284,500 next year.
That is the lowest total since before the U.S. entered the Second World War in 1941 and officials said there should be a ‘national call to service’.
Recent recruitment targets were missed in the Army, Navy and Air Force, although the Marine Corps and the newly established Space Force reached their goals.
This week Ashish Vazirani, the Pentagon’s acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness, told the House Armed Services Committee that the individual services missed their recruitment goals in 2023 by a combined 41,000 personnel.