US Army vows to ‘fight climate change’ as recruitment plunges
US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth last week announced the Army will be making the “war against climate change” a priority.
“A priority for me and our @USArmy is #resiliency in the face of climate change. At #FortBragg, we have the largest floating solar array in the Southeast United States,” Wormuth tweeted. “This is just one of many examples of how our Army #LeadsFromTheFront in climate innovation and adaptation.”
Many Army veterans slammed Wormuth for focusing on “climate change” instead of growing a robust fighting force able to effectively defend the United States against other military forces.
“China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are watching as the Secretary of the Army brags that her priority is fighting climate change. @SecArmy, your absurd focus is why the U.S. military was rated as weak, relative to the force needed to defend national interests …” Retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant Jessie Jane Duff replied to Wormuth.
“So can the Soldiers shoot straight? Are units adept at combined arms combat? What about combat readiness?” asked retired Army Colonel James Hutton.
“I know I am just a dumb retired Senior Enlisted guy, but I can think of 15,000 more important priorities for the Secretary of the Army than climate resiliency,” said retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden.
Wormuth’s remarks come after the Army recorded its worst recruitment numbers in 50 years, falling 25% short of its 60,000-enlistment goal for fiscal year 2022.
In January the Army announced it will begin offering a $1,500 sign-on bonus to Army recruiters who exceed their quarterly quota in a desperate effort to boost recruitment. According to Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, the Army “cannot afford another slow year in recruiting.”. The Army is also offering several enlistment bonuses to new recruits.
However, it is unclear if this strategy will be effective. Many soldiers were forced to repay their signing bonuses after they were fired for being unvaccinated. The military has discharged over 8,000 service members for not taking the COVID-19 shots and, while the vaccine mandate was recently rescinded, the Defense Department has no plans to reinstate the soldiers or provide them with backpay.
One Army soldier who received a $7,000 signing bonus and was fired for refusing the shots in May must now pay back a pro-rated $4,000 to the Biden administration for failing to complete his six-year commitment. The soldier was forced to sell 60 of his vacation days to come up with the money.
"I've deployed multiple times, and I feel like the last thing I had was selling leave days that I earned and was never able to take due to me being deployed or needing that time to prepare for the training cycle,” the serviceman told Fox News Digital. “I was about to enter a new world with no income, and that extra bit would have been a nice buffer in my rainy day fund to keep me afloat until I was able to find new employment.”
The number of service members and veterans who would recommend joining the military has dropped significantly, according to the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN), from 74.5% to 62.9% in 2021.
Some say this is due to rampant “wokeness” in the Army spread by the Biden administration. Last year, for example, all U.S. Army personnel were forced to undergo mandatory gender dysphoria training by September 30th.
In May 2021 the U.S. Army released recruitment videos emphasizing the importance of same-sex attraction while omitting any visuals of weaponry. Recruitment ads from other countries — particularly Russia and China — show the United States Army at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to fighting ability.
On Tuesday, the Army revived the 1980s slogan “Be All You Can Be” with newly released recruitment videos which drop the same-sex attraction approach and now resemble classic, traditional video ads from past years showcasing military might and virility.
But while the ads may signal an attempt at normalcy, Wormuth’s prioritization of “climate change” may be sending new recruits mixed messages.
Mainstream media, however, insist that neither the vaccine mandates nor the Army’s globalist transformation is hurting recruitment efforts. Time claims that “Army leaders note that there is literally no ‘hard data’ indicating that the cause of the shortfall is a COVID-19 vaccine mandate” and that “data doesn’t support the idea that ‘woke-ism’ and a focus on social justice is behind the recruiting gap.”
Nevertheless, the Army’s new recruitment ads suggest that someone believes a major overhaul is in order.
