SCHAEFER: PEOPLE REMAIN PRIORITY IN ARMY OF 2030
Squad training
Photo by: U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Jacob Sawyer
Fri, 06/09/2023 - 07:08
Fifty years after the birth of the all-volunteer force, the Army’s top concern is ensuring Americans understand their Army.
“Large swaths of the country … just aren’t familiar with the Army,” said Agnes Schaefer, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs. “We are seeing a really big and growing cultural knowledge gap about the military, and so … we’re trying to fill that.”
Speaking June 6 alongside her counterparts from the Navy and the Air Force during a discussion hosted by the Center for a New American Security, Schaefer’s remarks come as the military faces one of the toughest recruiting environments since the creation of the all-volunteer force in 1973.
The Army, the biggest of the services, missed its recruiting goal by 15,000 new soldiers last year. Leaders expect the service will fall short again this year as it grapples with the lingering effects of the pandemic shutdowns, competition from the private sector and a shrinking pool of interested and qualified young people.
https://www.ausa.org/news/schaefer-people-remain-priority-army-2030
