(RepublicanDaily.org) – The U.S. Army is ramping up its recruitment efforts after recent months saw lackluster enlistments.
Military.com reports that the Army has seen only half the usual number of recruits it can train graduate this year. The Army Recruiter Course takes eight weeks. The course conducted at Fort Knox in Kentucky produced only 1,336 graduates for the fiscal year 2023 (which ended in September), compared to a maximum capacity of 2,866 students spread over 53 classes in total.
The Army is hoping that it’s new recruitment ad – one that has raised quite a ruckus already – will entice more people to enlist. The 30-second spot harkens to the old days of Army recruitment commercials, showing burly men jumping off a Chinook helicopter, accompanied by slogans like “Be all you can be,” and “Your greatest victories are never achieved alone.”
Speaking to news outlet CNN, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said that the advertisement’s aim is to reflect the goal of the Army “to fight and win the nation’s wars,” as well as “reflect the Army that does that (win the nation’s wars).” Wormuth added that the ad is a “story” of sorts, based on “market research” that reflected what kind of image people usually have about the Army. CNN reported that last year, the Army recruitment was 15,000 bodies short of its current goal.
While Wormuth is generally optimistic about recruitment going forward, she acknowledges that just like it took the military “more than a year” to get to this point, it will also take some time before enlistment numbers perk up. The Army Secretary said that their new recruitment goal is 65,000, but admits that it is a “stretch goal.”
Meanwhile, the Army recruitment ad has managed to stir up quite a bit of discussion, with its post on Twitter/X managing to garner a whopping 11.3 million views. Some progressives have bemoaned the inherent old-school machismo of the ad, as well as its supposed lack of diversity (despite the inclusion of people of color). Conservatives observers, on the other hand, have mocked the ad as a sign of the failure of the Army’s attempts to cater to the “woke” crowd – a past ad featured a female soldier who talked onscreen about “marching for equality” and being “raised by two moms.”
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