U.S. Army Tries New Recruiting Tactics

It does as far as kicking people out for disciplinary reasons or fitness standards. But Officers are just as likely, if not more likely, to walk away after their contract is up due to the fact that they have experience and a degree to transfer into the civilian world.

The problem with the numbers game is that the DoD doesn't like swallowing hard pills. Our military is vast, and in order to keep it functioning we need bodies. We of course would love for the military to only be comprised of above average citizens but the reality is that there just aren't enough of those to go around. This yo-yo effect of branches downsizing then ramping up is detrimental to the force as a whole. Sequestration was living proof of that and we are still hurting badly from that today with it going to take another decade or so to reverse that if we stayed on our present course. But we of course won't because with each Presidential Administration the goals change which puts us in a never ending cycle.

We always hear phrases like "smaller and more fit" and while that sounds good on paper it's simply unrealistic. The requirements of the US Armed Forces on a global scale are just too high to try to play that game.

 

Times are changing rapidly in regards to this in the rotary wing community. With the new Rotary to Airline Group policy with airlines now accepting rotary wing pilots the civilian market has absolutely gutted the military rotary wing community.

It all boils back down to the quality of life. For most folks flying a passenger jet is not as "cool" as flying an attack helicopter but the quality of life difference between the two outweighs the "cool" factor for many. As I've said before the military is simply asking too much from service members now. The paycheck and benefits are nice, but when you are asked to basically give up your entire life for those things it no longer becomes worth it especially for those with families. I personally know tons of people who have agreed to take a pretty significant pay cut in order to transition to the airlines. These are 15 year veteran military aviators who are willing to give up a pension and take a big pay cut to go fly for a regional airline company because they have had enough of being worked to death by the US Army for the privilege of flying their choppers.

It's a pretty big crisis going on right now that the DoD doesn't exactly know how to handle outside of just tossing bonus money at folks which isn't working anywhere near as well as they thought it would. It's not the money, it's the quality of life and time to actually have a life.

 

It's a bit of playing catch up from the Obama sequestration era and it's also a matter of the Army trying to finally "humanize" the Army so to speak. It's no secret that the Army has always lagged behind the Navy and Air Force in regards to quality of life so in an effort to retain more Soldiers the Army is trying to improve things. I remember about a decade or so ago I saw some brand new barracks buildings springing up around posts which are a far cry from what I grew up in as a new Soldier. These new barracks aren't Air Force dorms by any means, but they are much better than the bunk beds, wall locker, and shower down the hall facilities of years past. It's a slow process but more barracks are being replaced with these new facilities. Chow hall food is being improved as well according to the Enlisted Soldiers. Command is also being directed to be more lenient with leave and pass policies also.

Just little things like that the Army is trying to do to make the Army "suck less" and the Army is slowly getting rid of the things that are designed to suck just for the hell of it.

That's the Enlisted side. For us aviators our issues stem from the age old thinking of "You get paid too much to JUST fly so we make you do all sorts of other stuff too". Our pilots spend the vast majority of their time doing things that have nothing to do with flying. Our junior aviators arrive from flight school expecting to fly then realize that "pilot" is actually a side gig instead of your primary job. They don't want to spend 80% of their time at a desk, they want to fly, so they do their initial contract and the jump ship more often than not. I have a desk job also but due to my position and experience I can fly more or less however much I choose. Our junior aviators don't have that luxury and by the time they get to where I am they have already said screw this.

For those in my peer group our issues stem more from pure exhaustion. The pilot shortage is simply putting way more pressure on us to get things done with less. Couple that with wars that began on 9/11 and are still going it's gotten to the point of sacrificing way more than many folks should be reasonably expected to. It's not uncommon to meet folks with 3,4,5,6 combat deployments under their belts. Depending on the year when they deployed you're talking a total of anywhere from 3-10 total years spent in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere away from family.

It's becoming increasingly difficult for the Army and Congress to figure out how to retain aviators. Take a guy with 12 years of service for example. He's the mid career guy with experience who you want to keep around. He has a wife and children and he has spent 5 total years of his 12 year service in Iraq or Afghanistan. When he is home in the States he spends 4-6 months per year on TDY or at home in the field doing exercises and prepping for war. His contract is now up and you want to keep him around so you offer him a MASSIVE bonus (seriously, these bonuses are MASSIVE). He turns it down and says no I want to leave and he'd rather go fly for regional airlines and take a 50% pay cut instead. You aren't going to be able to keep that guy because you can't give him what he wants. He doesn't want your 6 figure bonus, he wants to have enough time to play with his children and see his wife. The Army simply cannot give him that with our never ending commitments and global requirements. So he leaves. And those of us left, who have the same history as him, have to now pick up the slack so we too get even more exhausted than we already are until we get too fed up and quit as well. A never ended cycle.

The misconception from many on the outside is that things would slow down once these terrorism wars slowed down. That is false, we are still in Afghanistan and we still deploy just as often. Iraq has been replaced with going to Europe. We are not "home" any more now than we were during the troop surge in 09.

Some of the increased budget is being used for improvements but I honestly don't think we need a budget increase. I think we need an audit. We have plenty of money but it is managed very poorly as has been for as long as I have been serving. It's a running gag around the office that if the Army was a civilian corporation then we would be Enron and I agree with that. We get bent over backwards by Defense contractors who charge $100 bucks for a bolt and washer and we allow it. We waste millions of dollars on unnecessary nonsense at the end of every fiscal year for fear of "not spending it all so they won't give us as much next year". Seriously, walk into any base's storage room and you'll see 100 executive computer chairs just sitting in there that the supply guy bought in September to blow the rest of the budget real quick.

At the end of the day it's very simple. As I tell young Lieutenants or NCO's when they ask for advice about troublesome Soldiers. "Take their time away". That's what they actually care about. You want to punish the Private who is constantly late for work? Don't Article 15 him and take 1/2 months pay. Give him extra duty on Saturday and Sunday when he wants to be in his room playing video games. Taking his weekend away will upset him more than even taking half his money. He wants free time more than he wants money.

It's the same concept overall. It's not the money we are craving or wanting, we get paid well enough and have great benefits. It's our TIME that we want, the Army has taken all of our time away from us and that is why folks are walking away in droves.