Original question: I have heard rumors of recently discharged and retired being called back to service as well as Stop Loss increases.
Any truth to that?
Answer: You are not wrong.
The issue is what I call “cavitation” and we are seeing it on all fronts because of several root causes:
Vax purge - this has snowballed into a stain on the service. When they are cutting some of their top people, it leaves an unplanned gap. What you do not see is the number of service members who silently walked away, retired early, or just chose to not re-enlist. This number includes a lot of vaccinated troops who see the treatment their buddies got and are hanging it up. Also consider the loss of family and friends from back home. The military is a family affair for many and those that are being purged are taking their extended family with them. A statistical analysis of the officers that have been “let go” over the vax have overwhelmingly (over 75%) been rated in the top 10% of their peer group in terms of performance. These are not the bottom dwellers that needed to go.
Loser Generals - The loss in Afghanistan has been worse for our military’s morale than Vietnam. No one wants to sign up to work for the losing team. It has also been made clear that the leadership is incompetent and does not care if they take some losses - reference Stu Scheller’s point about holding leadership accountable for failure. He was absolutely right. Most service members put up with a lot because they believe in their leadership and want to follow them. That is out the window.
Recruiting - the above two points are having a major impact on the ability to bring in new recruits. Additionally, the military’s commitment to politicization and “going woke” has turned off many from population groups that were once considered “most likely to serve”. The stats are real, Texas recruiting districts have missed their mission for the past 6 months, and the Army recruited 40 individuals the month of April. Again, no one wants to sign up for the losing team.
Supply chain issues - these affect everyone, and we are seeing it happen across society. When you have supply disruptions coupled with personnel shortfalls as listed above, maintenance starts to atrophy and you run behind on scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Lance Corporal wrench turner who you kicked out will not be replaced for 9 months, and he is back at his Uncles shop rebuilding engines while you may get a diversity is our strength hire and she has never touched a Diesel engine.
Economy - The not recession and hyper inflation we are seeing is doing a number on military recruiting and retention. When more than 50% of your force is below the poverty line and on food stamps there is a problem. Put simply the pay, which was never that great, is not getting military members as far in this economy. This is also an issue due to the military’s focus over the past 20 years on increased standards, demanding higher grades, no tattoos, etc. that has put them in direct competition with corporate and collegiate recruiting efforts. Not a bad thing in and of itself but the traditional “carrots” that brought kids to the recruiters door are simply not there. Even McDonalds offers a college tuition payment plan.
Put all this together and you have a toxic combination of realities and decisions that are causing a sever atrophy of military readiness. And the reality is the military cannot meet its manning requirements established by law. The alternatives left are stop loss, recall, and other bad choices that will only further antagonize the loss of trust in leadership.
And before you say just bring back the unvaxxed, every one of them have been discharged with a misconduct statement on their DD-214. They are not coming back without significant efforts.
To the original question, the root causes I describe are what is driving the decision towards recalls and stop losses. There are only so many tools to correct manpower loss and recalls (which they will heavily incentivize for voluntary before they get into the involuntary variety) are something that are on the table. Stop loss is another - and given the current deteriorating global security situation, will likely be seen soon, especially in high demand communities.
I have heard whispers of it being discussed. Look for more reserve mobilizations before it gets to that, but understand that it has always been a tool that has been discussed and considered well before the current situation we are in.
Also, it is worth pointing out that these are politically charged decisions that carry a lot of repercussions and long term risk with them, which is why they are rarely talked about or used. But this is the result of the reckless leadership over the past 2 decades and especially the past 2 years that has gotten us to this point.
- an Ex Marine
No such thing as an "Ex-Marine"..just saying
Glad you got the message ;)
You are an ex Marine when the Corps has abandoned you and everything else it stood for.
My husband considers himself an ex Marine too. What the state of the military has become is unfathomable. We have talked to others about what happens when they decide to draft our children and the overwhelming consensus seems to be, they will not go. Not dodgers, but will refuse to serve a false government regime. Many prior service see and understand what is going on and what the government is attempting.
Ah ok
There is if youve been left out to dry and turn your back on the organization that fucked you. Just sayin. Eat the apple!
Thanks for understanding.
I was lucky enough to see the writing on the wall and was able to walk away.
But I shall maintain my identity as an ex as there shall be no reconciliation
At least there didn't used to be.
Those who think the Trump-Q plan is the best possible plan need to pay attention to this former US Marine.
Also we all need to transfer his excellent insights, into the deterioration of the Corps, over to the education sector where we have lost at least a whole generation of teachers and students to the abysmal woke agenda of the globalists and the longterm "normies" we are told we have to wait for.
Meanwhile, while we wait, damage is being done to the world that cannot be undone in one generation.
My warning to Trump-Q is that officers, noncoms and teachers are going to take a long time to replace and while the replacement effort is going on the criminal-globalist portion of humanity is not going to have disappeared.
The notion that the globalists could be displaced and the normies awakened without significant public disruption and public struggle, in my opinion, is wishful.
Humanity on planet earth isn't able to evolve faster than the generational processes it uses. Lessons of human nature are not learned in one generation or in several generations. Humanity isn't going to go through some miracle reformation. Humanity may improve by some slight, barely-measureable increment but humanity is going to remain human and crime and selfishness are going to remain.
Meanwhile the Constitution has been shown to several generations to be a document that can be subverted with impunity. This is a powerful lesson that could have been avoided by more powerful and determined leadership operating to a stricter plan.
I'm sure better days lie ahead, but I do not think the plan we are seeing unfold is the best possible plan.
Well said.
I would add one more factor.
No sane person would enlist in a military whose CIC is Joe Biden.
I work(ed) directly with Army recruiting and one if my closest buddies is an army retention guy (high up). I can confirm 100% of this post is what shooters call “center-center mass”. Golfers would say “dead-solid perfect”. This post belongs on the front page of every news site regardless of political slant.
China is looking, and weighing if this might not be their best shot ever to execute the kinetic part of their takeover.
The odds are good I worked with your buddy.
And working on getting this in the media now. MTF.
I'm absolutely sure you are correct.
We call it a ‘back-door’ draft. Involuntary service is de facto conscription.
Ex Marine. That says a whole lot.
There are a whole lot of them out there these days. And not by choice. Many of them have been expelled from the only family they ever knew.
Understand that many of these patriots learned the hard way that Semper fi, a motto that was beat into their head, is dead. Semper Fi is now sadly a one way street.
That's what I'm saying. That a Marine would use that terminology says so much about the state of our beloved Corps. By no means was my comment meant to denigrate OP, but to stand beside him in soludarity. Always faithful to each other. The few.Yut, S/F.
Totally understand that. That a Marine would use that terminology says so much about the state of our beloved Corps. By no means was my comment meant to denigrate OP, but to stand beside him in solidarity.
Like flying the flag upside down
I recently separated from the Army. In all of my units, it was hard for retention to meet their missions.
On top of everything said in the post, the military is a great stepping stone for junior enlisted personnel and for junior officers transitioning out of the military and into civilian life. Why stay in the military when you can do the same job minus PT plus a beard minus staff duty plus double or triple your current income?
The military provides housing and medical care for all service members and their dependents, so it is its own sort of welfare. There are lots of great people in the military, I just tend to find that beyond a certain rank or number of years in the military, the better/best ones move on to more exciting opportunities.
Devil’s advocate, I have never worked directly, or to my knowledge indirectly, with any Delta Force/special operators. I am positive that those personnel are still best of the best.
Within my former MOS and related jobs, there are plenty of opportunities in the civilian sector. Having a clearance and experience with DoD software/Intelligence systems is usually an easy ticket to punch.
Of my cohort that I served with, about 8/10 of the good ones got out for some reason or another.
I will say one last thing about the military, for an organization that makes you swear an oath to the constitution, they really don’t make you study it so my question is, how can you swear an oath to support and defend the constitution if you’ve never read it or can’t even name 5 amendments from the Bill of Rights?
I was talking to someone w a lifetime of military experience and they were telling me about reading the Constitution recently.
Very respectful family member so I didn't blurt it out, but was thinking...Whoa! You spent 35 yrs defending a document you didn't even bother to read?
Exactly this.
“Always causing trouble. Nothing she does turns out well, WATCH!”
~President Trump comments on Nancy Pelosi.
It’s an abomination what these corrupt officials are doing to every crevice of the government.
Degrading the military makes it easier for the leftist to surrender our country to..........
...the false song of globalism.
The Set Up to begin the Draft is in place, just need the catalyst event to officially begin. I can't wait to see videos of young Americans burning their draft cards. Of course the administration and their lapdog media will deny it. I can just hear black lesbo Speaker get out & claim how this generation can't wait to fight Russians in Ukraine
They can try and recall me all they fucking want. Good luck with that shit. Give General Miley a M4 and he can fight the (insert deep state player here).
Ex? You sure???