Our Military is not making its recruitment quotas. According to the web site Military Times, the Army, Air Force, and Navy are going to fall short of their goals. The Army is projecting the largest shortfall by about 12,000 recruits. The Army is doing better than they were last year where they were 15,000 recruits short. The Navy is going to fall about 6,000 recruits short. The Air Force is going to be about 10,000 short but their numbers include the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. According to the same site, Military Times, respect for the military has drop considerably. A survey asked in 2018 stated that 70 percent had respect for the military and when asked the same question in February 2021 that percentage had dropped to 56 percent. In a 3 year period the respect for our military had dropped 14 percent. This cannot be blamed on Biden because he didn’t take office until January of 2021. There are a lot of people blaming him for a lot of different things. In this little piece I think that I will throw my two cents worth into the conversation.

I find it interesting that 2018 is the same year that Trump supposedly said that our dead troops in France were “suckers and losers”. I think that was because it was raining Trump didn’t want to get his hair wet so he just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. Did he really mean it? I don’t know. I do know that he didn’t answer the call himself when it was his time to serve. That is why I have always called him “Commander and Chief Bone Spurs” because he took a number of medical deferments because for supposedly having bone spurs. It is probably a miracle that he can golf at all. Trump, of course, has been disrespectful to the family of a fallen solder in Iraq. These are not things that breed faith in a Commander and Chief.  Trump’s loyalty to those that have sacrificed to much does not appear to be there. The things he said about John McCain, not being a war hero was downright disgusting. John McCain was shot down while flying a mission and was a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years. During that time, because he was an Admiral’s son, was offered release from his North Vietnam prison. He refused to accept the release unless everyone was released. That is what I think a hero does. Heroes sacrifice for others. What did Trump say about McCain? He preferred his heroes not to be captured. John McCain may be one of the biggest military heroes to ever walk the halls of Congress and Donald Trump doesn’t think he was a hero. When the Commander in Chief of the military has so little respect for the sacrifices of our men in uniform why serve?

Woke in the Military is now a big subject. They say “woke Military” is hurting recruitment. That it is making it so Conservatives don’t want to volunteer. 41 percent of the Military identify as Minorities. Our Military was desegregated by the President Truman in 1948. Up until then the army was segregated by race. Today’s army is a whole different ballgame. We even have men and women serving in the same outfits. Diversity in our Army is a real thing yet Diversity training is under attack, so is inclusion. What in the hell is going on. The makeup on the Military should reflect the makeup on the Nation.  No diversity training in the Army? I would think that is the most important thing for the Military. You have to trust that person with you in that foxhole. You have to trust everyone of the crew in a tank. Building trust would be one of the most important things that you need to develop. How would a military build trust? I would think that it would with Diversity training as part of that training. If you look at a Black man and see someone you are superior too will never trust them. If you look at a White man with contempt because you know he thinks he is better than you how do you trust them? Battles are won by working in sync with the soldier on your right and the soldier on your left.

I would want a woke Military. Not only to create a sense of brotherhood and belonging but also to create a faith in the mission that the Armed Services represent. In World War II we had a very defined mission of ending the aggression of Fascism. The same aggression that Russia is using in the Ukraine is what we fought in WWII. Now we have politicians justifying and defending that Russian aggression. We did not have a well defined mission in Vietnam and that disorganization spread to the troops. I think that there was a lot of confusion and I feel that confusion also spread to the troops. When George H. W. Bush formed the coalition to drive Iraq out of Kuwait they had a very well defined mission which was executed to perfection and then they got out. I think that the whole morale of the country was very high at that point. When George W. Bush or Bush II as I like to call him went into Iraq the mission began to change just about every week and we wound up there for a very long time. There are people to this day wonder if the only thing that we accomplished was the destabilization of the Middle East.  The same goes for Afghanistan. We went in to rid the world of the terrorist that caused 9/11 and in the end the Trump Administration negotiated with the very people that harbored those terrorist. If we are having a problem with recruitment all you have to look is at the lies that have been told to those troops that served their Country more loyally than the Country had for them. What they had through all those wars was each other and a trust of the armed forces member on the right and the armed forces member on the left no matter what color or race that person was.

From what I see is that it is people like Kevin McCarty who never served in the military as one of the complainers. I have read that he made the statement that he didn’t want a woke Disney training our Troops. Well, I think I would rather a Woke something better than a White Supremists Racist training any of our Troops. Part of being Woke is Respect. Would White Troops want to follow a Black man into battle that hated White People and had no respect for them? Of course not, so why do you think any minority soldier would want to follow a White Supremists into battle? Diversity and inclusion training should be a must for the military because 41 percent our minority troops. It is not just white males out there fighting and dying for the country. There approximately 300,000 women in the military that are seeing their freedoms being taken away. Our Soldiers are a cross section of what America really is which a very diverse nation is. Either the Military embraces that diversity or I feel that if may fail. The Military was more woke under G. H. W. Bush than they ever were under any other president but then that is just my opinion. One thing that will never make a successful army is a government that disrespects them like I feel they are being disrespected today.

In 1971 when I turned 18 I volunteered for the Army. I wanted to do my part but because I had already had the first of what would eventually be 5 knee surgeries and they turned me down. I have felt bad about not being able to do my part all my life. McCarthy didn’t even try. McCarthy is saying that conservatives don’t want to serve in our Woke Military. What I hear is that Conservatives do not want to serve our diverse nation.  Does he want to bring back the all White male armed services? Does he want to bring back segregation into the military? You do that and you will not have a very strong military at all. The Republicans like Rep. McCarty and Sen. Tubberville, to name just a couple, weaken our military and weaken our Republic.