US Army looks to reboot 1980s slogan ‘be all you can be’ amid worst recruitment crisis in DECADES
The US Army is bringing back its famous “Be All You Can Be” ad campaign in response to what has been called the worst recruiting crisis in decades.
According to the Military Family Counseling Network.
The Armed Forces are bringing back the campaign, which was often broadcast on television, radio and billboards from 1980 to 2001.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Sgt. Army Maj. Michael Grinston made the announcement during a highly anticipated launch event at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Two new spots, narrated by and starring Creed III and Ant-Man actor Jonathan Majors, have debuted called ‘Overcoming Obstacles’ and ‘Pushing Tomorrow’.
The US Army is bringing back its famous ‘Be All You Can Be’ ad campaign in response to what has been called the worst recruiting crisis in decades.
“At a time when political, economic and social factors are changing the way young Americans view the world, the new Army brand illustrates how service in the Army is based on passion and purpose,” said Wormuth.
‘Serving our nation is a calling, and one that is fundamentally hopeful. We want a new generation of Americans to see the Army as a pathway to life and the career they want to achieve.’
The ads will be launched heavily during the March Madness college basketball tournament.
Investigation of the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) found that the number of military personnel who would advise others to enlist plunged nearly 12 points to 62.9 percent between 2019 and 2021.
Respondents complained of having liquidity problems and even going hungry.
Others warned that the US military was becoming another casualty of the culture wars, drawing criticism of the military discouraging new recruits.
David Maxwell, a 30-year Army special forces veteran, said the US military was struggling to recruit newcomers when it needed to increase manpower for a potential confrontation with heavyweight foes like Russia. or Chinese.
“The military is a family business, and if military families tell their children not to sign up, that sends a powerful message to everyone else, including motivated and patriotic people,” Maxwell told DailyMail.com.
The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 has been partly blamed for the Army’s recruitment crisis.
The ads will be launched heavily during the March Madness college basketball tournament.
Ant-Man and Creed III actor Jonathan Majors (pictured) narrates and stars in the new ads
The Armed Forces are bringing back the campaign, which was often broadcast on television, radio and billboards from 1980 to 2001.
Army General Joseph Martin spoke this week about “unprecedented challenges” in recruiting recruits, leading to a shortfall of about 10,000 soldiers this year and bigger problems ahead. Pictured: Army recruiters at a job fair in Michigan
Would-be recruits were put off by President Joe Biden’s chaotic military departure from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the perception that “wake-up culture” had left the military an inhospitable place to serve, Maxwell said.
“People are concerned about the potential for large-scale combat operations to defend our country, our allies and our way of life in a war with Russia, China, Iran or North Korea,” said Maxwell, now an expert. in a group of experts.
“They are not the kind of wars we have fought in the last two decades.”
MFAN’s survey of 8,638 service people, veterans and their spouses in the US and deployed abroad, conducted late last year, revealed troubling numbers in financial conflicts despite their government paychecks.
Three-quarters were in debt, more than half couldn’t save, 61 percent had trouble paying rent and a troubled 17 percent said they were so strapped for money that they couldn’t always put enough food on the table.
Respondents generally had annual household incomes of $25,000 to $75,000.
A spouse of a serving military member, who was not named in the study, said a lack of health care was “breaking up military families.” Another said he felt ‘like a failure having to depend on others to help us feed our family’.
Richard Hudson, the Republican congressman from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, one of the world’s largest military installations, spoke of the “real challenges facing too many families” in a video accompanying the report this week.
One in six service people in his district faced food insecurity, well above the national average, he said.
“Clearly we must do better for our troops and veterans,” he said.
The study comes amid growing fears of a troop shortage in the world’s major armed forces.
Army Gen. Joseph Martin, the army’s deputy chief of staff, spoke this week of “unprecedented challenges” in recruiting, leading to a shortfall of about 10,000 soldiers this year and bigger problems ahead.
The Army projects it will have a total force of 466,400 this year, down from the 476,000 expected. By the end of 2023, the number could drop further to between 445,000 and 452,000 soldiers, depending on how well recruitment and retention goes.
Addressing a House Armed Services subcommittee, General Martin blamed the “post-Covid-19 environment and job market, but also competition with private companies that have changed their incentives over time.”
Army General Jack Keane told Fox News this week about the worst recruitment crisis since the 1970s, when the government abolished conscription and switched to a volunteer force at the end of the Vietnam War.
The House of Representatives last week passed an $840 billion policy bill that would grant 4.6 percent pay increases to military personnel. It introduces requirements to address white supremacist and neo-Nazi activity in the forces, despite objections from Republicans.