U.S. Military Recruiting Falters Under Democrats

Six days after Palestinian Gaza terrorists committed the heinous pogrom against Israeli civilians, former President George W. Bush righteously declared that “we need to support Israel, no ands, ifs or buts.”

At a private event in California on Oct. 13, 2023, the 43^rd president also praised Israel’s “very seasoned military,” but claimed that “300,000 reservists” were mobilized, “most of whom probably can’t fire a rifle.”

In fact, every activated Israeli male or female reservist has completed at least two years of compulsory military service, beginning at 18 years of age.

Each reservist not only can fire a rifle, but also perform other combat duties, including as tankers, fighter pilots, navy personnel, and special forces.

Additionally, many Israeli veterans are required to participate in annual reserve training until their 40s or early 50s. Others rush to the battlefronts when a war erupts, as has happened many times since the War of Independence in 1948.

Naftali Bennett, the 51-year-old former prime minister and combat veteran, reported for military service on Oct. 7, 2023.

Seventy-three percent of Israel’s current military personnel are in the reserves, while American reservists are 38%.

In contrast to former President Bush’s partial misreading of the Israeli military, Edward Luttwak in Tablet Magazine on Feb. 8, “Why Israel Is Winning in Gaza,” reported that no Israeli soldier “enters Gaza without a least a full year’s worth of combat instruction, much more than their American counterparts had in Vietnam when the U.S. last used conscripts.”

Significantly, when the draft was abolished in 1973, there were 2.253 million Americans on active duty, from a population of 210 million.

Active-duty strength declined to 1.920 million in 1992, or by 15%, in the last year of George H.W. Bush presidency.

But during Bill Clinton’s presidency between Jan. 1993 and Jan. 2001, military personnel plunged by a cataclysmic 536,000, or 28%, to 1.384 million.

And in Fiscal Year 2024, which began on Oct. 1, 2023, the U.S armed forces are budgeted for an 84-year low of 1.285 million active-duty military personnel.

With 800,000 reservists, America has a current military strength of 2.085 million in a population of 335 million, or six-tenths of 1%.

With a population of 10 million, Israel has 170,000 active personal and 465,000 reservists, for a total of 635,000, or 6.4%.

Secondly, the U.S. defense budget in 2024 is $832 billion, or $399,000 per uniformed combatant.

Israel’s defense budget this year is $24.4 billion, or $38,000 per combatant.

Thirdly, the Daily Caller’s Micaela Burrow documented on Feb. 13 that the U.S. armed forces are currently suffering their “worst-ever recruiting crisis.”

In Fiscal Year 2019, President Donald Trump’s third year in the White House, the Armed Forces swore in 171,000 recruits.

In FY2023, President Joe Biden’s third year in office, the volunteer U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines inducted only 134,000 men and women, or 22% fewer.

For the first quarter of FY2024, between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023, the U.S. armed forces recruited only 20,176, which projects to a disastrous 80,704 new combatants for the entire year.

Burrow’s article, “Decline in White Recruits Fueling the Military’s Worst-Ever Recruiting Crisis,” homes in on another avoidable national catastrophe precipitated by President Biden’s radical-left policies.

In FY2018, there were 44,042 new white recruits in the Army, or 56.4% of a total of 78,089.

But in FY 2023, there were only 25,070 white Army recruits, or 44%, of 56,977.

Thus, white Army recruits plunged by 18,972, or a mind-boggling 43%, over the last five years.

In a Newsmax interview on Jan. 31, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Armed Services Committee, justifiably blasted the Biden administration for injecting pernicious identity politics into the nation’s military:

“Southern Christian kids usually make up most of the military in this country, especially the army. They’re not joining, but I don’t think they [Democrats] want them.”

Sen. Tuberville’s claim, that Southerners have been overrepresented in the armed forces, is indisputable.

Five Southern mega-populated states — Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia — have a combined 4,685,000 military veterans, or 27.5% of America’s 17,039,000.

By contrast, five Democratic-dominated states — California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland — have 2,960,000 veterans, or only 17.4%.

The five Republican-run states have 65.0 million in the 18-years-of-age-or-older cohort, while the five Democratic states have a very close 63.9 million.

President Joe Biden has caused the deleterious shrinkage of America’s military by implementing DEI indoctrination, COVID vaccine mandates, an investigation of supposed white supremacy and other horrendous policies.

The president’s chaotic withdrawal of American combat troops from Afghanistan in Aug. 2021, and the quick seizure of the entire country by Taliban terrorists, sent his favorable rating on a steep, irreversible downward spiral.

Undoubtedly, Biden has been one of the worst commanders-in-chief in American history, while former President Donald Trump was an effective one.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister with 16 years in office, has admirably commanded his military forces since Oct. 7, 2023, in the multi-front war against genocidal Islamic terrorists in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Judea and Samaria (West Bank).