Here’s How The Military Dropped Its Standards In 2022 To Address A Major Recruiting CrisisMicaela Burrow
Reporter
December 29, 2022 8:37 PM ET
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In 2022 amid a historic recruiting crisis, U.S. military leaders lowered the bar of physical and mental standards required to join the service.
The changes, such as expanding access for individuals with a history of behavioral health conditions, could reduce military readiness, Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“These changes have been part of a trend of lowered standards” — mental, physical and medical — “which has taken place over the last two years,” Spoehr explained.
The military’s standards for committed members and new recruits have dropped in 2022 as the services struggle to overcome challenges in filling the ranks.
Army recruiting plummeted in 2022, while the remaining services just made their recruiting goals for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to Department of Defense (DOD) data shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The military is scrambling to adjust policies in a way that attracts more recruits, prompting some lowering of physical fitness and academic standards that could negatively impact military readiness, a military expert told the DCNF.
“The military and the administration are trying to overcome the greatest recruiting challenge they have ever faced by reducing certain standards,” Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, told the DCNF.
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https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/29/military-army-navy-air-force-standards-recruiting-crisis/
