Military.com published a report examining the decline in white Army recruits over the last several years.
The decline in white recruits comes as the Army missed its 2023 target of 65,000 new soldiers, needing 10,000 more recruits.
In 2018, 44,042 recruits were white, but as of 2023, the number is 25,070.
Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 6% decrease in white recruits, the report noted.
Between 2018 and 2023, black recruits increased by 4% and Hispanic recruits increased by 7%.
Army officials were interviewed by Military.com, to which the outlet shared that officials “don’t see a single cause to the recruiting problem, but pointed to a confluence of issues for Army recruiting, including partisan scrutiny of the service, a growing obesity epidemic and an underfunded public education system.”
Some officials blamed conservative media for the recruitment failure, as right-wing sources have targeted liberal policies.
“In most cases, those attacks have zeroed in on the services being more inclusive for women, service members from racial minority groups and LGBTQ+ troops,” Military.com reported.
Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf spoke to “Just the News, No Noise” in October 2023 and expressed his concerns with the U.S. military.
Although he has “great confidence in our fighting men and women,” Wolf said U.S. troops are plagued with “woke” teachings.”
“I’ve seen over the last two and a half years or more, what they’ve done to the U.S. military and degrading physical standards, going woke in their teachings there in the Pentagon and elsewhere. That gives me great concern,” he shared with the TV show.
