The general research topic selected for this capstone project is “Army recruitment in the United States”. The issue relates to management, and specifically, human capital management, which is a relevant component in the country, is the sustenance of a functional, efficient, and modern military. Recruitment in the US Army is an increasing concern to military leaders, policymakers, and the country’s leadership because of its implication on national security (Laich, 2019). Indeed, the evaluation of military strength is through its size, with stronger armies being those with a large number of Soldiers. Although this perception is traditional, the United States relies on a large number of military officers as an indicator of its military might across the globe. Therefore, since a huge population of military personnel shows the military might, dwindling army numbers can be mean weakening of military force by hostile nations and traditional state forces (Park et al., 2016). In this regard, the United States has several foes and states that would relish a deterioration of the country’s military. The reduction of the US Army numbers is a welcome development to new and traditional opponents of the country, like North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, and terrorist organizations, and has significant national security implications (Spoehr, 2018). The perceptions of a shrinking military can embolden these forces to undertake attacks on the country, which would endanger the lives of Americans. In this respect, understanding the reasons making young Americans avoid joining the military service is critical because it influences the efficiency of recruitment and retention strategies, as well as expanding the population of the military service.
The number of military personnel in the United States has been reducing since the end of the Second World War, and the different army services are experiencing personal shortfalls because under recruitment. For instance, the US Army has a deficit of 24,000 personnel to make up the 500,000-strong force required currently (Spoehr, 2018). This is because the private sector is sweeping the limited skilled technical workforce out of the labor market at the expense of the military. Observers argue that the current contemporary youth in America dislike warfare because it seems to lack purpose or has the bureaucratic structure in the armed forces that stifles personal and career freedoms (Rech, 2014). The sections of the American youth, who are the pool that military recruiters tap into, have a differing perspective about military service, unlike its predecessor cohort.
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Statement of the Problem
Despite the numerous financial incentive instituted by the Pentagon and Congress, the US Army continues attracting fewer Americans year over year. The attractiveness of the US Army among young Americans is dwindling, and fewer Americans are turning up for recruitment exercises each year, making it difficult to realize the recruitment targets (South, 2019). However, numbers do not tell the whole story, necessitating a closer examination of the transformation of warfare in recent times, courtesy to technological advancements. Even though the US Army has continued to modernize and incorporate digitized warfare into the skillsets required by Soldiers and weaponry that officers can control remotely, filling many of these new positions remains problematic (Derby, 2014). The current efforts to make the army attractive are not yielding the desired outcomes. With this in mind, filling up positions in the US Army that require technical capabilities is also problematic, with people preferring the civilian alternatives. The problem with these perspectives is that they do not set out the right number of US army officers or whether the numbers are fit for purpose as warfare transforms under the auspices of technology (South, 2019). Therefore, understanding why military service is no longer attractive to young Americans is pertinent if the relent recruitment and retention strategies in the US Army are to succeed .
References
Derby, J. (2014). Violent Video Games and the Military: Recruitment, Training, and Treating Mental Disability. Art Education , 67 (3), 19-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2014.11519269
Laich, D. (2019). Manning the military: America’s problem . Military Times. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2019/07/23/manning-the-military-americas-problem/.
Park, S., Shoieb, Z., & Taylor, R. (2016). Message Strategies in Military Recruitment Advertising. Armed Forces & Society , 43 (3), 566-573. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x16642037
Rech, M. (2014). Recruitment, counter-recruitment and critical military studies. Global Discourse , 4 (2), 244-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2014.909243
South, T. (2019). Rising costs, dwindling recruit numbers, increasing demands may bring back the military draft . Military Times. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/11/19/rising-costs-dwindling-recruit-numbers-increasing-demands-may-bring-back-the-draft/.
Spoehr, T. (2018). Why the U.S. Military Is In Serious Trouble . The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/why-the-us-military-serious-trouble.
