[Senate Hearing 118-617]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-617
RECRUITING CHALLENGES FACING THE UNITED
STATES MILITARY
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MARCH 22, 2023
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: http://www.govinfo.gov
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
60-006 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
JACK REED, Rhode Island, Chairman
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut TOM COTTON, Arkansas
MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
TIM KAINE, Virginia JONI ERNST, Iowa
ANGUS S. KING, Jr., Maine DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
GARY C. PETERS, Michigan RICK SCOTT, Florida
JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada TED BUDD, North Carolina
MARK KELLY, Arizona ERIC SCHMITT, Missouri
Elizabeth L. King, Staff Director
John P. Keast, Minority Staff
Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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March 22, 2023
Page
Recruiting Challenges Facing The United States Military.......... 1
Members Statements
Statement of Senator Jack Reed................................... 1
Statement of Senator Roger F. Wicker............................. 2
Witnesses Statements
Camarillo, Hon. Gabriel, Under Secretary of the Army............. 4
Raven, Hon. Erik, Under Secretary of the Navy.................... 12
Jones, Hon. Kristyn, Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary 16
of the Air Force.
Questions for the Record......................................... 55
(iii)
RECRUITING CHALLENGES FACING THE
UNITED STATES MILITARY
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2023
United States Senate,
Committee on Armed Services,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room
SD-106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Jack Reed
(Chairman of the Committee) presiding.
Committee Members present: Senators Reed, Shaheen,
Gillibrand, Blumenthal, Hirono, Kaine, King, Warren, Peters,
Manchin, Duckworth, Rosen, Kelly, Wicker, Cotton, Ernst,
Sullivan, Scott, Tuberville, Mullin, Budd, and Schmitt.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED
Chairman Reed. I would like to call the hearing to order.
Good morning. The Committee meets today to discuss the
recruiting challenges facing the United States military. I
would like to welcome our witnesses: Mr. Gabriel Camarillo,
Under Secretary of the Army, Mr. Erik Raven, Under Secretary of
the Navy, and Ms. Kristyn Jones performing the duties of the
Under Secretary of the Air Force. Thank you for your leadership
and for joining us today.
The United States military faces the most challenging
recruiting environment in the 50-year history of the All-
Volunteer Force. As America continues to recover from two
decades of war and a global pandemic, the military service are
having significant difficulties filling their ranks.
Last year the force fell tens of thousands of recruits
short of its goals and the same appears likely this year. There
are several factors contributing to the situation.
To begin, America has seen record low unemployment for
several years. Even in the best of times a strong economy and
low national unemployment have always made military recruiting
difficult.
Further, the number of young Americans qualified or
interested in military service is declining. Only 23 percent of
Americans aged 17 to 24 are eligible to serve as, among other
things, national obesity rates continue to rise and
standardized mental aptitude test scores of individuals
continue to fall.
To compound this issue, less than 10 percent of the
population have a propensity to serve, the lowest point in
decades. Additionally, unlike today's draft when virtually
every American knew about the military, today most young
Americans do not know anyone personally who has served in the
military and they are unaware of many of the benefits of
military service.
The military services are starting to look like a family
business where children of servicemembers and veterans enlist
at far higher rates than their peers who do not come from a
military background.
Also, as our military facilities are inclusive-based in
fewer and fewer states, our personnel have become less
geographically representative of the Nation. The smaller the
military's footprint becomes the greater perception grows of
the divide between civilian and military cultures. Our military
should reflect all of American society, not stand apart from
it.
Last year the Department of Defense (DOD) conducted an
extensive survey of young Americans to better understand why
they were overwhelmingly uninterested in military service. By a
wide margin the top three reasons the respondents cited were
the same across all the services: fear of death or injury,
worries about PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder], and
separation from friends and family.
We know that our servicemembers have sacrificed much in
defense of our Nation. But we also know that widespread fears
of death, injury, and PTSD are out of sync with the experience
of most veterans.
Survey and census data show that the overwhelming majority
of veterans report positive experiences in the military.
American veterans are more civically engaged, earn more money,
and have more education than those who have not served.
In short, military service is a social good, it benefits
the Nation, and it benefits those who serve. Currently, the
services are challenged to convince young people join the
military. Once they don the uniform, however, servicemembers
are more likely than ever to reenlist and stay in the military
by choice.
Retention is at an all-time high even as recruiting faces
significant headwinds. The many benefits of military service
are the results of a decades-long campaign to attract and
retain the best talent our country has to offer.
The military services offer education and training in
emerging fields like cyber and artificial intelligence,
unparalleled family support programs, comprehensive health and
wellness benefits, pathways to higher education both in and out
of uniform, and the best leadership training and experience in
the world.
I want to briefly return to the issue of young Americans'
propensity to serve. As mentioned, the vast majority of the
population chooses not to serve due to concerns about perceived
physical and mental and separation from loved ones.
But in an effort to understand more about the current
recruiting environment, the Army has been conducting frequent
pulse surveys to gather more opinions from potential recruits.
In its most recent study, one issue that did not deter
recruits from enlisting in significant numbers was the idea of
the military being woke. I mention this term only because it
was used in the survey, but I have yet to hear it defined as an
actual policy or articulated position.
Only a small fraction--5, 10 percent of respondents--said
that they felt the military places too much emphasis on
wokeness.
Let me be clear, diversity and inclusion strengthen our
military. By every measure America's military is more lethal
and ready than it has ever been. It is also more diverse and
inclusive than ever before and this is not a coincidence. Our
military looks more and more like the Nation it represents,
whether in race, gender, creed, sexuality, or any other
measure.
This is the right direction as America's strength is its
diversity. But greater diversity requires greater understanding
within the ranks and understanding requires learning and
regular training.
The fundamental bond that assures unit cohesion is the
commitment by every member to protect his or her fellow
servicemembers, whoever they may be.
This is a State of mind and heart that must be nurtured by
training and example. Our military asset--our greatest military
asset is its people. We cannot succeed if we do not have
adequate numbers of men and women of sufficiently high
character contributing to our national defense.
During today's hearing I would like to know our witnesses'
ideas for increasing the number of young Americans eligible for
and interested in service.
As an aside, I think we all know around here as we talk to
every business in our community their major complaint is they
cannot find good workers, which is the complaint the Department
of Defense has right now.
In addition, as I talk to the police Departments around my
State they are having a very difficult time recruiting police
officers. In many cases, it is similar to our military. There
is a fear now that they could be harmed as a police officer,
which would disrupt their family significantly. So this is not
a unique issue with the military.
I want to thank our witnesses again. I look forward to your
testimoneys. Now let me recognize the Ranking Member, Senator
Wicker.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROGER F. WICKER
Senator Wicker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
our witnesses for being here and I look forward to this
hearing.
Since October 1973 we have referred to the U.S. military as
an All-Volunteer Force. To put it another way, for the past 50
years our armed services have been filled by recruits and today
recruiting is not going well.
The military must devote considerable resources to attract
young Americans to wear the uniform. Recruiting success is not
easy nor is it guaranteed. Without sufficient numbers of high-
quality recruits the modern American military cannot maintain
its high readiness standards critical to our national security.
Although the military has experienced intermittent
recruiting problems in its history, today's challenge is
unprecedented. The previous low watermark for recruiting
occurred in the late 1970's when the services collectively
achieved 90 percent of their goals.
This year, if trends continued our armed forces are
projected to achieve, roughly, 75 percent of their goals--of
Active Duty recruiting goals, some 15 percentage points lower
than the 1970's and these goals are much smaller than they were
in 1979. The three largest services will all miss their
individual recruiting objectives and the Army will miss the
target for the third time in 5 years.
During the Carter administration, in order to preserve
manning levels, the military lowered recruitment standards and
retained people who should have been let go. This resulted in a
predictable erosion of military readiness.
The only thing that saved the volunteer military was the
increased defense budgets during the administration of
President Reagan. We should not repeat the mistakes of those
earlier years during this administration.
The recruiting challenge today is complicated, as the chair
just outlined. A small and shrinking minority of young
Americans are both qualified and interested in military
service. Interest in military service has never been especially
high but today only about 10 percent of young people consider
putting on the uniform. This is the lowest rate on record.
There are no easy solutions to this problem but we know
what does not work. Lowering recruitment standards today leads
to morale, discipline, and readiness problems tomorrow.
The Army learned this lesson in the 1980's and again in the
early 2000's. Despite this history, the Navy seems intent on
reducing standards to increase recruiting. This year 20 percent
of the Navy's recruits will come from the lowest category of
scores on the Armed Forces Qualification test. I would like Mr.
Raven to explain why the Navy is following this path.
The Department of Defense (DOD) must put at least as much
effort into solving the recruiting crisis as it has in two
other initiatives like extremism, diversity, equity, and
inclusion, and abortion.
These initiatives are, at best, a distraction. At worst,
they dissuade young people from enlisting. They suggest to the
American people that the military has a problem with diversity
and extremism. In truth, the military is the greatest civil
rights program in the history of the world, and the data
support this claim.
A recent peer reviewed study in the Quarterly Journal of
Economics finds, and I quote, ``Army service closes nearly all
of the black/white earnings gap''. The distinguished Chair of
this Committee just said and I agree with him that our military
is more diverse than ever before.
A recent peer-reviewed Quarterly Journal of Economics found
enlisting in the Army increases cumulative earnings post-
secondary education attendance, homeownership, and marriage.
I am looking for a quote that I--Okay, here is a quote from
this study, the Quarterly Journal of Economics. The report
finds that Army service closes nearly all of the black/white
earnings gap, and also, General Colin Powell some 20 years ago
talked about the great diversity accomplishments that military
service has given to the United States of America.
I think the evidence is that despite the good news the
military has decided to address a problem that does not exist--
military extremism.
The Secretary of Defense created a special countering
extremism working group and instituted a military wide stand
down day. To make the military more equitable, the Department
of Defense created a new Federal Advisory Commission and a
Defense Equity Team.
This team published this publication, ``The Diversity,
Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Strategic Plan,''
consisting of some 27 to 30 pages, including the attachments,
and I just wonder where is the same urgency of the Department
of Defense when it comes to the very real recruiting crisis.
Where is the recruiting strategic plan? Is one of those
soon to be issued by or to be ordered by the Department?
I hope our witnesses will reassure the Committee that the
services are taking the recruiting crisis seriously and I hope
they will speak to why all the emphasis on a lack of diversity
and a problem that apparently does not exist at all since we
are the most successful civil rights organization in the world,
and I hope we will have readiness implications at the top of
our agenda rather than items that seem to be politically
correct at the time.
I want to thank our witnesses. I look forward to a good
discussion. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Wicker.
Secretary Camarillo, please?
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GABRIEL CAMARILLO,
UNDER SECRETARY OF THE ARMY
Mr. Camarillo. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, and
Distinguished Members of this Committee, thank you for your
ongoing support for our Army and for providing us the
opportunity to discuss our efforts to confront the present
recruiting challenge.
As Army leaders consistently observe, our greatest asset is
our people and the unmatched talent that our soldiers bring to
the mission every single day.
Their training and their expertise set us apart from other
forces worldwide, and our success in maintaining that decisive
advantage depends on our ongoing ability to attract, recruit,
and retain talented people to serve in our Army.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the All-Volunteer
Force, however, we face a significant challenge in sustaining
this talent pipeline. In fiscal year 2022, the Army fell short
of our recruiting mission, and as the Army has made clear,
today's recruiting landscape did not emerge overnight and it
will take more than 1 year to solve.
We need to address a combination of challenging long-term
problems and current market trends that are together having an
acute impact. Like the rest of the Department, the Army is in a
fierce competition for talent with the private sector.
Separately, we are recovering from school closings during
the pandemic, which limited recruiters' access to students and
faculty alike, coinciding with a 9 percent decline in
performance on military entrance exams. We also know as we have
heard today already that only 23 percent of young Americans are
eligible and only 9 percent are propensed to serve.
These factors have combined to generate a challenging
recruiting landscape that will likely persist for a few years.
But still the Army is undertaking a full court press to
revitalize Army recruiting and this has the direct attention of
every Army leader.
As an enterprise, the Army is working to reform and
modernize recruiting for today's landscape. In addition, we are
using this moment to reintroduce the Army as a career choice
with significant opportunities for America's youth.
I am happy to expand more on our initiatives during my
testimony today but I offer here only a few examples. To change
how we recruit we are incentivizing high performers to become
recruiters in the Army.
We are improving their training, assigning them to
communities where they have ties, and additionally the Army is
experimenting with turning every soldier into a recruiting
through our soldier referral program, which offers our junior
enlisted soldiers a promotion for referring prospects who
actually ship to basic training. This new program has already
generated 4,900 referrals and 68 recruits this year.
The Army is also improving how it engages with potential
recruits. We created a future soldier prep course that invests
in young people to improve their academic and physical fitness
so that they can succeed in joining the Army.
In the program's first year we have had 3,300 graduates and
a remarkable 98 percent success rate. As a result, we are now
creating two additional training units at Fort Jackson and at
Fort Benning and we have surged resources, marketing, events,
recruiters, and even members of operational units to 15 high-
potential focus cities nationwide.
Finally, the Army has updated its brand to reintroduce
itself more broadly to young Americans as a place where you can
be all you can be.
Fortunately for us, once soldiers join the Army they want
to stay. We hit 104 percent of our retention goal last year.
But even with this success we are investing heavily in
improving our soldiers' quality of life to ensure that we care
for our people and help the Army remain an employer of choice.
With this Congress' help we surged funding in fiscal year
2023 and requested $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2024 to improve
the Army's housing inventory, including new builds and major
and medium renovations.
We plan to invest $10 billion over 10 years to improve
barracks throughout the Army. We have prioritized our efforts
to confront the recruiting challenge and we are doing
everything we can to improve our enterprise and reintroduce the
Army and, more importantly, the notion of military service to
the American public.
This is a national security issue and we cannot do it
alone. We need your help. Each of you has a unique voice and
opportunity to promote the benefits of service, to connect with
soldiers and their families, to encourage veterans,
influencers, and educators to invest in the next generation.
I want to thank you and I look forward to answering your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Camarillo follows:]
Prepared Statement by Mr. Gabe Camarillo
opening
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, and distinguished Members of
the Committee, thank you for your ongoing support for our Army and
providing us the opportunity to discuss our efforts to confront the
present recruiting challenge. As the Army's leadership consistently
observes, our greatest asset is our people and the unmatched talent
that our soldiers bring to the mission every day. Their talent,
training, and expertise set us apart from other forces around the
world. Our success in maintaining that decisive advantage depends on
our ongoing ability to attract, recruit, and retain talented people to
serve in our Army.
As we approach the 50-year anniversary of the All-Volunteer Force,
however, we face a significant challenge in sustaining this talent
pipeline. As the Army has made clear, today's recruiting landscape did
not emerge overnight, and it will take more than a year to solve.
Secretary Wormuth has stated that this is the top challenge the Army
currently faces, and efforts to address it have the focused attention
of every senior leader in the Army and our commanders, not just our
Army recruiters.
The Army is meeting this challenge head-on with the Army's
characteristic can-do approach. We have invested in numerous short-term
and long-term efforts to help reform and modernize our recruiting
enterprise. We are working to use this challenge as an opportunity to
make our processes and procedures for accessing new soldiers more
effective and efficient. There are a number of changes the Army is
undertaking to modify our recruiting enterprise to address this issue.
In addition, we are using this moment to reintroduce the Army as a
career profession, with significant opportunities, to America's youth.
We are also working to communicate the value of a career in military
service more broadly to the entire country across all communities.
At the same time, our recent retention efforts have exceeded our
target numbers, showing that once we get people through the door, they
want to stay in the Army. Still, we are investing heavily in improving
quality of life to ensure that we take care of our people and to help
the Army remain an employer of choice.
how we got here
In fiscal year 2022, the Army accessed 44,900 new soldiers, which
fell below our mission of 60,000. Though the Army's recruiting
challenge did not emerge overnight, falling short of our recruiting
mission demonstrated that a combination of difficult, long-term
problems and current market trends were beginning to have an acute
impact. The Army has worked hard to better understand the varied and
complex forces impacting recruiting. While the Army is focused on
improving our recruiting numbers, we continue to work across the
Department to address the larger structural factors that have impacted
military recruiting.
Competing for Talent in a Strong Economy
Like the rest of the Department of Defense, the Army is in fierce
competition for talent with industry. Employers are developing new
incentives to hire talented, knowledgeable, and motivated young people.
At this moment, the private sector has some advantages in competing for
this future workforce. Benefits that used to set the Army apart from
the private sector are becoming more commonplace. Industry can provide
attractive pay, college tuition assistance benefits, healthcare
benefits, and retirement options, while providing more workplace
flexibility, from where employees work to what they wear.
Access to Schools during the Pandemic
During the 2020 pandemic, high schools across the country closed
their doors to recruiters, and many have not reopened them 3 years
later. This has limited recruiters' ability to build relationships with
administrators, teachers, and students. Pandemic-related disruptions to
students' education also led to a decline in performance on military
entrance exams by almost 9 percent.
Eligibility to Serve
One of the most significant long-term trends putting pressure on
the Army's recruiting ability is declining eligibility. The Army will
not lower standards, so the steady decline in young Americans eligible
to serve in the military presents a unique challenge. Currently, only
23 percent of young Americans are eligible to serve, as compared with
29 percent in 2013.
Propensity to Serve
We also have a challenge connecting with America's youth, or
Generation Z. Most of today's young adults are unaware of what it means
to serve. About 75 percent have little to no knowledge about the Army,
and only 9 percent have the propensity to serve, the lowest it has been
in over a decade. Market research shows that with Generation Z, the
Army faces a knowledge gap, a relatability gap, a trust gap, and a
culture gap. According to the Joint Advertising Market Research and
Studies (JAMRS) data, the most significant barriers to our youth
serving in the Army, regardless of gender or religion, are fear of
death or injury, fear of suffering psychological harm, and fear of
leaving friends and family.
These factors have combined to generate a challenging recruiting
landscape that will likely persist for the next few years. Still, the
Army is making a full-court press to revitalize Army recruiting, and we
are seeing signs of early momentum.
reforming our recruiting enterprise
The significant challenges facing the Army offer us an opportunity
to restructure, reimagine, and reinvest in our recruiting enterprise
for today's labor market and America's youth. Our initiatives aim to
change how we select, develop, and train our recruiters and how the
Army engages with recruits. The Army will continue experimenting and
evolving based on what works and improves our recruiting mission. We
will also keep partnering across stakeholders--with schools, community
groups, organizations supporting veterans and military families, and
others--to get the job done.
The Army's first set of initiatives focus on looking hard at how we
recruit--who serves as recruiters, how they are trained, assigned, and
incentivized, and how we support them--to make sure we are putting the
Army's best representatives in the right places with appropriate tools
and training.
Investing in Recruiters
The U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and U.S.
Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) are changing how the Army recruits. We
are selecting recruiters differently, improving training, increasing
recruiter resources, and creating new incentives for high-performing
recruiters. The Army launched the new ``CSA Scholars'' program, which
incentivizes high-performing Captains to seek out recruiting
assignments by providing an opportunity to attend graduate school after
successfully completing their recruiting tour. The first cohort of 21
Captains is already underway.
The Army is also supporting recruiters differently by improving
training, increasing recruiter resources, and creating new incentives
for high-performing recruiters. Recruiters also receive preference for
assignments to match special skills and family requirements. Commanders
then personally assign sponsors to assist families and reduce risk when
relocating to remote areas. Last, USAREC also established ``People
Week'' at the end of recruiter training to ease the transition from the
operational force to recruiting command. This 42-hour course increases
awareness of available recruiter resources, including leased housing
and reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs like parking fees. It is also
designed to help with stress management, financial readiness, and
family wellness, which is important since this is often the first time
many recruiters are assigned on their own in locations away from units
and leaders.
We are also rolling out new incentives for top-performing
recruiters. This year, the Army is piloting a new program that provides
specialized incentive pay for recruiters who exceed their quarterly
recruiting mission. Under the program, recruiters can earn $75 for each
contract over the Category (CAT) IIIB requirement and $150 for each CAT
I-IIIA contract.
Increasing Incentives
The Army is also expanding and adjusting existing bonuses and
incentives to attract recruits to service, especially in critical
fields. With the Quick Ship Bonus, recruits can earn up to $40,000 just
for reporting to basic training within 30 days of enlistment. A handful
of enlisted job openings, such as Infantry, Intelligence Analysts,
Military Police, and Cyber Operations also come with signing bonuses of
up to $40,000. Qualified Army Reserve recruits are also eligible for up
to $20,000 of bonuses. Recruits have the opportunity to combine all
available bonuses to earn up to $50,000, and recruiters can mix and
match multiple incentives to tailor opportunities to individual
applicants. The opportunity to be stationed at a location of choice
remains the most popular incentive.
Military Health System (MHS) Genesis
The Army continues to improve its processing of medical paperwork
throughout the accessions timelines for new recruits. The Army is
working with the DOD, Military Entrance Processing Stations, and our
sister Services to reduce the time a prospective recruit spends in the
MHS Genesis medical process while minimizing the overall ``contact to
contract'' time. Additionally, USAREC increased the size of its Command
Surgeon team and dispersed additional Combat Medical Specialists to
expedite medical waiver processing. USAREC also contracted 36
additional medical providers to support the pre-screening process. As a
result, the Army is seeing improvements. For the first half of fiscal
year 2023, the average timeline from applicant appointment to contract,
is 84 days. By comparison, the same timeline was 99 days for the first
half of fiscal year 2022.
Direct Leader Involvement
Every Army leader is focused on this no-fail mission. Secretary
Wormuth directed establishment of the Army Recruiting Task Force, which
has pulled diverse talent from across the Total Army to singularly
focus on tackling this recruiting challenge. Army Leadership meets with
the accessions enterprise every 2 weeks to review progress, remove
obstacles, and approve new recruiting initiatives. Army leaders at the
highest levels are also personally speaking to recruits, their families
and influencers, school administrators, and recruiters nationwide to
encourage youth to enlist.
Through the Meet Your Army program, the Army employs strategic
messengers, such as general officers, senior enlisted, and senior
civilians from all three components, Active Army, Army Reserve, and
Army National Guard. It matches them to community leaders who have the
most influence within their communities to gain their much-needed
support to reconnect America to its Army. Active duty soldiers from
U.S. Forces Command are conducting awareness campaigns at high schools
and communities where students can watch Army dogs in action, learn
about cyber and signal operations, tour a military police vehicle, and
learn about medical training and simulations. They are also
reconnecting with America by conducting re-enlistment ceremoneys at
professional sporting events and awarding scholarships during high
school graduations to students enrolling at ROTC programs. Secretary
Wormuth, General McConville, and other Army leaders, myself included,
will travel the country this spring, engaging with superintendents,
school boards, and community groups, as well as giving high school
graduation speeches in target markets.
The Soldier Referral Program and Army Recruiting Ribbon
In 2023, the Army launched an initiative to turn every soldier into
a recruiter since we know they are credible messengers with ties to
their communities. We offer promotion points to junior enlisted
soldiers in the ranks of E-1 to E-3 who refer an individual who ships
to basic training. While the program is still new, early results are
promising; as of March 14, the Army received nearly 4,900 referrals
resulting in 68 recruits joining our Army. The Army recently
established an Army Recruiting Ribbon to recognize any soldier who
helps meet our recruiting mission. These programs provide opportunities
for soldiers in the active Army, U.S. Army Reserves, and U.S. Army
National Guard to connect with youth where they are, share their Army
story, and be recognized when that person joins the Army.
changes to our engagement with potential recruits
The Army is also improving how it engages with potential recruits,
combining sophisticated market research with face-to-face contact to
reintroduce the Army to the population. This helps young Americans
better understand how the Army relates to their lives, ensures that
they hear from relatable formal and informal recruiters, and assists
interested prospects in signing up.
Marketing and Advertising
Through our Marketing Implementation Plan, the Army will look to
optimize the candidate and recruiter experience and optimize our
recruiter's access and use of tools to lead to more contracts. We will
execute this by centralizing our data collection of marketing
activities at the national and regional levels. At the national level,
the Army aims to generate awareness, create interest, educate the
public, and leverage artificial intelligence/machine learning to
contact potential leads. For example, Army marketing will leverage
technologies to send dynamic and personalized marketing messages to
prospects based on those prospects' likes and interests. This platform
ensures the Army can reach audiences through multiple channels; from
the time they are a prospect until they ship to basic training. The
GoArmy.com website leverages research, testing, and technologies to
better present prospects with the information they need to convert to a
lead. This allows GoArmy.com to provide Army recruiters with a higher
quantity of leads and allows Army recruiters to focus on lead
conversion instead of lead generation.
We convert this interest at the local levels into possible leads
and new recruits. By tailoring social media ads and developing networks
to support recruiters, candidates can get the information they need and
meet with a recruiter. This will lead to decreased attrition rates and
reduce administrative burdens on recruiters. Recruiters can focus on
their core skills of generating leads, interviewing/screening
candidates, and working with candidates through the contracting
process. This will result in better returns on investment and allow the
best candidates to join our ranks. The Go Army Contact center
exemplifies our efforts to improve the experience for candidates and
recruiters. It is a 24/7 resource for prospects that answers questions
about Army service through chat and phone.
The Army has identified 15 cities nationwide as key focus areas for
our recruiting efforts since we have historically been strong in those
areas but have dipped in recent years. These cities are New York City,
Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Washington DC, Chicago, Tampa,
Miami, San Antonio, San Diego, Boston, Riverside, Phoenix, and
Jacksonville. In response, we are surging resources, including
recruiters and marketing, influencer involvement, and events with
community partners. These events include our ``High School Blitz''
initiative, which drew on feedback from our top-producing recruiters to
focus nationwide recruiting stations on more events in high schools,
more significant presence at high school sporting events, and more
engagement with school officials.
Finally, we have updated the Army brand to reintroduce ourselves to
young Americans by meeting young people where they are and addressing
concerns that are barriers to entry. The recent ``Be All You Can Be''
launch, the first brand refresh in 20 years, captures our message and
helps us tell the Army story to Generation Z. With support from
Congress, the Army will spend $116.7 million in fiscal year 2023 to
launch this rebranding campaign across multiple media platforms.
Future Soldier Prep Course (FSPC)
The FSPC is an investment the Army makes in young Americans. The
pilot program stood up in August 2022 to help young people overcome
academic and physical fitness barriers to service and, by the end of
the program, meet or exceed the Army's accession standards. As of
February 18 of this year, 3094 trainees have enrolled in the Academic
component. Of those, 2408 graduated and moved on to Basic Combat
Training (BCT) with an average Armed Forces Qualification Test score
improvement of 19.4 points. Nine hundred fifty-six (956) trainees have
enrolled in the Fitness component. Of those, 821 graduated and moved on
to BCT, with an average weekly body fat loss of 1.39 percent. Seven
hundred seventy-seven (777) remain in training at Fort Jackson across
both components.
Based on the initial success of the pilot, the Army will add two
additional companies at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and two companies
at Fort Benning, Georgia. Recruits who improve in at least one test
category in the FSPC academic program can renegotiate their contract
and receive any incentives offered in their new test category. If they
qualify for a priority or shortage military occupational specialty
(MOS), they may also select a new MOS based on the needs of the Army.
investing in retention
Fortunately, Army retention has remained high despite recruiting
challenges. We are not taking this for granted, investing in quality-
of-life programs to ensure that we can recruit and retain soldiers and
their families.
Maintaining Retention
Once a soldier joins, they are likely to stay. In fiscal year 2022,
the Army met all Active Duty retention objectives. To provide soldiers
and their families stability and predictability, the Army began
speaking with soldiers eligible to depart service earlier (81.5-2 years
before separation). We also announced a 1-year pilot to allow regular
Army soldiers to submit their retirement packets up to 2 years before
their planned retirement date. This serves two purposes for soldiers
and the Army. First, it provides greater predictability for soldiers
approaching retirement. Second, it will allow the Army to forecast
losses earlier and time to adjust its retention goals accordingly. As a
result of these practices, the Army forecast and retained 58,300
(899.14 percent) of eligible soldiers from fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
For fiscal year 2023, the Army has included 55,100 soldiers, setting us
on pace to continue manning an Army in high demand worldwide.
Investing in Housing and Families
The Army recruits soldiers but retains families. We are also
committed to providing high-quality housing, barracks, and Child
Development Centers (CDC) for soldiers and families, which is critical
for readiness, recruitment, and retention. We are demonstrating our
commitment to achieving these quality-of-life goals in several ways.
For example, we have invested $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2023 and
requested $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2024 to improve the Army's
housing inventory, including new builds and major or medium
renovations. We are also investing $10 billion over 10 years to improve
barracks across the Army.
The Army is committed to ensuring sufficient and quality childcare
by advancing new construction of ten CDCs and two Youth Centers worth
over $200 million in multiple locations. Another critical part of
caring for people is providing affordable quality childcare,
particularly in communities with limited off-post care. The Army's
childcare strategy includes increasing and sustaining childcare
infrastructure, recruiting and retaining quality staff, increasing
Family Child Care providers, sustaining off-post care options, and
exploring new initiatives and partnerships.
We have hiring incentives in place to attract and retain CDC
workers, help pay for children to attend off-post facilities when we
run out of capacity, and work to certify spouses to provide care in
their homes. Entry-level salaries are now $17.39 per hour. We offer
recruiting and retention bonuses for childcare staff, providing them
with childcare discounts for their first child and additional multiple-
child discounts. We also continue to provide Army Fee Assistance to
approximately 10,000 children of the Active and Reserve component per
month for off-post care. But it doesn't stop there. We are always
looking out for new initiatives and partnerships. Additionally, the
Army increased the provider rate cap to $1,700 monthly, reducing out-
of-pocket expenses for Army families. While the Army cannot deliver the
full extent of our planned improvements overnight, we can provide
consistent and enduring resources to continuously improve the quality
of life for soldiers and their loved ones.
Investing in Positive Command Climates
Making the Army an employer of choice and appealing to recruits and
their parents requires us to invest in ensuring that the Army is a
safe, inclusive, and supportive workplace. We are investing
significantly in picking and training our leaders, building positive
command climates, and preventing harmful behaviors. These efforts
should also improve our ability to recruit soldiers and positively
impacts retention. The Army has numerous programs underway to achieve
this goal.
conclusion
The Army has prioritized our efforts to confront the recruiting
challenge, and we are doing everything possible to retool our
recruiting enterprise. We are also working diligently to reintroduce
the Army and the notion of military service to the American public more
broadly. We are making a concerted effort to ensure we communicate the
Army's career-enhancing opportunities and the value of public service
in the military. Ultimately, our national security depends on our
success. But we can't do it alone.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the All-Volunteer Force, we
are already looking ahead to the next 50 years and ensuring we have
capable, trained, and disciplined soldiers ready to respond to any
threat.
I want to close by noting that we need your help. Military service
is in danger of becoming a family business, with over 60 percent of
enlistees having a direct relative who served; we cannot afford to let
that happen. Each of you has a unique voice and opportunity to promote
the benefits of service, connect with soldiers and their families,
caregivers, and survivors, and encourage veterans, influencers, and
educators to invest in the next generation. Participating in that
mission has given generations of Americans a sense of purpose, new
skills, and new possibilities. I believe we offer the same opportunity
to young people today and could use your help to tell that story.
Chairman Reed. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.
Secretary Raven, please?
STATEMENT OF HON. ERIK RAVEN, UNDER SECRETARY OF
THE NAVY
Mr. Raven. Good morning Chairman Reed, Ranking Member
Wicker, and distinguished Members of the Committee. I
appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss the current and future State of recruiting and
retention within the Department of the Navy.
The Department of the Navy's most important asset is our
people. Our high-quality force provides us with a warfighting
advantage in relation to our strategic competitors.
It is essential that we maintain this high-quality
motivated workforce to meet the needs of our Nation. While the
Navy did not meet 100 percent of its Active Duty officer
targets for 2022, our retention exceeded all goals, enabling
the Department to achieve our end strength requirements.
The Marine Corps met its goals but risk continues within
the delayed entry program, which remains a challenge in 2023.
As the Chairman has already asked, why are we seeing this
challenging recruiting environment?
The bottom line is that the Navy and Marine Corps are in a
competition for talent like many other sectors of the American
economy. Like businesses, we continually adjust our recruiting
strategies to attain success. This means looking at what we can
offer Americans to prove that our Nation values their service.
The Navy and Marine Corps face some recruiting challenges
that other employers do not. While schools are open for
students nationwide, military recruiters report challenges in
getting enough access to tell our national service story. We
also have a variety of standards that private employers
typically do not demand yet fewer Americans are meeting them.
Finally, the inherent value of helping our country be
stronger and more secure does not resonate the same way as
compared to the past. That is why Secretary del Toro's enduring
priority of building a culture of warfighting excellence has
the Department laser focused on every aspect of recruiting and
retention.
Last summer, Secretary Del Toro established a task force to
identify and address short-and long-term issues facing
recruiting. I lead that task force. All aspects of recruiting
are on the agenda, from learning best practices to thinking
outside the box.
I would like to share a few examples of how the Navy and
Marine Corps are improving our approaches in this competition
for talent. We are expanding our community and school outreach
to maintain or reestablish strong relationships with high
school partners.
We are partnering with the Department of Education to
promote the value of military service while at the same time
supporting their efforts to recruit and retain talented
educators and administrators.
We are employing new, creative, and more personal
approaches to our marketing campaigns to directly appeal to
multiple audiences and better convey the tangible and
intangible benefits of military service.
We are also seeking innovative ways to expand the pool of
eligible applicants such as our Future Sailor Preparatory
Course, which will provide physical fitness training for high-
potential candidates.
Once accepted, we will work very closely with recruits to
ensure their physical and mental readiness before they report
to boot camp. This physical preparatory course will be followed
by an academic preparatory course with establishment expected
this summer.
For retention, both services have talent management
initiatives to invest in, grow, and retain our talented sailors
and marines. These initiatives--this is our playbook--My Navy
H.R. Transformation and the Marine Corps' Talent Management
2030 span the full military lifecycle from recruiting
individuals with the right talents, matching those talents to
organizational needs, to incentivize high-performing
individuals to remain in service.
Success in retention means taking care of our sailors, our
marines, and their families. We are investing in quality of
life areas such as economic security and housing, permanent
change of station challenges, childcare, spouse employment,
health care, and destructive behavior prevention to provide our
servicemembers and their families a positive and supportive
environment to work and to live.
With every challenge there is an opportunity, an
opportunity to learn, adapt, and succeed. We will succeed.
On behalf of Secretary Del Toro and the senior civilian and
military leadership of the Department of the Navy, I want to
thank this Committee for its help to recruit and retain a ready
and lethal force. The Department is committed to working with
this Committee and all Members of Congress to maintain that
force.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Raven follows:]
Prepared Statement by Erik K. Raven
introduction
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, and distinguished members of
the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to
discuss the current and future State of recruiting and retention within
the Department of the Navy.
The Department of the Navy's most important asset is our people. To
maintain a combat-ready Navy and Marine Corps, we focus on informing,
attracting, influencing, recruiting, and retaining young men and women
from America's diverse talent pool. All sailors, marines, and civilians
in the Department of the Navy operate as one team to protect the
American people and our interests in the most effective and efficient
ways possible, with our actions guided always by our core values. We
invest in the health, readiness, capability, and leadership of our
force. We maintain forward maneuverability, build our maritime
advantage, and are strengthening partnerships across government, the
joint force, industry, and around the world.
Our high-quality force provides us with a competitive warfighting
advantage in relation to our strategic competitors. In accordance with
the National Defense Strategy and the Secretary of the Navy Guidance,
the Department of the Navy (DON) is modernizing programs to better
recruit, retain, and develop our force to attain warfighting advantage,
increase lethality, and develop intellectual competencies to confront
the many dangers of a complex world.
Accessing a pipeline of high-quality and motivated workforce, is
essential to meet today's needs and our future mission, particularly
for our future sailors and marines and their families. In January, we
celebrated the 50th anniversary of the All-Volunteer Force. Yet never
before have we been as challenged to recruit and retain sailors and
marines as we are today. The residual impacts of COVID, a competitive
labor market, a shrinking pool of eligible candidates, a low propensity
to serve, and a fragmented advertising environment have made it
increasingly difficult to rebuild recruiting momentum and recruit a
steady stream of young men and women into your Navy and Marine Corps.
You have no doubt heard many of these challenges discussed before.
So instead, today I would like to focus on what the Department of the
Navy is doing to ensure that we can continue to support our critical
national security missions. In June 2022, Secretary of the Navy Carlos
Del Toro directed an organized recruiting campaign to identify and
address short-and long-term issues facing recruiting. I am pleased to
highlight some of these efforts today.
expanding community and school outreach
The best sustainable market for recruiters is the high school
setting. While there is no current report of noncompliance with
recruiter access laws, the Department of the Navy recognizes the
importance of having strong relationships with high schools and school
districts in fostering robust, diverse, and strong forces, and is
exploring additional ways to engage and reengage high school partners.
We are also working closely with the Department of Education to
connect with Federal and State education officials and non-profit
organizations, promoting the value of military service and military-
connected recognition programs. Our recruiting commands also invite
education leaders to witness how military training prepares sailors and
marines to be successful, high-quality citizens. These efforts are just
one component of a much-needed whole-of-government approach to promote
public service overall.
enhancing marketing to youth and influencers
Secretary Del Toro frequently engages with media and other key
stakeholders about the importance of positive portrayals of military
service. At the same time, today's fragmented advertising environment
means that television ads do not have the same impact as in the past.
Instead, we must employ creative and more personal approaches that
directly appeal to our audience and convey the military's tangible and
intangible benefits to youth and those who influence them, such as
educators, family members, and community leaders.
Market research indicates that today's youth aspire to a lifestyle
that maximizes work-life alignment, where a job and the organization
they work for are not just a means to an end but an expression of their
values. Among the most powerful reasons for joining the military are
the intangible benefits: a feeling of patriotism, a sense of duty,
honor, selfless service, camaraderie, purpose, character development,
and a real contribution to our Nation through military service.
As we find more American youth disconnected from or unfamiliar with
the military, they may also be unaware of the many tangible benefits of
military service. From a compensation perspective, a review of the most
recent Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation found that the
earnings of enlisted servicemembers with fewer than 10 years of service
were at approximately the 90th percentile as compared to their civilian
peers with a high school diploma and the same amount of work
experience. The list of benefits goes on, ranging from stable
employment in any economy; a competitive benefits package, including a
portable retirement program; housing; full medical coverage; full-or
part-time opportunities; extensive travel opportunities; education
benefits, both during and after service; loan repayment programs;
college credit for completed training; and leadership experiences.
Secretary Del Toro has challenged all senior leaders to be
recruiting force multipliers, sharing the Navy and Marine Corps story
in their regular engagements, particularly to those who influence young
people. In a recent article, the Commandant of the Marine Corps General
Berger encouraged family members to have candid conversations with
their young loved ones about the potential value of military service.
These influencers can play an outsized role in the decisionmaking
process of a young person considering the military.
While in-person interactions are paramount to re-engaging
communities and combating an increasingly disinterested youth market,
changing the narrative requires involvement from Members of Congress,
Veterans, teachers, coaches, family members, and other influencers, to
reclaim our story, highlight our significant investments in taking care
of our people, and create positive associations of military service.
Serving in the military provides an unmatched opportunity for life
skills, leadership development at every career milestone, and a well-
earned sense of pride that sets them up for life, professionally and
personally.
attracting a diverse and skilled talent pool
Attracting a diverse and skilled talent pool is critical to our
long-term success. We must redouble opportunities to share our story
with young Americans of diverse backgrounds, such as through an iconic
flyover by four female pilots at the Super Bowl last month,
representing a legacy of 50 years of women in Navy aviation. There are
young Americans who may have never heard the Navy or Marine Corps
story, or never thought military service was for them, but just need to
hear more. These are the individuals we must pursue.
The Navy and Marine Corps have implemented community outreach
within under-represented communities to increase the pool of qualified
diverse accessions. The Department continues to assess where our Naval
Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC units are established and how we
are leveraging cross town affiliates at Minority Serving Institutions
(MSIs) in communities with large minority populations. Recruiters also
seek diverse and innovative STEM talent by visiting magnet schools,
specialized high schools, and career and technical education programs.
We are also seeking creative ways to expand the pool of eligible
applicants. Just this month, the Navy launched the Future Sailor
Preparatory Course, which provides physical fitness training for high
potential recruits who do not quite meet body-composition standards.
Participants who meet standards within 90 days will transition to boot
camp.
We also must ensure that we can recruit and retain individuals to
fill our high skill and specialist positions, which face significant
competition from the private sector. I thank the Congress for the
recent increases in these authorities. We will continue to target these
increases to fill critical skills and ensure parity across the Military
Services.
Responsive personnel policies help the military remain relevant in
the minds of today's young employees, who expect flexibilities such as
parental leave to be the norm, especially when compared to employers in
the tech or corporate sectors. While we recognize the challenges
servicemembers and families face throughout the military lifecycle, we
continue to address these head on. We cannot shy away from making the
Department of the Navy a model employer that welcomes and values the
contributions of individuals of all backgrounds and experiences. Any
qualified and willing American should be able to serve their country.
Last October, Secretary Del Toro joined his colleagues, Secretary
Wormuth and Secretary Kendall in a Wall Street Journal op-ed conveying
the value of military service, and particularly highlighting
opportunities for skilled individuals who are critical to our emerging
needs, particularly data scientists, coders, and engineers. As they
wrote, ``Our goal is to recruit and build a force that looks like
America.''
conclusion
We face a significant challenge, but we see great opportunity as
well. We remain inspired by the exceptional work of our Navy and Marine
Corps Recruiting Commands, our recruiters on the ground, and all our
sailors, marines and civilian employees who work tirelessly to share
positive experiences of military service with applicants and
influencers. Just last month, Secretary Del Toro met with more than 200
Navy and Marine Corps recruiters from across the country to hear
directly about the challenges they face and their ideas for
improvement. These dedicated professionals are passionate about finding
future sailors and marines. But their mission is staggering, and we
cannot fully overcome these challenges without your continued support.
On behalf of Secretary Del Toro and the senior civilian and
military leadership of the Navy and Marine Corps, I want to thank this
Committee for its help in addressing these challenges, which will
likely continue for the foreseeable future. The Department of Navy is
very focused on these issues. We are committed to working with this
Committee and all Members of Congress to recruit a ready and lethal
force. I look forward to your questions.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Secretary Jones, please?
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE KRISTYN JONES, PER-
FORMING THE DUTIES OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF THE
AIR FORCE
Ms. Jones. Good morning, Chairman Reed, Ranking Member
Wicker, distinguished Members of the Committee. Thank you for
the opportunity to appear before you today.
It is my pleasure to provide testimony on efforts to
recruit and retain the best of our fellow Americans for service
in the Department of the Air Force as military and civilian
airmen and guardians.
This is my third week performing the duties of the Under
Secretary of the Air Force while also fulfilling my Senate-
confirmed role as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for
financial management and comptroller.
The comptroller position is a privileged nomination and,
therefore, I did not have a confirmation hearing before this
Committee. So I wanted to briefly introduce myself.
I commissioned from West Point as a U.S. Army officer and
met my husband while we were both serving in Germany. I later
supported him as a military spouse while trying to progress in
my own career.
My brothers also served in the military and I have a son
who will be commissioning this year. I have been on the other
side of our policies and I am committed to inspiring and
enabling the next generation to serve.
Our people stand ready to prevail against the pacing
challenge and execute our commitments in the National Defense
Strategy. As we commemorate 50 years of the All-Volunteer
Force, our Air and Space Forces are trained and ready to
perform their missions throughout the world.
Military Service offers an incredible value proposition--
opportunity, community, and purpose. Our people embody the
transformative nature of service but we need decisive action
today to meet our recruiting goals.
As we compete with the lowest unemployment rate in a
generation, the Air Force will likely fall short of enlisted
Active Duty recruiting goals by over 10 percent. The Reserve
and Guard are projected to miss their goals by even higher
margins.
Fortunately, the Space Force is projected to meet its
recruiting goal this year. Retention is faring far better than
recruitment. About 90 percent of our force chooses to stay at
key career decision points.
In response to the recruiting shortfalls, the DAF
[Department of the Air Force] is launching marketing
initiatives to better reach the public. We appreciate Congress
appropriating an additional $150 million for our marketing
programs, which will enable us to reach a wider audience
through targeted content across a fragmented media market.
Recent digital initiatives have already resulted in more
than 90 percent of new user traffic to our recruiting websites.
The Space Force also plans an aggressive brand awareness
campaign.
In-person recruiters have dramatically increased their
presence in schools and at public events. We have also
established a centralized venue to virtually engage with
recruits while relieving our recruiters of many administrative
burdens.
Further, we are expediting almost 30 lines of effort to
expand opportunities to serve. We are evolving our standards,
not lowering them, to remove barriers to service. For example,
the DAF is modernizing policies on tattoos and body composition
at accession.
Recent congressional appropriations to increase pay and
allowances also make our salaries more competitive in addition
to incentives such as our initial enlistment bonus and the
enlisted college loan repayment program.
We also recognize the entire family serves. The value we
place on our people is shown in initiatives such as economic
well-being, childcare, health care, and spousal employment.
We are optimistic that enacted legislation will further
reduce expenses and obstacles to spousal employment. The
hearing today provides the perfect platform to highlight the
extraordinary opportunity for Americans to serve their country.
Members of Congress are uniquely positioned to support
recruiting efforts by nominating talented future cadets to the
U.S. Air Force Academy. We appreciate you visiting our
installations to meet with servicemembers.
Please continue amplifying their stories and achievements
as we work together to recruit the best and brightest to serve.
Thank you for your time today, your partnership, and your
support for our airmen, our guardians, and their families. I
welcome your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jones follows:]
Prepared Statement by The Honorable Kristyn E. Jones
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Wicker, distinguished Members of this
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. It
is my pleasure to provide testimony on efforts to recruit and retain
the best of our fellow Americans for service in the Department of the
Air Force (DAF) as military and civilian airmen and guardians. I
appreciate your support for the DAF mission to organize, train, and
equip the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and U.S. Space Force (USSF).
Our airmen and guardians stand ready to prevail against the pacing
challenge and execute our commitments in the National Defense Strategy.
We are redefining how we operate as the world's premier Air Force and
Space Force while innovating talent management systems to attract our
Nation's best and brightest. As we commemorate 50 years of the All-
Volunteer Force, we must use this milestone to demonstrate that service
in the Air Force and Space Force offers an incredible value
proposition: opportunity, community, and purpose. Our recruitment and
retention efforts are critical to ensuring that the All-Volunteer Force
remains a cornerstone of our personnel policy for years to come.
As you know, the DAF--like all military departments represented
here today--competes with the lowest unemployment rate in a generation
to be the employer-of-choice for our Nation's talent. This competition
does not end at recruitment, but also impacts our efforts to retain the
critical talent that the DAF has spent significant resources to
develop. For Americans with the propensity to serve, the Air Force and
the Space Force offer unique opportunities for a technologically
dependent force to serve as pilots, medics, mechanics, intelligence
analysts, security forces, engineers, and countless other meaningful
career fields that protect our national security. Our Airmen and
Guardians are our best brand Ambassadors and embody the opportunities
and benefits of military service, but it is evident that we need
decisive action today to meet the recruiting goals of tomorrow.
The fiscal year 2024 DAF Total Force end strength for Active Duty,
Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard personnel is about 503,000
airmen and 9,400 guardians. Fortunately, the Space Force is projected
to meet its recruiting goals of 532 enlistees. But even with the latest
budgetary assistance from Congress, the Air Force will likely fall
short of enlisted Active Duty recruiting goals by 10 to 13 percent
(equivalent to over 3,000 airmen), while the Reserve and Guard
components are projected to miss their recruitment goals by even higher
margins. Retention is faring better than recruitment, however, and data
indicate that approximately 90 percent of our officer and enlisted
airmen and guardians are choosing to stay as they reach career decision
points, such as reenlistment or completion of commitment. This
underscores the value our All-Volunteer Force finds once they join the
Air or Space Force, but because our retention rates are relatively
high, we are seeing fewer transfers over to the Guard and Reserve,
leading to outsized recruiting impacts for these components.
The current economic outlook contributes to these recruiting
trends. Our country is experiencing an historic low, 3.46 percent
unemployment rate that tightens competition in the labor market.
Further, the recruiting pool of qualified and interested youth is now
only 370,000 people out of a population of 20.3 million. This is the
result of 77 percent of 17 to 21-year-old Americans not meeting
eligibility criteria for military service without a waiver, often
issued for medical conditions or other potentially disqualifying
factors. It is estimated that 50 percent of youth today have never
considered serving in the Armed Forces, which reflects that the youth
market is both disconnected from, and disinterested in, military
service. These trends are unsustainable when we are faced with
strategic competition and the requirements of the National Defense
Strategy.
We recognize that harmful behaviors within the military not only
contradict our values and degrade the readiness of our force, but also
undermine our efforts to communicate the value of military service, and
remain a barrier for the DAF to overcome in our recruitment efforts. In
order to prevent and address sexual assault, sexual harassment, and
domestic violence, the DAF has taken significant steps to close our
say-do gap between our policies and our actions to address and prevent
these scourges. The DAF is implementing the recommendations of the
Independent Review Commission (IRC) on Sexual Assault in the Military,
as approved by the Secretary of Defense; reviewing an expansion of our
Integrated Response Co-Location Pilot program, which physically co-
located support services for victims of sexual assault, sexual
harassment, and domestic violence; and exploring next steps to continue
to reduce our suicide rates. Additionally, the DAF is implementing
policy measures to ensure effective oversight and administration of
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) to ensure the safety
and well-being of all JROTC program participants. Our intent for these
and other initiatives is to not only offer better support to those
currently serving, but also to demonstrate to possible recruits that we
are an institution committed to taking care of its people.
With thanks to Congress for appropriating additional fiscal year
2023 funding for our marketing programs ($100 million for Active Duty
Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Space Force, and $50 million for the
Air National Guard), the DAF continues to lean forward with investments
by launching marketing initiatives in mainstream media to better reach
the American public as well as nontraditional media spaces. Using local
digital engagement through the web, social media, and streaming
platforms where our target audience spends time, Air Force Recruiting
Service (AFRS) netted more than 90 percent new user traffic to our
recruiting websites. We also increased our reach at the local level by
250 percent while spending considerably less money. In general, by
combining all DAF major marketing programs under one umbrella, our
buying power has increased considerably.
Additionally, the Space Force--in preparing for potential
recruiting challenges in the future--has planned an aggressive brand
awareness campaign, while the AFRS is ramping up local digital
marketing in traditionally hard-to-recruit areas to increase diversity
among the applicant pool for the Air Force Reserve Officer Training
Corps (AFROTC) and U.S. Air Force Academy. The DAF will be able to
reach a wider American audience through targeted content across a
fragmented media market, including potential recruits and influencers
throughout social media platforms.
One notable digital marketing initiative that will increase the
DAF's potential talent pool is the Women in Sports Campaign, which
aligns DAF recruitment with female athletes through direct marketing as
well as enduring partnerships that encourage female participation in
sports. Approximately 7.6 million 18 to 24-year-old women watch women's
sports on YouTube, and these viewers constitute a key demographic for
DAF recruitment efforts. This program will ensure that these women are
more aware of the opportunities afforded to them through military
service, while elevating past and present DAF female athletes,
including Olympic hopefuls. These influencers will be provided a
platform to connect their commitment, perseverance, and achievements to
their military service and inspire the next generation to follow their
example.
As states lifted COVID-19 restrictions, recruiters dramatically
increased their presence in schools and at public events, while
reconnecting and reintroducing the DAF to America from our wings and
bases. The DAF will authorize a temporary increase of recruiters from a
volunteer pool of former recruiters, augment special warfare recruiter
staffing, grow the capacity of the Air Force Recruiting School, and
expand diversity among recruiters.
AFRS also established a centralized, national ``e-Recruiter cell''
to virtually engage with potential recruits who express interest online
or from other marketing generated leads. E-Recruiters can now process
applicants from a centralized location while relieving our recruiters
in the field of many administrative burdens. The overall objective of
the e-Recruiter cell is to increase the conversion rate from marketing-
generated leads to accession. While we are only a few weeks into this
pilot, the ratio of those who enter the formal recruiting process after
engaging with an e-Recruiter is about ten times higher than the normal
rate for marketing-generated leads.
We continue to evolve our messaging to ensure that USAF and USSF
values will resonate with a Gen Z audience. This means more focus on
opportunity, community, and purpose. Campaigns like ``Serve Your Way''
and ``Ready for More,'' as well as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force
General Charles Q. Brown's commercial ``American airmen, kicking your
butt . . . '' focus on the transformational and transactional benefits
of serving in the Air Force. Our brand study shows that the Air Force
brand is strong, and our intent is to maintain brand discipline relying
on ``Aim High'' as the messaging center of gravity. The Space Force is
about to launch new creative campaigns that will amplify the Guardian
spirit while focusing on diverse points of views and experiences to
recruit, develop, and maintain guardians.
To ensure that these recruiting challenges are met with the urgency
they demand, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David W.
Allvin championed the establishment of the Barriers to Service Cross-
Functional Team to expedite almost 30 lines of effort that will offer
more Americans the opportunity to serve to their full potential. The
DAF is modernizing policies on tattoo and body composition, which are
estimated to add 2,500 more recruits annually. We implemented a pilot
program to revise our enlistment drug screening physicals to allow
enlistees who test positive for THC during the accession physical
examination at the Military Entrance Processing Station to re-test
after 90 days if they are granted a waiver. This policy change aligns
the DAF with the Army and the Navy, and ensures that recruits accessing
from states that have legalized marijuana use are not permanently
prohibited from military service.
Additionally, the DAF is implementing an active duty initial
enlistment bonus program, reinstating the Active Duty Enlisted College
Loan Repayment Program with payments up to $65,000, and gathering the
resources to accelerate a path to citizenship for recruits graduating
from basic training. Ongoing areas of exploration include the Space
Force's proposed single military personnel system, which offers a new
model of service to attract diverse candidates with the skillsets
required to defend the United States in, from, and through space.
Adding to the intrinsic value of community and purpose, recent
congressional appropriations to increase pay and allowances make DAF
salaries more competitive. DAF leaders also recognize that the entire
family serves. Family members contribute countless hours of unpaid
labor, volunteerism, and often their own under-employment or
unemployment so their loved one can protect and defend our
Constitution. The DAF is demonstrating the value we place on our people
and their families through initiatives to increase economic well-being,
expand access to childcare, access to and quality of health care, and
promote spousal employment. From fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2022,
the DAF reimbursed a total of $650,000 in licensure expenses associated
with a member's permanent change of station, ensuring that 1,355
spouses did not bear the financial burden of maintaining their
credentials. We are optimistic that enacted legislation that requires
military spouse licensure reciprocity will further reduce expenses and
barriers to employment. That is only a sampling of the programs that
add value to airmen and guardian families.
We must not forget our DAF civilians who serve alongside uniformed
members around the globe, offering professionalism, continuity, and
experience to our uniformed personnel. In the competitive labor market,
the DAF continues to advance multiple initiatives for civilian
development that double as recruitment and retention tools. We have
almost 200,000 talented civilians serving in the DAF, and we can always
find a place for more Americans interested in making the Air Force and
Space Force more lethal and effective.
Members of Congress also have a key role to play in addressing
military recruiting as a national issue. In addition to previously
mentioned funding to support strategic marketing investments, you are
uniquely positioned to recruit a diverse and talented applicant pool as
you interview and nominate future cadets to the U.S. Air Force Academy.
We are grateful that you frequently visit our installations and meet
with servicemembers stationed in your states, amplifying their stories,
achievements, and experiences to potential recruits and their families.
This type of congressional engagement is key to reaching a broader
audience and highlighting the honor of serving our country in uniform.
The hearing today provides the perfect platform to discuss the
recruiting challenges we face, but also to engage in a constructive
national dialog to highlight the value of military service and the
extraordinary opportunity to serve our country. I look forward to our
continued partnership with this Committee on our efforts to recruit and
retain the best talent our country has to offer. Thank you for your
time today, and for your support for our airmen and guardians, and
their families, caregivers, and survivors. I welcome your questions.
Chairman Reed. Thank you very much, Secretary Jones.
Secretary Camarillo, I was struck when I read the testimony
of Sergeant Major of the Army Grinston. I think he put in
perspective the emphasis that the military, not just the Army
but the Navy and Air Force, puts on readiness and military
skills, but also includes equal opportunity training, diversity
training.
In his words, there is 1 hour of equal opportunity training
in basic training and 92 hours of rifle marksmanship training,
and if you go to one station unit training where you go from
basic to your advanced training, there is 165 hours of rifle
marksmanship training and only 1 hour of equal opportunity
training. That, I think, reflects the emphasis on readiness.
Would you agree?
Mr. Camarillo. Mr. Chairman, I do agree. I think it
reflects the reality for our soldiers, their leaders, all the
way up to the Secretary of the Army.
We wake up every day and our top priority is readiness of
our soldiers, their ability to perform the mission, and our
focus on what we are doing to defend this country.
I would note that we have got 50,000 soldiers right now
that are stationed in Europe to provide reassurance to our NATO
[North Atlantic Treaty Organization] partners and allies. We
are continuing to support the Ukrainians through our drawdown
assistance. These are the types of issues that we are focused
on in making sure that we have a ready force.
Chairman Reed. In fact, with the Ukraine crisis you were
able to mobilize and deploy a armored infantry brigade in 6
days from basically no notice to get them at the front lines in
Europe ready to go. Is that right?
Mr. Camarillo. That is correct, Mr. Chairman. There is no
shortage of wonder of what our soldiers have been able to do in
the last year as they do every year.
Chairman Reed. Thank you.
Secretary Raven, your comments about readiness?
Mr. Raven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
During the same hearing we heard from Sergeant Major Black,
whose first words to that Committee is that the Marine Corps is
ready to fight tonight. That standard is being held through the
Navy and Marine Corps.
We have thousands of sailors who are forward deployed in
key areas of the world, especially the Asia Pacific, to provide
deterrence, perform important missions, and better secure our
country, and they are on the job 24/7.
Chairman Reed. Secretary Jones, your comments?
Ms. Jones. Thank you, Senator.
Our focus on readiness is both in the short term and the
long term as we focus on efforts like flying hours and weapon
system sustainment for our people today so that they are ready
to go, while also focused on the future for our research and
development (R&D) efforts so that we have the right equipment
for the future fight.
Chairman Reed. This is a generation--I have some clinical
experience, my daughter is 16--that is focused on social media,
and I am being mild. Focus is not--it is even more intense.
How are we integrating social media into our recruiting? I
will start with Secretary Jones and ask everyone.
Ms. Jones. Thank you, Chairman.
That is an important point that we are focused on. As I
mentioned in my opening statement, using digital media as a way
to reach out to more Americans. We are also looking at how to
better utilize YouTube influencers. They are out there. They
are talking about the Air Force. They are giving many
impressions.
As one example, we had some outreach for our Space Force in
particular that involve 200,000 high school students but 20
million influences through social media. And so we are looking
at ways to leverage that to help to underscore the value of
military service for high-tech jobs and education.
Chairman Reed. Do you find access to social media expensive
versus other means of communication?
Ms. Jones. Social media is actually far cheaper than, as an
example, a Super Bowl commercial or things like that. And so we
are able to use more cost effective ways to reach our youth
through social media.
Chairman Reed. Thank you.
Secretary Raven, your comments?
Mr. Raven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
If you go back just a few years, both the Navy and Marine
Corps overwhelmingly focused on television. We found that is
not the most productive way to reach the generation of
Americans that you are referring to.
Right now, something like more than 98 percent of our
advertising is on social media and I have frequently been asked
the question of, I pull up Facebook--why do I not see the ads.
It is because on social media we can more precisely target
those in those age groups and demographics who are more likely
to get an impression of what the Navy and Marine Corps can
offer them and respond to that.
If that message is going out to everybody, we are not using
our appropriated dollars to best effect and so we are focusing
strategies on maximum impact.
Chairman Reed. The expense is something that is better than
other medium?
Mr. Raven. Yes. We are certainly finding that, along with
the ability to target the audience that we need to.
Chairman Reed. Secretary Camarillo?
Mr. Camarillo. I will be very brief. I agree with
everything my colleagues said, Mr. Chairman. I would just also
add we have also invested in this last year in upgrading our
tools that we have in digital platforms ourselves in the Army,
like our GoArmy.com website, to be able to better interface
with our Generation Z population, particularly as they are
seeing the ads and the outreach that we are doing on these
platforms.
Chairman Reed. Thank you very much.
Senator Wicker?
Senator Wicker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me ask Secretary Raven and Secretary Camarillo, we are
not talking so much in the military now about equal opportunity
but equity. These are terms of art in compliance documents.
What is the--Secretary Camarillo, what is the difference
between equity and equal opportunity? Do you see a difference
there?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Wicker, certainly we have a long-
standing policy I think that is part of Federal law regarding
equal opportunity and making sure that all of our job
opportunities, the way that employees are treated----
Senator Wicker. Absolutely. But how is equity different
from that and why are they saying equity now?
Mr. Camarillo. So if you are referring to programs for
diversity, equity, and inclusion----
Senator Wicker. Right.
Mr. Camarillo.--my understanding is that those programs are
designed to further promote an inclusive service in the
Department of Defense and certainly within the Army.
Senator Wicker. Is it different from equal opportunity?
Does it require a certain number of members of different
groups?
Okay. Secretary Raven?
Mr. Camarillo. No, Senator, we do not have targets or
anything associated with that as part of our DEI [Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion] programs.
Senator Wicker. Okay. So you do not have targets.
Secretary Raven, does the Navy have targets?
Mr. Raven. No, sir, and to your original question on the
difference between equal opportunity and some of the
initiatives that we are working on, equal opportunity, again,
there is processes defined in law and defined in policies for
how to address certain disputes.
What we are really talking about and what we are focused on
is the process of building teams to perform the military
mission and some of these initiatives that you are talking
about are focused exactly on that. This does not include quotas
of any kind.
Senator Wicker. Okay. I was searching for the quote from
General Colin Powell during my opening statement and I,
obviously, did not mark it very well in my notes.
But here is the exact quote of General Colin Powell: ``The
military has given African Americans more equal opportunity
than any other institution in American society''.
In other words, military service improves the lives of
almost everyone who puts on a uniform, most especially those
that come from disadvantaged backgrounds. I was intrigued by
this survey that the chairman mentioned and, yes, indeed, only
5 percent believe that wokeness was a problem.
Number two, overall barriers to entry--women, racial, or
ethnic minorities are discriminated against in the Army. That
is just not true. It is not true, according to what General
Powell says. It is not a true according to the extremism
survey, which spent a lot of time and a lot of man hours and to
stand down and come to find out they only found 100 cases
service wide of extremism.
I just wonder if a 2-year campaign talking about diversity,
equity, inclusion, and a strategic plan to overcome extremism
has led to this 13 percent feeling of all surveyed--only 13
percent but still a significant number. I wonder if it has led
to that.
But let me ask you, Secretary Camarillo and Secretary
Raven, you have different approaches.
Secretary Raven, the Navy is lowering its standards, no
question about it. Why is that going to work in comparison to
what did not work in the 1970's?
Mr. Raven. Senator, vastly different. For sailors who are
going into boot camp we are allowing a certain number of
category fours that you are referring to to enter boot camp.
Let me----
Senator Wicker. Five times more--five times more than
earlier.
Mr. Raven. That is to expand the pool of recruits. However,
to be a machinist mate, to be a sailor, to be fire controlman,
you still have to meet the exact same standards as before. So
we are trying to increase the pool. But the standards for
performing the job are what is key and what we need to perform
our mission and we have not changed that.
Senator Wicker. So of the five times more of this lowest
testing group you are hoping somehow to initially train them to
be more skillful?
Mr. Raven. Yes, absolutely, both through boot camp, through
a career in the Navy and also the Future Sailor Preparatory
Course which we are talking about physical and academic
standards. We are standing that up this----
Senator Wicker. Clearly, the Army disagrees with this
approach, Secretary Camarillo?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Wicker, I think all of us in the
Department of Defense are looking at creative ways to expand
the pool of available talent and we are all taking steps.
Certainly, you have heard from Secretary Raven to try to invest
in that population, to try to help them reach the standards
and, certainly, with the Army, we are very much----
Senator Wicker. But you have elected to go to a different
approach rather than lower the standards.
Mr. Camarillo. Our approach is focused on the future
soldier prep course where we are taking potential candidates
and recruits into Fort Jackson. We are investing them--in them
in academic skills and physical training skills to be able to
meet our standards.
Senator Wicker. Fair to say it is a different approach from
the Navy?
Mr. Camarillo. We have a different program.
Senator Wicker. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Wicker.
Senator Kaine, please?
Senator King. Kaine or King?
Chairman Reed. Kaine from Virginia.
Senator King. Funny story about that, Mr. Chair.
Senator Kaine. This happens to us a lot.
Chairman Reed. That is my accent. I am sorry.
Senator Kaine. This is such an important hearing and I am
really glad we are having it and I appreciate the work that you
are doing. I have a lot more than I would like to say--I have a
lot more than 5 minutes so I am going to try to be quick.
The Army survey--I think the thing that interests me about
the survey, and it would probably have some applicability to
the other branches as well, is the chief barrier cited, and
there is no close second, really--the chief barrier cited by 21
percent and the next one is 13 percent is I would be putting
the rest of my life on hold.
So that--the psychology of that statement is important, I
think, to understand. It suggests and probably this in an All-
Volunteer Military where so few people have the connection to
military life people look at military service as, oh, that is
something where I go and do this thing and maybe it is good for
the country but I put the rest of my life on hold, and they do
not connect military service with this is a building block for
the rest of my life.
I mean, people who serve in the military gain all these
skills. My employers all the time are telling me, I can train
for the technical skill but what I do not have--what I cannot
train for is an attitude of teamwork, flexibility, stay till
the job's done, mission focus, help somebody out. Those skills
I cannot train for and I cannot find them, and this is what our
servicemembers have and also what our military spouses tend to
have.
But that answer, I am not going to serve in the Army
because I would be putting the rest of my life on hold,
suggests that the story that we need to tell about military
service is that it is a building block to the rest of your life
rather than a timeout for 2, 4, or 8 years.
I wonder as you are thinking about telling the story and
recruiting, how do you intend to get at that chief barrier?
Maybe start with Secretary Camarillo.
Mr. Camarillo. Thank you, Senator Kaine.
You said it perfectly. So what our takeaway was from that
survey result was that, first and foremost, people in that
younger population set do not understand the possibilities and
career potential that they get from military service.
That tells us we need to reintroduce ourselves, as I said
earlier, to the American public as a career destination of
choice that creates and expands opportunities for our young
people no matter whether they stay in military service long
term or they go off and take on different careers.
That was part of our approach to not only advertise and
highlight the different career choices you have in the Army. If
you want to come in and be a cyber specialist, if you want to
be a veterinarian, a doctor, a lawyer, you can do almost
literally any career choice within the Army for a set period of
time.
Come do it as part of national service and we will give you
the training. We will help you achieve your career aspirations.
We will even fund some of your higher education, college and
grad school in some cases. That is the message we are starting
to tell and that is how we are trying to reinforce that people
can be all you can be in the Army.
Senator Kaine. Secretary Raven, then Secretary Jones.
Mr. Raven. Senator Kaine, you hit it exactly on--the nail
exactly on the head and let me just tell a story about what it
might mean for some young Americans.
Highly qualified Americans coming out of high school have
an opportunity to join the Navy and if they meet the highest
standards we have they can go to nuclear power school. They can
serve on a submarine. They can serve on an aircraft carrier
doing incredible things.
If they like what we offer they can stay in service and
have substantial bonuses and opportunities to go to college. It
is a great career. If they choose to move on they will be in
demand for the skills that we provide them. So that is what it
means in real terms for Americans who might be considering this
field.
Senator Kaine. Secretary Jones, before you answer, I was
intrigued by your comments in your testimony that you are doing
really well at attracting folks to Space Force. So, to me, that
suggests people look at that, well, that is cool and that is
probably connected to careers that are kind of aerospace
careers.
So people might see the connection between that and later
and not think it is just time out of their life. But talk about
how the Air Force is trying to grapple with this barrier.
Ms. Jones. Yes, Senator.
The Space Force has an overwhelming number of recruits. It
is a much smaller number we have to attract. But many people
who are not interested otherwise in serving in the military are
interested in the Space Force.
To the points that were made by Chairman Reed earlier, we
do have a situation where we have a family affair, so to speak,
where families, including my own, have a history of military
service, where certain parts of the country--regional areas
have more military service.
So we need to expand our aperture in terms of who we are
talking to about the value of military service. One point that
I will make, often folks think that military service is
something to do instead of education and that is certainly not
true in the Department of the Air Force.
Our current force has earned 160,000 degrees from
associates to Ph.D.s since coming into the service, and so we
want to get that message out to people who are not aware of the
outstanding educational opportunities as well as high-tech
careers, as my colleagues have mentioned.
Senator Kaine. Thank you so much. I yield back, Mr. Chair.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Kaine.
Senator Ernst, please?
Senator Ernst. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to
our witnesses today. It is good to have you. This is such an
incredibly important topic.
I want to associate what you talked about just now,
Secretary Jones, about the family affair, just as Chairman Reed
had. Certainly, my father was an NCO [Non-Commissioned Officer]
in the Iowa Army National Guard.
I went on to serve in the Iowa Army National Guard. My
daughter is now serving Active Duty in the Army. It is very
much a family affair. We have to do better about spreading the
word to others that are not exposed to the military.
I also want to associate myself with Senator Kaine's
comments about putting life on hold. I found that truly serving
in the military as a number of my family members it was our
life, and even though mine was part time it was still such a
significant part of my life. I am very appreciative of the
opportunities that it gave to me.
So, again, thank you all very much for being here today,
and we do have to be united as a Committee on finding solutions
for recruitment and retention and that is how we are going to
build that more lethal force that we need for tomorrow.
One thing that I am diving into is competitive pay and the
promise of competitive pay as the foundation for that All-
Volunteer Force. It does impact recruiting. It does impact
retention. The DOD's Spring 2022 propensity update found that
the number-one reason to serve is monetary compensation--the
number-one reason.
So with that in mind, for all of you--and we will start
with you, Secretary Camarillo--do you believe increasing
military compensation, especially for those junior enlisted
grade, would improve recruitment?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator, and thanks for your leadership on
this issue. It is, certainly, something that we are looking at
right now.
I think we have to examine the issue in the context of the
recent 5.2 percent pay increase that just went into effect this
year with Congress' support in addition to all of the
recruiting incentives and retention bonuses that we provide.
We are doing our best right now in the Army to calibrate
those based on critical career fields in addition to what we
see as kind of the trends of what we are going to require down
the road as we continue to transform the Army.
In addition, I would also note that we have with Congress'
help continued to revise BAH [basic allowance for housing] and
some of the other factors that play into this equation and as
part of the Quadrennial Review of military compensation the
Army looks forward to working very closely with the other
services, OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense], and,
certainly, the Congress to address this issue more
fundamentally.
Senator Ernst. Great. Thank you.
Secretary Raven?
Mr. Raven. Thank you, Senator Ernst.
Let me step back and say for Americans who may be having
the same concerns about compensation that you have raised, we
have done reviews of this and found if you do an apples to
apples comparison, if you do job X in the Navy or Marine Corps
and you do job X in the private sector, that on average the
people doing the job for the military earn more than 80 percent
or more of comparative jobs in the private sector. There are,
of course, some apples to oranges comparisons out there.
Senator Ernst. Very apples to oranges when you are asking
young men and women to travel around the world and be separated
from their family.
Mr. Raven. Exactly. But there remains this perception that
they would be earning much less than their private sector
counterparts.
In terms of looking at junior enlisted ranks, we have and
we continually assess what bonuses, benefits, other incentives
may apply to them. I would have concerns about pulling out of
several rates for a general pay raise because it could cause
issues of pay compression compared to hire rates. But this is
something we look forward to working with you on and finding
the right way forward.
Senator Ernst. Yes. Thank you.
Secretary Jones?
Ms. Jones. Senator, I agree with my colleagues that this is
an important issue. We look forward to working with you. We
appreciate the support of Congress in enacting the 2023 budget.
We have an even higher increase planned for 2024 and will be
hoping that we will get that budget enacted quickly.
Right now we are focused on our bonuses for targeted areas
that we need to make sure that we can bring people in--pilots,
cybersecurity, special operators, and in particular areas where
we feel those bonuses are most applicable, as well as the
enlisted college repayment program for loans.
Those are a couple of the areas in the short term that we
are working on and in the longer term the Quadrennial Review
will be taking a holistic look at the compensation strategy.
Senator Ernst. Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it.
It is an area I am very concerned about and I understand
that we do need to do some pay charts smoothing over time
because our enlisted soldiers are being far outpaced by our
officers.
I am not saying officers make too much. They do not. But we
have seen that gap continue to widen through the years with the
percentage pay increases, and when we are offering percentage
pay increases that do not keep up with the rate of inflation
our soldiers, airmen, marines, sailors, they are all suffering.
I hope that we can get some work done as we are moving
through this next NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act].
But I just want to State again I do think there is a difference
between job X in the civilian world and job X in the military,
especially when we are asking those young men and women to,
perhaps, lay down their lives and suffer time away from family.
I would like to see those younger, enlisted members receive
a little bit more pay. But it is something that I hope to work
on.
Thank you very much, Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Ernst.
Senator Warren, please?
Senator Warren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let us be clear. The reason the United States has the
strongest military in the world is because of our people.
In February this Committee heard testimony from Dr. Bonny
Lin, an expert on China, who served as the senior adviser to
the Department of Defense in both the Obama and Trump
administrations, that divesting in programs that support our
military, including violence prevention programs, ``would
definitely hurt us in having a competitive advantage over
China.''
Now, I understand there are a lot of politics at play
whenever we discuss personnel policies in the military. But
when common sense programs that support our servicemembers'
health and their ability to do their jobs in a safe workplace
get attacked I worry about the message it sends to the people
who are trying to do those jobs.
Let me ask, do any of our witnesses believe that programs
to address racism or to prevent sexual assault are hurting our
ability to recruit young people?
Secretary Camarillo?
Mr. Camarillo. No.
Senator Warren. Secretary Raven?
Mr. Raven. No.
Senator Warren. Secretary Jones?
Ms. Jones. No.
Senator Warren. Good. Thank you.
It is when these programs fail that young people question
whether joining the military is a safe career path for them,
not whether or not these programs exist in the first place.
Similarly, the vaccine mandate made our forces stronger and
healthier. Our military leaders, in conjunction with the best
medical advice available, worked to keep our troops safe and
ready to be deployed at a moment's notice in any crisis around
the world, regardless of local health conditions.
I think it is a real mistake to politicize one kind of
vaccine and to undercut medical experts who are responsible for
readiness.
Under Secretary Camarillo, by the end of 2021 how many
Active Duty soldiers had received the COVID vaccine?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Warren, we achieved a 94 percent
overall success rate. I have to come back to you with the
number.
Senator Warren. That is all right. I will take percent.
That is just fine. But a 94 percent success rate.
Secretary Raven, how about the Navy and the Marine Corps?
Mr. Raven. We are currently standing at about 97 percent.
Senator Warren. Ninety-seven percent.
Secretary Jones, how about the Air Force and Space Force?
Ms. Jones. Senator, for our Active Duty members it is 99
percent, for our Reserve 95.9, and 94.3 percent of the Air
Guard.
Senator Warren. Wow. All right.
In other words, I think it is fair to say the vast majority
of our servicemembers have now been vaccinated.
Now, I know a small number of servicemembers refused the
vaccine and they left the military. But my understanding is now
that the vaccine is no longer mandated only a very small
handful of these individuals have even sought to reenlist. So
it is hard to see that the vaccine mandate was ever related to
recruiting or retention challenges.
Finally, I want to get one more point in here. There has
been a lot of criticism from my Republican colleagues of the
administration's actions post-Dobbs to ensure that women who
serve in uniform and their family members can get health care
when they need it.
We do not have anyone here to represent DOD but my
understanding is those policies were heavily informed by groups
of servicemembers, exactly as they should be. I understand that
the issue of abortion is polarizing. I am not going to try to
convince my Republican colleagues on this Committee to support
DOD's actions.
But I do commend you for developing policies that will
support people who work for you and listening to what they
need. So thank you very much for your work on behalf of our
servicemembers. It makes a difference.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Warren.
Senator Cotton, please?
Senator Cotton. Mr. Camarillo, there has been some
conversation this morning about the Army's 2022 survey. You had
received a letter from Representative Waltz and Representative
Banks in late February about releasing the data of that survey.
I have a PowerPoint slide in front of me. Is that the data
that Mr. Banks and Mr. Waltz were seeking?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Cotton, my understanding is that the
Committees were previously provided a summary of the research
and this slide deck that you are referring to was what we
released publicly.
Senator Cotton. Have you provided the underlying data to
the Armed Services Committee either here or in the House?
Mr. Camarillo. We have not, Senator Cotton. My
understanding is that is subject to additional approvals
because it involves privacy considerations regarding the people
that were interviewed.
Senator Cotton. Have you responded to Representative Banks'
and Representative Waltz's letter?
Mr. Camarillo. I do not know what the status is of the
response. But I can, certainly, take that for the record and
get you an answer.
Senator Cotton. Could you please?
Mr. Camarillo. Yes, sir.
[The information referred to follows:]
Mr. Camarillo. Yes. The Assistant Secretary of the Army for
Manpower and Reserve Affairs signed a response to
Representatives Banks and Waltz on May 2, 2023. The detailed
response provided the requested documentation. This included
the Army Pulse Survey, Spotlight on Barriers to Service, dated
February 22, 2023. Within her letter, she also explained that
the Army provided the same pulse survey to the House Armed
Services Committee, the House Appropriations Subcommittee for
Defense, Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee for Defense members and
professional staff on March 17, 2023.
Senator Cotton. Okay. How many or what percentage of young
Americans are eligible to serve in the Army?
Mr. Camarillo. I think it----
Senator Cotton. I am going to ask the other two as well so
you can start looking at your notes.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Camarillo. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
So we know that the eligibility has declined over 10 years.
It went from 29 percent in 2013 to 23 percent in 2023.
Senator Cotton. Mr. Raven?
Mr. Raven. I am tracking similar numbers, sir.
Senator Cotton. Ms. Jones?
Ms. Jones. Senator, we are also looking at 23 percent.
Senator Cotton. I do not think that is a good trend and I
do not think it is a necessary trend either. Sometimes we have
witnesses come in front of the Committee, oftentimes uniformed
witnesses, who cite that data almost as if it is a point of
pride about how few young Americans are even eligible to serve
because of academic standards or health standards or criminal
records or character.
I think we have to fish in a much bigger pool if we are
going to address the recruiting crisis we face and I just think
it is incumbent upon the services to find ways to expand the
eligibility of young Americans to be recruits.
I and almost everyone else on this Committee could tell you
a story about what we had to do to help some outstanding young
man or woman overcome some supposedly disqualifying injury or
condition, maybe a 14-year-old kid got prescribed a mind
altering drug for depression when his parents are going through
a divorce and 5 years later he has had no indication
whatsoever. Or a kid gets a knee injury, has the knee
reconstructed and continues to play football at a high level
and college, yet, the Army thinks he is not physically fit to
be a soldier.
Someone who cannot pass a colorblind test even though they
can identify a red, yellow, and green thumbtack and they
promise they are not going to fly an aircraft. They just want
to be a straight leg infantry.
We should find ways to help young men and women be eligible
for our services, not try to find ways to keep them out.
Do you agree?
Mr. Camarillo. I do, Senator.
Mr. Raven. Yes, sir, and if I may, that is exactly why we
have opened up a dialog with the Department of Education to
make sure that we are promoting those standards that feed into
military service.
Ms. Jones. Yes, Senator. I mentioned that we have about 30
lines of effort looking to expand that aperture for areas that
do not negatively impact readiness but allow us to reach a
broader population, tattoos being one example. That was the
third highest cause of disqualifications. So we made a minor
change to our policy and we are expecting over 2,500 additional
recruits would be eligible.
Senator Cotton. I think that--I mean, obviously you cannot
have people with, like, gang tattoos or tattoos on their faces.
But, obviously, if they got a tattoo of a dragon on their back
what does it matter? I know lots of people who did.
Or criminal records. You cannot have serious felons. You
cannot have violent felons. You cannot have people prone to
that kind of thing. But if they are a juvenile delinquents who
came from a broken home who have turned themselves around, have
a chance to serve, I think we got to make space for them.
Mr. Camarillo, you want to respond to that?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator, we have a robust waiver process
that takes a number of these considerations into account in
addition to a whole person standard that we ultimately assess
every candidate for.
Senator Cotton. I just think it takes too--if it is a
waiver process it just takes too long. Again, I think we could
all give you stories of having to help a young American in our
states get through that waiver process as opposed to something
that is a little more common sense.
Mr. Camarillo. I agree, Senator, and that is why we are
looking at----
Senator Cotton. It is a policy, not a waiver.
Mr. Camarillo. Understood, Senator. I think we are looking
at that process to see how we can streamline it to exactly do
what you said is make sure the work----
Senator Cotton. I had a drill sergeant who was definitely
in the go to war or go to jail bucket and that was in the
2000's, and he went to war and he turned out to be a pretty
good soldier, as opposed to wasting away in a jail for minor
drug charges.
Do all those 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds who lied about
their age to enlist in order to, do you think they did the
right thing or the wrong thing?
Mr. Raven, you are not. Do you want to put it on the
record?
Mr. Raven. That is my grandfather's story, sir. He may have
misrepresented some things to join the Navy and joined the
SeaBees in World War II.
Senator Cotton. I think those stories are well put still
today because, I mean, we love all our recruits who want to
raise their hand and take the oath and serve our country in
uniform.
But the ones who will go the extra mile, who will go
through the arduous waiver process, who will plead with the
doctor at the Med Board to pass them through the colorblindness
test even though they are kind of colorblind, I think those are
the ones that we really want to encourage and we want to go out
and make it easier for those kinds of kids who are super
motivated to join no matter what kind of obstacles the
bureaucracy has put up in front of them to get in without
having to resort to going through months of a waiver process or
to call their Congressman or to call their senator. We got to
fish from a bigger pool.
Thank you.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Cotton.
Senator King, please?
Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In my family, Senator Cotton, there is a--the legend is
that my father-in-law memorized the eye chart so he could
enlist 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor. Served honorably in Asia
during World War II.
I want to followup on exactly the question Senator Cotton
is talking about. Cannabis is now legal in 21 states. Forty-
seven percent of Americans are in states where it is legal.
Again, like Senator Cotton, I am not advocating lowering
standards to the point where it endangers safety or the
effectiveness of the Army. But a lot of teenagers are
suffering, in part, from depression coming out of the pandemic.
ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] is a common
condition affecting about 10 percent of young people in our
country. They take medication. All of those things in the first
instance are barriers.
So I think what Senator Cotton and I are saying is the
waiver process is fine except it is a waiver process and it
involves a lot of steps and a lot of time and somebody might
just say the heck with it. I have got a good offer over here in
the private sector.
So give me your thoughts about--you mentioned streamlining
that process. Go a little deeper on that.
Mr. Camarillo. Thank you, Senator King.
I think, first, what I would say is we have got to maximize
the flexibility within the waiver process and streamline it so
that we can achieve the common sense results that you and
Senator Cotton were talking about.
Senator King. Streamline entails or implies faster.
Mr. Camarillo. Yes, Senator.
Senator King. Months and months are not going to do because
this young person is going to say the heck with this--I am
moving on.
Mr. Camarillo. Right, and I have looked at the data in the
Army and you will find that even in the last year, year and a
half, the biggest kind of requests for waivers that we get are
behavioral health where somebody has sought out behavioral
health care earlier in their life or they have been treated for
depression or anxiety, ADHD, which are very common, as we know,
in the target population.
So we are seeing the number of those waivers being granted
increase. But I think, to your point, we have got to figure out
how to get to the left of that.
We have got to work more closely, which is step two, across
the Department with how we are doing our medical accessions and
what those standards are to make sure that they are updated
with the latest science and, most importantly, what the target
population looks like.
Senator King. I would commend you a RAND Corporation study
from, I think, October of 2021 that studied what the outcomes
were of people that came in on the waivers vis-a-vis the other
applicants and basically they found, essentially, no
difference. In fact, some of these people did actually better
in terms of making rank and retention. So I think the data is
going to be very important on this.
Let me move on to another data question. Do you have data
on the relationship between the unemployment rate nationally
and recruiting?
We are now in one of the tightest labor markets I have ever
seen in my lifetime. Everybody that comes to my office their
number-one issue is workers. This morning I had loggers from
Maine, truck drivers, plumbers, doctors, nurses, retail.
So I am interested. Intuitively, it seems to me that your
job is going to be tougher when the labor market is so tight
and there are so many other opportunities. Is there any data on
that?
Secretary Raven, do you know?
Mr. Raven. Yes, we have that data and we show--it shows a
clear correlation between the labor market and new accessions--
--
Senator King. Unemployment goes down, recruiting goes down.
Mr. Raven. Yes, sir. But, in fairness, the challenges that
we are looking at is more than what the unemployment rate is
here today.
We have a real challenge in explaining the value of
military service to younger individuals and we are approaching
this as a multiyear initiative to reintroduce Americans to
public service. Whether that is uniformed service, civilian
service, working in shipyards, we need to have a national
conversation about all of those.
Senator King. I think you have touched on this point before
but one of the--I do not know if it is a problem but
something--we have had testimony that 84 percent of the current
members of the professional military are from military
bloodlines and that is a--that narrows the focus, and one of
the problems is geographically, for example, there are no
military examples on the street in the Northeast.
In my town of Brunswick, Maine, we had a naval air station
for 40 or 50 years. Kids got to know people from the military.
They got to know them as their coaches. They saw them in the--
in town.
That is gone now, and I think part of what you have to do
is reestablish intense recruitment in areas that do not have a
military presence because that is a fertile pool but they just
have lost contact. That is one of the downsides of the
professional military. One percent of Americans are involved
directly in the military today.
Talk to me about geography. We do not want the military to
be a geographic organization.
Mr. Raven. Sir, I would say the Navy and Marine Corps have
several efforts. One is to reconnect servicemembers with their
high schools. As they go back home to visit their parents talk
to some kids about what military service means to them.
On the Navy side we have not only fleet weeks but Navy
weeks throughout the country. We recently had one in Tucson,
Arizona, where, again, folks come out from California, tell the
story of what it means to be in the Navy----
Senator King. The Navy in Tucson is a concept.
Mr. Raven. Yes, sir. We are working on that and we are
working on making sure that we have recruiters in all those
areas of the country that are not represented by military
installations.
Senator King. Thank you. I am out of time but I assume you
all are making similar efforts to geographically disperse your
effort.
Mr. Raven. Yes, Senator.
Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator King.
Senator Hirono, please?
Senator Hirono. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the
panelists because we have been talking about the challenges of
recruitment and retention for quite a number of years and I am
glad that the chair is focusing on this particular issue.
I am curious to know is there a connection between higher
enlistment numbers from states that have economic challenges?
Any of you?
Mr. Raven. Senator, I would have to get back to you on
that. I will have to look at that data for you.
Ms. Jones. Senator, I do not have that that data either. We
would need to do some research to analyze our recruiting trends
against those with more challenging economic conditions.
[The information referred to follows:]
Mr. Raven. Navy assessed fiscal year 2022 through the
present accessions against the eligible 17-24 youth populations
by State using failing, thriving, and middle economic State
categories. Navy found that there was no discernable
correlation between a state's economic category and its share
of the 17 to 24 population that enlisted. While economic
categorization does not seem to play a role, Navy continues to
see states with fleet concentration areas trending on the
higher end of accessions contribution.
Ms. Jones. While members enlist in the military for a
myriad of reasons, to include availing themselves of world
class career training and benefits, the current data does not
indicate a correlation with higher accession rates from
economically challenged states.
As of calendar year 2022, the top five states with the
highest enlistment rates were: Texas, California, Florida,
Georgia, and North Carolina--populous states with significant
military presence.
Mr. Camarillo. But, ma'am, I would add that we are tracking
very well that certain states tend to show up better in
recruiting numbers. Hawaii is one example where the Navy tends
to be able to tell its story and do quite well relative to the
size of the population.
Senator Hirono. I think that would also be an interesting
aspect to consider and if there is a relationship or
correlation between enlistments and the awareness that,
perhaps, there can be more challenges that can be met if they
join up because there is not enough opportunities in their
states that should be--that would be a concern and I hope that
if that does reveal itself that we are going to do something
about it so that we are not getting inordinate numbers of
people from certain areas or states.
Talking about recruiting women, women are and will continue
to be integral to the United States military and increasing the
number of women in the services will be necessary to meet each
one of your recruiting goals, and I applaud efforts like the
Air Force's Women in Sports campaign, an example of the type of
creative marketing each service will need to employ to meet its
recruitment goals, moving forward.
But just as important are--as excellent advertising is
supportive policies. In order for individuals to join and
choose to remain in our military they need to trust that the
Department will support them and their families.
This is why I commend the Department of Defense's policies
to ensure access to reproductive health care, its expansion of
parental leave, and the funding the President's Budget puts
toward implementing the recommendations of the Independent
Review Commission on sexual assault in the military.
No servicemembers should have to choose between their
service to this country and their health and well being. So as
these kinds of policies have been implemented have you seen an
impact of these policies on recruiting?
We can start with Secretary Camarillo and go down the line.
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Hirono, taking care of our people is
our top priority in everything we do. No question about that.
I think it is too early to tell what the impact will be of
some of the more recent policy changes on our recruiting
trends. But I can just say that, for example, the parental
leave policies that were recently announced by the Department
just in feedback from individual soldiers at different units
have been highly positive, both male and female soldiers.
Mr. Raven. Senator, very similar. We have not seen a impact
that we can directly correlate to these policies. What we do
have is looking at social media and what servicemembers are
posting and talking about. There does seem to be positive
reflections on many of those policies that you mentioned.
Senator Hirono. Any particular ones such as parental leave?
Mr. Raven. Parental leave certainly comes to the top of
mind. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Jones. Ma'am, similarly, we do not have the information
yet on the impact to recruiting. What we are seeing is
improvements for retention of women as we look at things like
parental leave, the ability to fly and maintain readiness
longer while pregnant, the ability to apply--to go to the
officer candidate school for moving into officer ranks while
you are pregnant. Before, that was a barrier. So that is part
of what our efforts are looking at--what are those barriers
that are impacting recruitment or retention.
Senator Hirono. So in line with some of these comments that
you have made I would encourage each of your services to
examine the feasibility of covering the cost of
cryopreservation for servicemembers as it relates to--as it
could be another way particularly to encourage female recruits
and their retention. I would ask each of you to contemplate
whether or not that would help.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Jones. Yes, Senator.
Chairman Reed. Thank you----
Senator Hirono. I have some other questions for the record
so----
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Hirono.
Senator Scott, please?
Senator Scott. Thank you, Chairman.
Thank each of you for Can each of you just tell me what
your pitch is? I joined the Navy at 18 and when I joined the
Navy the pitch was that I wanted to defend the freedoms of the
country. I wanted to be part of the most aggressive fighting
force in the world. My dad joined the Army. I think he was--I
think he lied about his age. He was under 18. He did all the
combat jumps at 82d Airborne. Only 3,000 people did that. He
joined because he wanted to defend the freedom of the country.
So what is your--for each of you what is--why should a kid
like me, 18 years old, why--what is the pitch?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Scott, I will start.
I think it is very similar to that. The first thing we want
is you to serve your country. Come be a part of something
bigger than yourself, be a part of our national security, and
be a part of the greatest fighting force in the world.
In addition, serving in the Army provides you, whoever you
are, limitless possibilities for your career.
Senator Scott. Can I just stop you for a second? What is
your favorite ad that says that?
Mr. Camarillo. I am going to be partial and just say our
recent ``Be all you can be'' ads.
Mr. Raven. Senator, thank you for the question.
For the Navy and Marine Corps team it is a team that does
incredible things around the globe every day 24/7, and whether
it is serving in the Indo-Pacific aboard a ship, on an
airplane, on a submarine, if you are a marine doing the most
incredible things that marines can do the opportunities are
amazing.
Just think about this. An individual can come out of high
school, join the marines, become a certified cyber operator and
do things that they cannot do in the private sector.
They can be a world-class hacker with the missions that
that Navy cyber--or Marine Corps cyber forces carry out every
day and that is something you cannot find in the private
sector.
Ms. Jones. Senator, similarly, we focus on opportunity and
a sense of purpose and all of the things that my colleagues
mentioned about the ability to serve our Nation, to help with
our National defense, but also the opportunities for high-tech
careers in cybersecurity, in data and analytics, as a doctor, a
nurse, a pilot, the educational opportunities.
I mentioned earlier 160,000 degrees have been given to our
current workforce since they became part of the Active Duty,
Guard, and Reserve for the Department of the Air Force. So
those are all things that we think are not getting out in terms
of the messaging currently and that we are continuing to
emphasize in our marketing.
Senator Scott. So if you are making the same pitches you
made when I was there, it sounds like, why is it not working? I
mean, we did not have--when I served we did not have a problem
getting people to show up. What do you--what are you guys doing
that it is not working?
Mr. Camarillo. Well, Senator, as we talked about earlier in
the testimony, there are some factors that come into play here.
First of all is the labor market. So in periods of time,
historically, where we have a really tight labor market and low
unemployment, regardless of pitch it can be very challenging in
terms of facing recruiting headwinds.
Also some of the changes we have made in the Army fairly
recently to recalibrate our messaging, to reintroduce the Army
as an employer of choice with those career opportunities that
we just talked about. That has only been done in the last
several weeks and we look forward to continuing that effort.
Mr. Raven. Senator, the Navy and Marine Corps are in a
competition for talent, and I saw a banner the other day that
said join this business, make a good salary, get college paid
for, get retirement benefits, get health benefits.
Ten years ago that would have been a Navy or Marine Corps
recruiting banner. That is a banner for a big box store where
you would go work retail.
So we are in a competition for talent. The world is
changing around us. There are Americans who are less propensed
to serve.
We need to get at that with a real campaign of what it
means to serve our country, not only for our country but for
the individuals who agree to do that. So we need to attack this
on multiple fronts.
Ms. Jones. Senator, we need to tackle this misperception
that joining the military is putting your life on hold.
I think one of the ways that we did not do that
particularly well in recent years was because of COVID and the
lack of the ability for our recruiters to get into the schools
and help them to understand some of the benefits.
So that is opening up now. We have a lot better ability to
do that. We are using digital marketing to get that message
out.
I also think that partnering with this Committee to figure
out ways that collectively we can get that positive message out
instead of some of the coverage that people hear through the
media that might be more negative and focused on the things
that are some of the challenges that are leading to
misperceptions about military service rather than the benefits.
Senator Scott. So I think in a conversation you guys had
with Senator Wicker before I was here you talked about--I think
you talked about the difference between equity and equality.
How do you deal with that? What is the difference in you all's
mind between equity and equality and how does that play into
your recruiting efforts?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator, our approaches we have talked about
is to cast the widest possible net for talent anywhere it is.
So that includes for us geographic diversity, diversity of
perspective, different parts of the country that we have not
recruited in before.
We need to cast that wide net for talent and make sure that
the Army is the place where everybody sees that they have a
role.
Mr. Raven. Sir, there is a toolbox of different initiatives
but they are all aimed at a similar thing. That is building
teams to achieve the military mission.
General Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps, was
recently asked about this and he views as two of those
toolboxes in his toolkit to build the team that the Marine
Corps needs.
Ms. Jones. Senator, we want diverse, powerful teams that
are engaged and connected, and in some areas we are seeing
where we have lower retention, we have lower promotion rates,
we have higher nonjudicial punishment rates among different
areas of our workforce and we want to understand the root
causes for that. Is there something better that we can do to
help make sure that everybody feels engaged and is ready to
serve?
Senator Scott. Thank you.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Kelly, please?
Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to all
the witnesses for being here.
Secretary Raven, I spent 25 years on Active Duty in the
Navy and both in the Navy and at NASA [National Aeronautics and
Space Administration] I have had the privilege of serving with
people from all over the country and at NASA all over the
planet, to some extent, in support of a bunch of different
missions.
The diversity of our crew, especially at my career at NASA,
made us stronger. But that is also true for the military as
well. Each individual's background and perspective made a team
more resilient, more ready for whatever challenges we faced
whether it was in the air, at sea, or even in space.
So I want to thank the witnesses for the work that they
have done to make sure that our service branches represent our
country.
The young people who choose to serve are the best that our
country has to offer and we need all of them, and I have always
found that when you have people from different backgrounds you
get different perspectives. Your ability to solve problems
increases when you have a diverse team.
The demands that we place on our military members are
really significant, and since 2012 when many of the initiatives
being discussed today here when they began in the Pentagon we
have fought two wars since then.
When we have worked to counter a rising China, we have
conducted raids and strikes on Bin Laden and other terrorists
and extremists groups, and this has stretched our forces really
thin. I think we all understand that. There have been extended
deployments and a lot of stress on military families.
Secretary Raven, some argue that our military is not
focused on the right things. But I do not think that is true
because when we are asking this much of our servicemembers we
need to ensure that they see a place for themselves in the
United States military and that is the only way we can recruit
and retain the best and brightest.
Secretary Raven, I have said before that many of the
initiatives that we are discussing began in 2012 or before
that, just a year after the bin Laden raid.
So I want to ask you have these initiatives detracted from
the readiness of the United States Navy? Would our Navy SEALs
be less likely to succeed in conducting a mission like the one
that killed Bin Laden today if we needed them to do that?
Mr. Raven. Senator, the answer is no. There has been no
detraction from the primary mission of both the Navy and Marine
Corps to defend our Nation and do so in a forward deployed
manner.
I would also say that General Berger, Commandant of the
Marine Corps, was recently asked a similar question and he said
there was zero evidence--that is a quote--zero evidence that
all these initiatives have impacted our readiness.
Senator Kelly. Of the dozens of no-fail operations our
servicemembers have conducted over the last decade do you have
any evidence, any evidence at all, that these initiatives have
adversely impacted our success anywhere?
Mr. Raven. No.
Senator Kelly. Okay. Are our servicemembers as ready as
they have ever been to fight the enemy right now?
Mr. Raven. They are.
Senator Kelly. Well, thank you, and thank you, again, for
all of you for being here. I yield back even though my clock
does not work.
Chairman Reed. You yield back 1 minute and 18 seconds. It
will go on your account.
Senator Sullivan, please?
Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will try not
to steal from Senator Kelly.
Chairman Reed. Yes. You do not get the extra 1:18.
Senator Sullivan. Oh, sorry. All right. I just thought
maybe you were giving that up for me.
I appreciate the panel. It is a really important topic. Let
me go into an issue that I think might be impacting recruiting
but I want to hear from you.
The national media, unfortunately, some in the
administration, after January 6th started trotting out this
narrative that we have all these extremists in the military. I
am looking at a bunch of Washington Post stories. The
Washington Post used to write this about once a week. By the
way, it was ridiculous. Okay.
Senator Sullivan. Anyone--any of you guys seen this is--you
are highlighting in your testimony some of the recruiting
challenges. But this one seems to me a self-inflicted wound.
Again, our national media, which is pretty clueless on what
goes on in the military, love this narrative post-January 6th.
It was wrong. The narrative was wrong, factually wrong. The
Secretary proved it. Any of you seeing that as a problem and
how do we counter that?
Mr. Raven. Sir, I would echo my colleague's comments that
the overwhelming number of sailors and marines serve honorably.
I think there is a perception on a range of toxic behaviors
that I believe are very small but very important to get at,
that Americans are concerned that they may join the military
and be faced with unacceptable behaviors ranging from sexual
harassment to other behaviors.
Senator Sullivan. Right, but it is really important for you
guys to get the word out that that is not the case. Of course,
we do not want any of that in our military. But it is not an
epidemic. It is, certainly, not 10 percent of the force,
correct?
Mr. Raven. I have no evidence to suggest it is near 10
percent.
Senator Sullivan. Let me ask another question. This is
access to recruiters.
I have had a long history with certain elite universities,
colleges. My alma mater booted ROTC off campus 50 years ago and
it was a struggle to get some of the top universities in
America to accept ROTC. Ridiculous. Congress finally acted and
said, hey, you are not going to accept ROTC on your campus you
are not going to get Federal dollars.
I am hearing a lot of stories, particularly from some, no
offense, but woke school administrators that they are not
letting recruiters onto high school campuses to just recruit.
What I would like to do for the record--and, first, ask if
you are seeing it--but I would like for each one of you to come
back and give us any anecdotes to where high schools are not
allowing recruiters on campus.
If that is the case I believe the Congress should look at
ways to say, all right, you are a high school. You do not want
to bring the Marine Corps recruiter on your campus. Your
Federal funds are cutoff.
What do you think about something like that and are you
seeing access on campuses as a problem for high schools?
Mr. Camarillo. Sir, I have no examples of being denied
access. But Secretary Del Toro recently wrote to more than 260
high schools asking for better access, just more regular access
to students, and happy to followup for the record.
Senator Sullivan. Anyone else?
Ms. Jones. Senator, we met with the Department of Education
just recently and talked about this as one of those issues, and
there was a feeling that the military recruiters were targeting
certain schools based on racial minorities and things like that
and not going to other schools.
Senator Sullivan. Okay, and do you think that is true?
Ms. Jones. I do not have the data on that, Senator. But I
think the important thing is that they thought that we were
targeting their children to go into the military instead of
getting an education and, again, I think we need to have that
narrative that the military is a way to get an education and it
is also a way to get a high paying job, and so it is not a
negative thing to have the recruiter show up to your school.
But we can followup to see if we have any specific examples.
Senator Sullivan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Sullivan.
Senator Manchin?
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank everybody in uniform, everybody who has
ever been in uniform previously, or is in uniform today for the
service. I always thought that a person who is willing to put a
uniform on is willing to take a bullet for me or my family, and
I cannot express my gratitude more than that.
With that being said, I come from the State of West
Virginia and we have a high percentage of people who serve in
the military. On the Vietnam Wall we have more names per capita
than most any State and they continue.
I always say we are always ready to fight and we are
willing to answer the call for our country, and if there is not
a good war going on or a fight we will fight each other until
we get ready to be called. I mean, we are always prepared.
[Laughter.]
Senator Manchin. So with all that being--with all that
being said, off of what Senator Sullivan just said, I was--at a
time when I went to WVU [West Virginia University] and my
family , my grandfather was in the military. My father and my
uncles were all military.
But I had not been exposed because of the time element. In
1965 I go as a freshman to WVU and automatically I am in ROTC
[Reserve Officer Training Corp]. I mean, I am in--and I had to
pick Army or Air Force, and I chose the Army and I was there
for 2 years and I really, really enjoyed it. I learned so much.
I guess it was taken out after the Vietnam War. I think
that brought it to a head is what I understand when it came to
accommodation. But it is something we should.
It was a land grant school. I understood that all land
grant schools were mandatory to have 2 years of ROTC. A lot of
our officers came through the program. Even today I see some,
they came through. From the 2-year they got their scholarship.
It was paid education, everything. It was unbelievable, and
then I go into campuses around high schools, again, what
Senator Sullivan said, and I see a lot of the Junior ROTC--
Junior ROTC--which is extremely, extremely important. It is so
needed for structure and stature and this and that but it gives
a kid confidence and then that child I will ask him, are you
going to go into ROTC when you go to college? Are you going to
go into the military? Some will say yes and some will say no.
But they said, the experience I have received I will never be
able to replicate.
I am thinking that when I was drafted in Vietnam and we
were taking 300 a day--300 a day--out of my university in 1967.
I just got hurt playing ball so they would not take me and I
was scared to be 4-F. I finally got a 1-Y in case of national
emergency.
But we were all--we were going there to defend our country.
We were going there basically to serve and we all knew we would
be in combat, and today I am not sure.
Someone said how would we react if we were Ukraine? What
would be--what would be our stature? What would be the military
stature to be able to go into a militia, if you will?
So the AUMF [Authorized Use of Military Force]--we are just
going to be voting on AUMF to do--basically, to put a limit to
where we are going to have to have input on any wars. Would
that be helpful? I mean, are people losing confidence that we
have entered into wars that did not make any sense?
I got to be honest with you, our support of Ukraine is the
only just war I have seen in my lifetime. I was told about
Vietnam we had to stop the communists there. I have watched
Afghanistan. I have watched Iraq. I watched all of these
things. This is truly a just intervention that we are involved
and I hope we stay and basically become victorious in that.
So I do not know how that is helping you or hurting you and
what your sales pitch might be. I do not think it is the same,
and I do not understand the wokeness at all. So it does not--it
does not affect in my State at all.
We are ready--we are still ready to go. Just call us and we
will be there. Appalachia has basically been a real fertile
ground for the military, the whole Appalachia--13 states in
Appalachia.
I am curious to see what we can do to help. What can we do
to help? If it is education let us know. If it is ROTC, again,
let us know. If it is the support and we have the--I can tell
you that the National Guard has been invaluable what they have
been able to do in our states.
So tell me what you all would think the greatest one thing
that we could do to help you.
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Manchin, I will just start by saying
that creating a conversation nationally about a commitment to
public service. Senator Reed spoke earlier--law enforcement
professionals, first responders.
We are having a hard time getting America's youth
population to consider those types of careers in addition to
military service.
So rebuilding that spirit of national service and
reintroducing the military as an option will be number one.
Senator Manchin. The Marine--I understand also you all had
testified that your recruiting--your numbers--the Marines are
the only one hitting their targets?
Mr. Raven. Yes, sir. The Marines hit their targets last
year and----
Senator Manchin. Air Force/Army did not?
Ms. Jones. The Air Force Active did. This year the Space
Force will but the Air Force is expected to be 10 percent below
our target.
Senator Manchin. So, again, what would you want to say we
could be of help saying?
Mr. Raven. Sir, about a week or two ago Sergeant Major of
the Marine Corps Troy Black testified before the House Armed
Services Committee and brought up the point that if you are
reading something about the military in the newspaper all the
bad news goes to page one, all the good news goes to page six.
We know we have challenges. We know we need to do better
supporting our servicemembers and our families. But the extent
that we can pull the conversation onto what is right with
serving our country that is the biggest help we can have.
Ms. Jones. Senator, I would agree with my colleagues. Since
you asked for one from each of us I will add a new one is
passing our budget when it comes before you because that is
critical for making sure that we have the resources we need now
and in the future.
Senator Manchin. That is very, very good. I have been told
also passing a budget on time can save anywhere from 5 to 10
percent of the budget we have now. So if you are talking $850
billion that can be anywhere from $40 to $80 billion or more
just by doing it on time. For us to do our job on time is that
much savings to the military. Unbelievable.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
Senator Manchin. Thank you for your service. God bless the
United States of America.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
Senator Tuberville, please.
Senator Tuberville. Amen, Senator Manchin, on that. Thank
you. Thanks for being here today.
Mr. Raven, I want to ask you about some of the Navy's
training materials. In his first act as SecDef Secretary Austin
ordered a stand down for training on extremism in the ranks.
Each service had to give this training, correct?
Mr. Raven. That is correct, sir.
Senator Tuberville. How many Navy sailors received that
training, do you think?
Mr. Raven. I believe that was force wide. So all sailors,
all marines.
Senator Tuberville. Active and Reserve?
Mr. Raven. I believe so, sir.
Senator Tuberville. That is about 350,000 people in the
Navy alone. Are you familiar with the training overall?
Mr. Raven. Generally. I am not familiar with each product,
sir.
Senator Tuberville. Okay. Our office obtained a copy of the
brief that was given to every single sailor officer in the U.S.
Navy.
One slide says, and I quote, ``I come from a very
conservative religious family and have views on marriage,
abortion, and LGBTQ [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
Queer] rights that are often not considered mainstream but are
in keeping with my religious beliefs. I often discuss these
issues online and on social media forums maintained by my
church. Will I get in trouble for my post?''
Are you familiar with this Navy training that went out to
all of our sailors?
Mr. Raven. I am not familiar with that part, sir.
Senator Tuberville. Okay. I have got a little slide here I
want to submit for the record, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Without objection.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you.
Mainstream media means normal. So the Navy is implying here
that conservative religious people are abnormal. Kind of
concerns me.
Mr. Raven, 65 percent of the American population identify
as Christian. Another 4 percent of Americans are Jewish,
Muslim, or Hindu. The vast majority in this country, the Navy's
recruiting pool, is religious.
The Navy is spending millions of man hours on a training
that blatantly calls many of its servicemembers abnormal, and
then being surprised that recruiting numbers are down would be
like a college football coach walk into a recruiting house and
calling Mom's wallpaper ugly. I mean, that--I mean, it just
does not work. I know a little bit about recruiting and I think
we got to do a lot better job than that.
Mr. Camarillo, the total Army and Active, Reserve, and
National Guard has a recruiting challenge. I think we all agree
with that and we are all watching it. The Active component
missed its target by the largest margin in American history in
2022.
There are a lot of reasons for that and we all understand
that. Many of my colleagues have hammered that home. I will not
repeat that.
Everyone in this room, along with most Americans, want to
see you and the Army succeed. I do not think there is any doubt
about that.
I want to shift gears here for a moment. A new recruiting
ribbon is not going to cut it. Okay. A promotion point scheme
that has very little conversion rate it is not going to be good
enough. We got to find new ways. We got to think bigger.
In June 2021 the Supreme Court opened the door for the Army
and every service to marry national service with participation
in collegiate athletics. Private tech companies have
demonstrated repeatedly to Army senior leaders the capability
to identify, access, and assign America's high school student
athletes who wish to continue their education and athletic
careers collegiately in exchange for national service.
I think we are missing the boat here if we do not look at
that. It is not ROTC. It is a 21st century pathway to service.
It is a strategy and a tactic guaranteed to produce a well
educated, physically capable, coachable, and aspiring fighting
force every year.
Forty-five thousand men and women at the Division I level
alone are eligible. Can I get your word today that you will
investigate this pathway?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Tuberville, I just want to say,
first of all, the number of efforts that we are undertaking in
the Army to address the recruiting challenge are far greater
than just the recruiting ribbon. A number of efforts to improve
how we attract people, the recruiting workforce, where we
station them, how we train them, in addition to surge of
marketing and advertising, other incentives for people to join,
it is a whole of Army approach to try to address this
significant challenge.
But, certainly, I would be willing to work with you and
look forward to discussing that proposal.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you very much.
Imagination. We got to start using it. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Tuberville.
Senator Shaheen, please?
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to
each of you for being here today and for the work that you are
doing on a daily basis.
I am not surprised, frankly, that we have a recruiting
challenge in our services because we have a workforce
challenge. Everywhere I have been in the last 2 or 3 years,
every company I have been to in New Hampshire, has the same
concerns about not having an adequate workforce to do the jobs
that we are creating.
I was at the Kennedy School in the early 2000's where the
dean of the Kennedy School at Harvard was a workforce expert
and I remember he showed us charts of what was going to happen
to the workforce in the United States at the end of the teens
and the early 2020's and it was very clear that we were going
to be--because of our birth rate we were going to be relying on
older workers and immigrants for filling the workforce needs
that we have in the country.
Now, over the last 6 years we have had the lowest legal
immigration rates in my lifetime, and let us not kid ourselves
that is affecting the workforce chain whether it is our
military or the people who are building our roads and cleaning
our streets. It is affecting us and until we begin to address
the immigration challenge we have in this country we are going
to continue to have the same kinds of problems.
I appreciate the excellent work that all of you are doing
to try and be creative to attract people into our military and
I think the discussion about the importance of public service
is a really critical one and I think it has been very helpful
to have the public recognize the real responsibility that we
have given to the men and women who are serving in our military
and to appreciate that commitment.
But we have got to--we have got to also look at the broader
picture here, and I recognize that you all are not going to
change the immigration--the legal immigration policies in this
country.
But I think it is really important for us to put on the
table the fact that we have got to address this issue if we are
going to address workforce not just in the military but across
our workforce throughout this country.
Having said that, can I ask you about the retention
success? Because I did not get to hear everybody's opening
statement but I know that retention has been one of the areas
of success that we have been able to rely on.
Can you talk about how you are trying to leverage that in
terms of recruitment and what support we can give you from
Congress to encourage that?
I will open it up to whoever would like to answer.
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Shaheen, we were very successful
last year in achieving 104 percent of our retention goals and
we are guardedly optimistic we will achieve similar success in
fiscal year 2023. But it is too early to tell.
I think what it shows is, first and foremost, once people
join the Army they want to stay. They appreciate and value the
experience they are getting and it is overwhelmingly positive
for the vast majority of our servicemembers.
The thing that we need to do with that is make sure that we
are converting all of the people that are serving in the Army
at every level into a full team effort to try to help build
that propensity up in the rest of the country.
Some of the things that we are doing, for example, is
sending some of our units to local high schools to discuss and
engage with administrators, teachers, parents, in places that
we do not normally recruit or where you have a small recruiting
workforce that has to cover a wide geographic area.
So we are bringing more of our Army into that effort to
make sure that we are covering more ground, frankly, across the
vastness that this country has to offer.
Senator Shaheen. Can you speak to--maybe each of you speak
to the importance of recruiting women in order to ensure that
we have the numbers we need in our military?
Mr. Camarillo. There is no question that is a high priority
for us and, certainly, we are making sure that we are making
all the outreach that is necessary to be able to attract the
workforce wherever we find it.
Mr. Raven. Senator, absolutely. The Navy and Marine Corps
is dedicated to building diverse high-performing teams and
women are an integral part of that.
As to retention, again, the Navy and Marine Corps continue
to do well on retention overall. There are certain career
fields where there is showing more strain and those are career
fields that have a lot of competition from the private sector.
I would point out aviation and nuclear technologies as two
of those where you can have some experience in the service and
then be lured by higher salaries, a different pace of life, and
so forth. I would love to continue the conversation on how we
target those specific issues.
Senator Shaheen. Secretary Jones?
Ms. Jones. Senator, we are at almost 93 percent retention
for our officers and just a hair under 90 percent for enlisted
and I think that shows, as my colleagues have stated, the value
that we all place on military service once you are actually in
and serving and you understand those things that maybe are not
getting the attention that they deserve for the rest of the
country.
As far as women, that is a priority for us. Our Women in
Sports campaign is one way that we are approaching that. Also,
looking at how we can increase the applications of women to the
U.S. Air Force Academy.
So we are focused on that in a number of ways because we
think that having women understand the value of service will
help to get those numbers up.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
As we plan for our service academy applications in New
Hampshire one of the things that has been really helpful is to
do those with everybody in the congressional delegation and to
have representatives from the military come and meet with those
families and that really encourages them as they are thinking
about their career moves.
So thank you for that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Shaheen.
Senator Budd, please?
Senator Budd. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The purpose and mission of our military is to provide
trained and ready servicemembers capable of deterring
aggression and winning America's wars should deterrence fail.
I see some heads nodding. But let me just ask would you all
agree with that statement?
Secretary Camarillo?
Mr. Camarillo. I would, Senator.
Senator Budd. Secretary Raven?
Mr. Raven. Yes.
Senator Budd. Secretary Jones?
Ms. Jones. Yes, Senator.
Senator Budd. Thank you.
Millions of Americans right now are genuinely wondering how
diversity, equity, and inclusion, gender ideology, and
providing taxpayer funding to facilitate abortions increases
the military's readiness. They are also wondering whether
military service aligns with their values.
Mr. Raven, in your written testimony you acknowledge that
when you State today's youth aspire to a lifestyle that
maximizes work-life alignment where a job in the organization
they work for are not just a means to an end but an expression
of their values.
Other than the pulse surveys previously mentioned have the
services studied or even considered whether a hyper focus on
DEI, gender ideology, and abortion is actually negatively
impacting recruiting outside of the pulse survey?
Secretary Camarillo?
Mr. Camarillo. Our surveys were very comprehensive in terms
of barriers to survey or barriers to service--excuse me,
Senator--and so the 16 that were identified on that survey were
the ones that came up most frequently.
Senator Budd. That is the pulse survey, just to be clear?
Mr. Camarillo. Yes. It was the one that was done in the
Army.
Senator Budd. Do you have data outside the pulse survey?
Mr. Camarillo. Other than that done by the Army, no.
Senator Budd. Secretary Raven, any data outside the pulse
survey that is relevant here?
Mr. Raven. Sir, that pulse survey was not conducted by the
Department of the Navy. But I would refer you to some comments
made by General Berger just this week in terms of how DEI and
other initiatives relate to building combat-effective teams and
he views that as essential to the Marine Corps future.
Senator Budd. Secretary Jones?
Ms. Jones. Senator, we have a number of different surveys
and climate surveys in particular that address areas like
discrimination, racism, those types of things, and so that is a
focus of our diversity and inclusion efforts to make sure that
we do not have parts of our workforce that feel marginalized,
that feel like they are not able to engage and so that we can
have high-performing teams.
Senator Budd. Thank you for that. You have added climate to
it. But there is no data outside of this showing that climate,
DEI, gender ideology, abortion negatively impact recruiting?
Ms. Jones. Senator, if I could clarify that statement.
Climate surveys, that is a term that we use to assess the
climate of an organization. They do not relate to climate
change. So just wanted to clarify that.
Senator Budd. Yes. I appreciate you clarifying that. Thank
you.
Changing a bit, Mr. Camarillo, what are some of the Army's
learned lessons from its experience with reduced recruit
standards back in the 1980's?
Mr. Camarillo. Certainly, Senator Budd.
The Army leadership has been consistent, our efforts are
trying to invest in America's youth to help them to meet the
standards that we have set for entry to service. So the best
example of that is our Future Soldier Prep Course, which we
initiated last year where we have been able to bring in as many
as 3,700 potential candidates for entry into the Army.
We have given them the training, both academics and
physical skills, to be able to meet our requirements and we
have had a successful outcome with as many as 98 percent coming
through that program.
Senator Budd. That is great. I heard you mention that in
your opening comments and elaborate on that just now.
Secretary Raven, last month we learned the Navy was giving
a clean slate to sailors who failed their physical fitness
assessments, effectively lowering the standards.
I understand we need to improve recruiting and retention
numbers but we cannot skimp on quality. Can you please walk the
Committee through the process here, Secretary Raven?
Mr. Raven. Yes. I appreciate that opportunity.
So the policy relates to giving commanders the option of
extending enlistments or reenlistments to sailors who had not
passed previous fitness standards. This is an option given to
commanders to assess on an individual basis can the sailor be
brought up to the right physical standards to perform that
mission and is that sailor performing a mission in the Navy
that is needed.
Again, this is an option being given to commanders, not a
direction.
Senator Budd. Thank you for that. The way I see it there
are far too many threats facing America and the military is not
a place to practice social experiments or push radical agendas.
I appreciate your updates and the panel's time today and,
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Budd.
Senator Duckworth, please?
Senator Duckworth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
On the issue of diversity, I think it is important to note
that greater diversity within the military does make our
military more effective.
I will just give you one example. To have in the Hawaii
National Guard native Tagalog speaking personnel who can blend
in with the local population in the remote islands of the
Philippines in the hunt for Islamic extremists is helpful.
The fact that the Illinois National Guard has Polish-
speaking personnel who can actually be in Ukraine helping train
Ukrainians because we have those language abilities is good for
military readiness.
I speak Thai. The fact that I could speak with my Thai
military counterparts when I was wearing the uniform of this
great Nation was helpful to military readiness. To have native
Thai-speaking and Indonesian-speaking soldiers who can
participate in Cobra Gold and in Garuda Shield is helpful to
this Nation and, in fact, helps with our readiness.
I want to thank Mr. Chairman and thank our witnesses for
appearing today. As you noted in your statements in response to
my colleagues' questions, the services are struggling to meet
their recruiting goals in part due to a historically small pool
of eligible recruits and I appreciate your Department's efforts
to address the many causes of this problem.
But I do think we need to also talk about other ways to
expand that recruiting pool. This year I am introducing the
Enlist Act. This legislation will allow the Department of
Defense to expand its recruiting pool to include individuals
like DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients
and other longtime residents in this country who can pass a DOD
background check and meet the services' high standards for
enlistment.
So we do not lower the standards at all. In fact, we
require them to meet the standards. While maintaining the
Department's security standards the Enlist Act will aid the
services' recruitment efforts by allowing highly skilled and
motivated individuals to succeed in the military.
Who would be the people who could do this? DACA folks,
DREAMers, people who came here on an education visa and
attended an American university and now cannot get a work visa
here would be likely to be able to qualify for this.
To all of our witnesses I would like to hear from each of
you whether you think the Enlist Act's expansion of the pool of
possible recruits would benefit military recruitment efforts,
especially since it does not lower the standards and you must
pass the background checks.
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Duckworth, I am familiar with the
legislation. I am committed to working with you as I am with
the rest of the Department to ensure that we can address the
ultimate goal here, which is how do we expand the pool of
qualified and interested and engaged applicants to join the
armed forces.
I will just say that, certainly, there is ways we can work
through the considerations that you identified in your question
such as making sure that we provide the right background checks
and that they meet our standards.
In addition, I will just note that how we engage a broader
set of the population is also really important for us. So in
the Army in this last year, looking at just lawful permanent
residents, we are undertaking a different campaign with Army
Recruiting Command where we are specifically looking for
soldiers with those backgrounds to be able to engage with those
communities, often in their specific native languages to be
able to track them to come and join the Army.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
Secretary Raven?
Mr. Raven. Thank you, Senator. Same answer.
Expanding the pool of candidates is very important to the
Navy and Marine Corps and let me tell you just one story.
I visited a ship recently where I saw a sailor who was a
little bit older than you would expect. He had grown up in
Nigeria, came to this country, got a green card, and was just
inspired by what the Navy could offer him and so he joined and
is now beginning his time in the Navy.
It is an inspiring story, especially for someone who grew
up so far away. So I think offering these types of
opportunities to more people is a very worthy goal.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
Secretary Jones?
Ms. Jones. Senator, I agree that any path to expanding the
pool of applicants that can meet our high standards is
valuable.
So we look forward to working with you to see how these
types of efforts can progress, and within the Air Force we are
also looking at a path to naturalization for those who come and
serve. We have a pilot that is going on at our basic military
training in that regard and so I think that is a similar intent
to what you are trying to achieve.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
I want to pull a thread that several of my colleagues have
raised related to the recent Army survey. When asked to compare
different potential barriers for service respondents weighed
most heavily on the idea that they would be putting the rest of
their lives on hold if they joined the military.
The Reserve components can give individuals opportunity to
serve in the military while also pursuing a civilian career. As
a member of the Reserve component my entire military career I
was working on a Ph.D. trying to join the Foreign Service until
an RPG [Rocket-Propelled Grenade] changed my life trajectory.
Like my colleague, Senator Ernst, my Reserve service was an
integral part of my life but not an interruption. Yet, the
Reserve components have largely also struggled to meet
recruiting goals.
To all the witnesses, can you speak to your strategy for
reaching potential recruits who may be interested in becoming
Reservists as opposed to serving an Active component, and what
steps can you take to improve your marketing efforts and better
message the specific benefits of a special role in the Reserve
component--that is Reserve forces and National Guard--to our
national defense?
Mr. Camarillo. Senator Duckworth, I fully agree with you
and I think one of the first things that we did starting last
year was to surge the marketing and advertising budget and the
number of recruiters that are working on specific recruiting
for the Reserve component.
I think another thing that we need to do in response to
this specific issue is to address and identify and educate on
the range of career options and flexibilities that a career in
Army Reserve would afford a young American.
Whether you have had some college experience, you have
experience in a certain career field and you want to learn
something different, this is a place where you can possibly
learn and get training to achieve your career ambitions, even
if you want to try something different.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
Mr. Raven. Thank you, Senator.
In the last year, we have stood up Naval Reserve Recruiting
Command to focus on those opportunities for those who may want
to serve in the Navy part time. You will also see more targeted
advertising.
Previously, the Navy had ``Join the Navy, see the world.''
We are focusing more on the opportunities to join the Naval
Reserves and the Marine Corps has had a very strong Marine
Reserve recruiting program for quite some time.
Ms. Jones. Senator, we also have launched new recruiting
campaigns for both the Air Force Reserve and Air National
Guard. We appreciate the additional funding in 2023 that will
allow us to continue those efforts.
One thing that we have seen as a challenge that is
impacting our numbers is our high retention. That is impacting
those who previously served moving on to the Guard and
Reserves. So we are having to expand the pool that we consider
for the Guard and Reserve for those who have never previously
served and are looking for new ways to do that.
But, again, appreciate the additional efforts from the
Congress that allow us to do that.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. As I yield back to the
chairman, I also want to mention the Lionesses who demonstrated
the importance of having diversity because to have that all-
female Marine Corps unit allowed us to gather intelligence and
interact with women in Afghanistan in a way that all-male units
could never do. Thank you.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator Duckworth.
Senator Schmitt, please?
Senator Schmitt. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I suppose what you are hearing today is a voice of
frustration that our military, the most honored and respected
military in the world, certainly, among the American people,
that this administration is hell bent on politicizing that,
that the offspring of identity politics, which is incredibly
divisive, has now made its way through DEI trainings in these
branches, and I think you are hearing that from a number of
senators which is reflective of what is happening across the
country, what we hear from our citizens.
It is naive to believe that this is not divisive among
recruits or people in the military. We have heard from members
of the military who have said that they resent being subjected
to this, this totem pole of grievances, this oppressor versus
oppressed.
The military has been a shining example of what a
meritocracy can mean. People from the humblest beginnings can
rise to the highest ranks, do heroic things. Parades can be
thrown, you know, in New York City for these heroes and that
this flippant desire to inject politics now is dividing this
Committee. It is dividing this country. It is completely
unnecessary.
The United States of America is an idea--the American idea
that everybody is born with certain rights and they can pursue
their dreams and we believe in equality of opportunity.
This sort of obsession with this equity agenda that you all
are defending here today with just sort of a word salad is
divisive, and the military literally has stood as this most
respected institution where people can achieve great things and
protect this country.
Here we are in a committee hearing when China is
militarizing islands. They mean business, and we are having to
spend time to talk about DOD's $114 million budget request for
diversity, equity, inclusion training.
This stuff is nuts. I want to ask each of you have you
heard--is there any intelligence that you have heard that
Communist China is somehow intimidated or deterred by our DEI
initiatives?
[No response.]
Senator Schmitt. I will take that as a collective no, and
so our focus here is maddening, I think, to a lot of members,
as you have heard, and I want to ask a couple of specific
questions.
Ms. Jones, specifically, the DOD has put out an equity
action plan issued a few weeks ago that said the Department is
implementing a range of initiatives to ensure equity for
minority servicemembers at critical career touch points that
include recruiting and accessions, progression, and promotion
at the senior leader level, ensuring equity.
What does that mean? What does ensuring equity mean?
Ms. Jones. Senator, I do not know that it is possible to
ensure equity. But as an example, when we look at promotion
boards all of that information on demographics is hidden.
But afterwards we look to see are there any trends that we
think are challenging--are there any groups that we feel like
maybe we need to relook how we are approaching training or are
there barriers, for example, the barriers that we had with
women who were choosing to leave our service because of some of
the policies that we had.
So that is what we are focusing on. It is not----
Senator Schmitt. Okay. But how do you--what are you
measuring because we--I think we all still believe, I hope, in
equality of opportunity.
Ensuring equity or outcomes the Government really should
not be in the business of that. So I do not know exactly what
that means or how you are measuring, ``success.''
Ms. Jones. Senator, our retention is a key focus of that
and, again, we are not looking at any quotas. It is based on
meritocracy. But we are looking for where there are barriers to
serve that are impacting certain parts of our population in
different ways.
Senator Schmitt. Okay. I am running out of time and I want
to ask this to anybody who is willing to answer this.
Under Secretary Cisneros testified to our Personnel
Subcommittee last week that DOD continues to take steps to
improve and increase DEIA [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and
Accessibility] and the Department is working to further
understand root causes in areas we lack diversity and develop
initiatives that have measurable outcome matrix, maintain
appropriate data to inform and target efforts, ensure
environments are inclusive for all who serve, and foster strong
governance structure overseas efforts.
Look, I do not think you are going to find anybody in here
and across this country who does not believe people should be
treated with respect, with dignity, no matter who you are and
we want the best defending this great country.
But I just am very concerned. I do not know what develop
initiatives that have measurable outcome metrics based on
equity means, and by chasing this it is driving a wedge in the
military and it is completely unnecessary.
By the way, we are spending, like I said, $114 million on
that just in this one Department--not Government wide, but with
DOD.
Can anybody tell me what the metrics are for equity?
Because it is an outcome-based measure. What is it that we are
measuring?
Mr. Raven. Sir, for the Navy and Marine Corps the ultimate
measure of how we are doing is our ability to deter and fight
and win wars, and in close consultation with both service
leadership of the Navy and Marine Corps we have heard that
developing diverse capable teams is essential to developing
warfighting capability.
The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps testified about 2
weeks ago at the House Armed Services Committee. Pretty much
the first thing that he said out of his mouth is that the
Marine Corps is ready to fight tonight.
Senator Schmitt. Well, real quickly because this is all I
have got time for. Since you are speaking, obviously, here in
the capacity with the Navy, Andersen Air Force Base has a memo
that has been uncovered that you cannot refer to someone as him
or her. Yet, they have gender identity trainings.
How does that--and by the way, the justification for that
is to add to lethality. How does that--how does that help us be
a better fighting force by not referring to a man as him or her
in a memo? How does that help us? I will be happy to provide if
you are not familiar with the document that was uncovered last
summer. How does that help us? How does that make us a more
lethal fighting force?
Mr. Raven. Sir, I can say every day in the Pentagon there
is yes, sir, no, ma'am, and so forth. So I will have to take a
look at what that is.
Senator Schmitt. We will follow us. Appreciate it. Thank
you.
Chairman Reed. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Rosen, please?
Senator Rosen. Thank you, Chairman Reed. Thank you for
holding this hearing.
I want to thank the witnesses for testifying today and I
especially want to offer Secretary Raven and his staff my
personal gratitude. You worked with me and the whole Nevada
delegation on a consensus proposal to modernize the Fallon
Range Training Complex and it was included in the fiscal year
2023 NDAA and we are grateful.
I just want to add that I agree with Senator Duckworth.
Across most of our offices employ veterans but I am proud to
employ a few Reservists and what it has added to our team as
they get to serve their country in both ways, here in the
Senate and in the military, it is terrific and I am very proud
of that. So I am all for the Reserve.
But I want to talk a little bit about the impact of housing
on recruitment and retention because in addition to answering
the call to serving our country men and women enlist in the
military to build their skills, learn a trade, set themselves
up for success, both during and after their service.
But it is no secret to many recruits that support
mechanisms that they are promised at the time of enlistment are
not always in place at their time of service.
Secretary Jones, junior enlisted servicemembers, including
airmen stationed at Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base, they are
averaging only 12 months in our barracks or dormitories before
they are being forced to move off base and into expensive
private housing in the Las Vegas market and there is an on-base
housing shortage.
I am pleased to have worked with DOD to update their joint
travel regulations so that these troops now receive partial
dislocation allowance so they are no longer forced to cover all
their rental deposits and moving costs before they begin
receiving their basic allowance for housing.
Secretary Jones, can you confirm to me that our junior
enlisted are now receiving their partial dislocation allowance
to cover their deposits and moving costs?
This was--I had roundtable after roundtable. This was very
distressing to the young men and women and causing them to go
into debt or other avenues to cover that.
Ms. Jones. Senator, I will have to get back to you on that
specifically. I do understand the issue. I will actually be
going out to Nellis in the next 2 weeks to see that area
personally. But I will get back to you on whether that is
already in place.
Senator Rosen. Well, good. When you are there I want you
to--let us talk about how we address the housing shortage at
Nellis. It is the crown jewel of the Air Force and we want to
have people there, and I think it has a negative impact on
recruitment and retention as our young servicemembers tell
others that they cannot afford to--they cannot stay on the base
and they are having issues moving off the base.
I am disappointed that there is no housing request in the
fiscal year 2024 budget request but let us--I hope we can
continue to work on that and maybe modify that.
I am going to move on and--let us see. Well, my clock is
broken so I have to look over here, Mr. Chairman.
Everyone is talking about competing for a talented
workforce. It is an acute challenge, like Senator Shaheen said,
in the private service--I mean, you know, in public service,
military service, private industry, all of that, and the 2022
National Defense Strategy places individuals at the forefront
of our ability to maintain a credible deterrent.
To recruit and retain the most talented Americans we
believe we must reform, obviously, how we do business and part
of this reform requires DOD to fill specific technology gaps
including cyber, data, artificial intelligence domains.
I have a few bills out there for a civilian cybersecurity
reserve and other things, whether it is in DHS [Department of
Homeland Security] or here in the Department of Defense.
But to each of you, can you address the specific steps that
you are taking to look at targeting those skills for a
workforce so we can recruit that talent?
We can start.
Mr. Camarillo. I will start, Senator.
Just really quickly, we are doing greater outreach with
soldiers and civilians who have expertise in these areas to do
more outreach to colleges, universities, across the country and
find and establish talent pipelines.
The second thing I will say is that we are reinforcing
those efforts on the civilian side by instituting in the Army a
Cyber Excepted Workforce that enables us to use much more
flexible hiring authorities. The idea is let us build the team
together of people that are Ambassadors for this critical
capability in the Army.
Mr. Raven. Thank you, Senator, and your leadership on the
Fallon Range expansion was critical to everything. So thank you
very much for that incredible partnership.
In terms of getting and maintaining the talent we need in
all these high-tech areas, it is both on the uniform side and
the civilian side and also on the industry side.
On the civilian side we have warfare centers across the
Nation that are really focused on making sure that we outreach
to universities to get graduates interested in coming to work
for the Department of the Navy on really high-tech exciting
things that are being done across cyber and a whole bunch of
other disciplines.
Where I think we see more challenges, as you point out, is
on the retention side where there are attractive opportunities.
Once you have worked in this incredible environment of
innovation and moving things forward you are in demand, and so
we are competing for talent and I would love to work with you
on some initiatives on that front, too.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Ma'am?
Ms. Jones. Senator, we have similar programs to our
colleagues with targeted bonuses for some of these high-tech
areas, also university programs, and we are doing a workforce
study across our force to include civilians specifically aimed
at that cyber talent that is also very hard to keep.
So I appreciate the opportunity to work with you on that.
Senator Rosen. Yes. I really believe in some of the bills I
have out there we have discussed. I would love to work with you
all on this, how nontraditional cyber Reserve models based on
the Reserve model that you already have can help people who
have advanced degrees and long-term experience in these very
specific fields that can really potentiate what we do to defeat
our adversaries.
So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Rosen.
I want to thank the panel for your excellent testimony
today. I think you have really put this all in context that in
order to succeed, deter, and, in fact, I think one of the most
significant deterrences from our enemies is recognizing that we
have a military that is the most adept, the most talented, the
best trained, and the readiest force in the world, and that is
a function of having training that is not only just technical
but also brings together people from different backgrounds,
different experiences, and make them one, and that is an
accomplishment that other nations are very envious about. We
have to keep that up, I think.
But your excellent testimony today has given us the
perspective that we need as we go forward and I want to thank
you.
With that, let me call the hearing to adjourn.
[Whereupon, at 11:43 a.m., the Committee adjourned.]
[Questions for the record with answers supplied follow:]
Questions Submitted by Senator Tom Cotton
jrotc
1. Senator Cotton. Mr. Camarillo, Honorable Raven, and Honorable
Jones, do you have any reports of high schools denying recruiters
access or denying/discouraging Junior Reserve Officers' Training
(JROTC) programs? If so, please provide details of all such reports.
Mr. Camarillo. Currently, there is one school, Crofton High School
in Gambrills, MD, denying access to our recruiters.
Regarding Junior Reserve Officers' Training (JROTC), there are no
reports of high schools denying or discouraging the program. High
schools must actively request a JROTC program and submit a formal
application to host one. JROTC remains a popular program; as of March
22, 2023, U.S. Army Cadet Command had a waiting list of more than 240
schools desiring a JROTC program on its Order of Merit List.
Mr. Raven. Although the Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training
Corps (NJROTC) and Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corp
(MJROTC) are not military recruiting programs, they are not aware of
any reports of high schools denying or discouraging JROTC programs.
JROTC establishment is a school-directed request.
Navy Recruiting Command (NRC) and Marine Corps Recruiting Command
(MCRC) are required to report high schools that deny access via the
Recruiter Access to High Schools data base, maintained by the Defense
Manpower Data Center. NRC and MCRC are currently reporting zero high
schools on this list.
However, current statute sets a very low bar for compliance that
does not facilitate meaningful engagement with student populations at
schools that only fulfill their minimal obligations. The current law
(10 U.S.C. Sec. 503) requires visits comparable to colleges and other
employers which means some high schools only allow access no more than
once a year. Mandating high schools provide timely information and
allow monthly access (if requested by the recruiter) would provide
quality engagements that let our recruiters build relationships with
both educators and students. We continue to enhance communication and
partnerships with local, State, and Federal education officials and
influencers to promote military service as a meaningful post-high
school pathway. We also welcome the opportunity to work with Congress
to modernize recruiter access requirements, include military service as
part of school accountability metrics, and encourage engagement between
recruiters and local and State education officials.
Ms. Jones. Our DAF recruiters are gaining access to schools to
speak with students about opportunities in the Air Force and Space
Force; they are generally welcomed by the school's administration. We
train our recruiters to cultivate positive relationships with schools
and administrators, but there are, on occasion, issues. There are,
however, varying degrees of support for recruiters on campus that span
from allowing recruiters on campus any time and the frequency of
interaction with students, to schools restricting how many visits a
recruiter can make to a campus in a school year and where a recruiter
can meet with students while on campus. In such situations, they use a
prescribed process for elevating these concerns to their leadership
teams for increased communication with these schools and school
districts. With respect to AFJROTC, there is a large surplus of unmet
demand for schools requesting programs.
The Air Force is tracking nine schools that outright deny access to
recruiters on their campus. The recruiting leadership teams are
actively engaging with these schools to open access. Our recruiters
report any issues they have with the schools up their chain of command
and our commanders at each level engage with the school/district
leaderships to develop collegial relationships between the schools and
Air Force recruiters. Specific schools that deny access to Air Force
recruiters are as follows: Bay Port Bluepoint High School (Bayport NY),
Freeport High School (Freeport NY), Onteora High School (Boiceville
NY), New Hartford High School (New Hartford NY), Owen D Young (Van
Hornesville NY), Brookfield Central School (West Edmeston, NY),
Finneytown High School (Cincinnati OH), Anderson High School
(Cincinnati OH), and Coldwater High School (Coldwater MI).
2. Senator Cotton. Mr. Camarillo, Honorable Raven, and Honorable
Jones, do you require any additional resources, authorities, or other
assistance to expand the approximately 3,500 JROTC programs currently
in existence?
Mr. Camarillo. The U.S. Army has over 1,700 ROTC programs and a
long waiting list for high schools requesting new JROTC programs. It
costs approximately $10M for every fifty new JROTC programs and an
additional $7 million to sustain and manage them. The Army is
considering JROTC expansion based on prioritized requests, assessment
of undersubscribed areas, and availability of personnel to manage and
oversee these programs. The Army is analyzing these requirements and
will determine what additional resources are needed.
Mr. Raven. The NDAA for fiscal year 2013 amended language governing
the size of the JROTC program by inserting ``not less than 3,000 and
not more than 3,700 units.'' Any expansion beyond this current
structure would require additional funding across the Future Years
Defense Program at the unit level for operations and personnel, and at
headquarters for program oversight, inspection, and administration. The
Department of the Navy faces difficulties meeting the resource
requirements necessary to achieve expansion of the JROTC program, as
well sustaining the continuing annual support required by these
additional units. Although the Department of the Navy believes that the
program remains viable within the current statutory requirements, an
increased requirement across the Future Years Defense Program to grow
units above current levels, and the resulting resource impacts, will
ultimately have negative impacts on readiness. An alternative for those
schools waiting to host a JROTC unit, or for those who fall below
statutory minimum participation requirements, is the National Defense
Cadet Corps (NDCC). This program, codified in 10 U.S.C. 2031 and 4651,
provides schools that do not qualify for or are on the waiting list for
a JROTC unit the opportunity to provide a program that is virtually
identical to JROTC, except that it is fully funded by the school
without financial assistance from a Military Service. NDCC host schools
incur all costs, to include full instructor salaries, uniform costs,
and daily operational expenses. The Military Services may provide
curriculum and excess equipment to support these programs. By hosting
an NDCC unit, schools are expanding students' opportunities to gain the
values of the JROTC program.
Ms. Jones. Currently, AFJROTC has 853 total units, 17 below our
floor of 870. The primary reason for this shortfall is a lack of
instructors at those locations but funding also plays a critical role.
Overall, AFJROTC is funded at $66 million, an amount that would fully
fund 660 units ($100,000 average per unit cost). We are presently
spreading this funding out across 853 units, resulting in insufficient
funding across the board to provide an optimum experience for the
cadets. To reach our floor of 870 properly resourced units, AFJROTC
requires $87 million in total funding. Any future growth above 870
would an additional $100,000 per unit.
__________
Questions Submitted by Senator Joni Ernst
military pay compensation
3. Senator Ernst. Mr. Camarillo, Secretary Raven, and Secretary
Jones, do you commit to reporting to this committee your
recommendations for comprehensive restructuring of uniformed pay grades
to account for inflation, comparable civilian pay, cost-of-living, and
other relevant factors?
Mr. Camarillo. The Army is committed to working with the Armed
Service Committee. The Army is focused on caring for our soldiers,
families, and civilians in the Army, so they are ready and mission-
focused. We understand inflation, comparable civilian pay, and
increased cost-of-living have an impact. Therefore, effective January
1, 2023, servicemembers can receive Basic Need Allowance (BNA) for
qualifying soldiers.
The Army is currently working with Office of the Secretary of
Defense (OSD) and supporting the Quadrennial Review of Military
Compensation (QRMC) to assess the adequacy of pay at each grade to
ensure our compensation remains relevant, strengthens economic
security, and is comparable to our civilian counterparts. I am
committed to ensuring our compensation system remains competitive for
all servicemembers and will report any recommendations supporting this
commitment to Congress in conjunction with the QRMC.
Mr. Raven. I support any look at military compensation to see if
there are areas that could be improved. In fact, the 14th Quadrennial
Review of Military Compensation has just got underway, and is tasked
with reviewing compensation and benefits to ensure DOD is appropriately
compensating Service Members. The Navy will be fully participating in
this review as it continues over the next 2 years.
Historically, military compensation compares favorably to civilians
that have the same education and experience. This is in part due to the
fact that military basic pay is adjusted annually based on the
Employment Cost Index (ECI) which ensures basic pay grows at the same
rate as civilian pay. We also look at civilian pays of specific skills
and routinely add special and incentive pay to these particular skills
when retention concerns warrant its implementation.
Additionally, housing and subsistence allowances are updated
annually to account for rising costs in the local areas. Finally, in
accordance with statute, Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) locations are
updated annually to pay COLA to any CONUS location where the costs
exceed the national average by 8 percent.
Appropriate increases to budgets are needed to ensure that the
added costs do not pull from other programs if there is a determination
that a change to how we compensate members is needed.
Ms. Jones. The Department supports the ongoing Fourteenth
Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation pursuant to the
requirements of section 1008(b) of title 37, United States Code which
undertakes a complete review of the principles and concepts of the
compensation system for members of the uniformed services.
__________
Questions Submitted by Senator Dan Sullivan
bringing veterans back into the service
4. Senator Sullivan. Mr. Camarillo, Secretary Raven, and Secretary
Jones, when we talk of our military's recruiting crisis it's usually in
terms of bringing in new recruits who have not previously served. All
of you in your testimoneys spoke of your branch's high retention rates
which while great for Active Duty can also negatively impact Reserve
and Guard recruitment. Recently I learned of the Marine Corps
Innovation Unit (MIU), a reserve element largely comprised of recently
separated marines with deep backgrounds in consulting, academia, and
startups who have chosen to come back into the service as reservists
largely through targeted recruiting to tackle some of the Marine Corps
biggest challenges. I'm sure we can all agree that effective recruiting
strategies such as MIU not only bring skilled veterans back into the
military but also indirectly advocate the benefits of military service
to those around them. How are each of your branch's engaging veterans
to encourage them to bring their post-service skill sets back to the
military?
Mr. Camarillo. As soldiers transition from service, the Army offers
unique opportunities to enhance their skills, build a network in their
field, and excel in civilian jobs while serving in the Army National
Guard and Army Reserve. At each installation, the Reserve Component
Career Counselors (RCCC), both U.S. Army Reserve and Army National
Guard, are a part of the Soldier for Life--Transition Assistance
Program (SFL-TAP) week-long workshop and present reserve component
options to transitioning servicemembers, including opportunities in the
Guard and Reserve. All retiring soldiers get a ``continuum of service
brief'' as part of their transition plan to make them aware of how they
can continue supporting the Army's mission in various ways, both in a
volunteer and compensated capacity. Numerous veteran service
organizations and networks work closely with local recruiting efforts
to share the Army story of former servicemembers connecting them with
those interested in serving to share experiences and offer their unique
perspectives.
Our Veterans (prior service applicants) who have honorably served
have proven they can excel in the military culture. That service and
the additional skills they have acquired outside of military service
make them the highly sought-after talent our Nation needs in today's
multi-domain environment. Veterans can pursue opportunities to retrain
for the Army's new specialties or bring their acquired post-service
skills back into service in credentialed specialties the Army also
needs. An example of these high-demand skills is those technology
sector skills like cybersecurity. A qualified applicant may enlist in
the highest grade they previously served. Veterans still interested in
serving but not in a full-time capacity are highly encouraged to
consider the Reserve and National Guard components, where they can
remain in their hometowns and continue to serve. They may also choose
to serve as Army civilians, where they can continue to use their
service expertise to support Army requirements that may require
specialized skills and knowledge while also serving as Ambassadors of
the military profession by demonstrating the value of skills learned
during military service.
The prior service program has traditionally been used to fill
emerging current or projected manning shortfalls when timeframes are
critical. Prior service applicants can be more expediently placed back
into service than recruit based on their previous military training and
experience, giving commanders valuable trained personnel quicker for
emerging missions. In today's challenging recruiting environment with
higher recruiting objectives, the number of specialties identified as
critically short has increased, increasing the number of opportunities
for those wishing to return to duty.
Mr. Raven. A focus on recruiting Veterans (as well as Active to
Reserve) is a complementary strategy for overall recruitment, and an
especially cost-effective endeavor that allows us to leverage trained
and experienced Sailors and Marines to fulfill our mission
requirements. Veteran recruits are already trained in their occupation
and may also bring beneficial civilian skillsets, such as those in the
Marine Innovation Units you mention.
The Navy and Marine Corps both provide opportunities for Veterans
to continue serving. Within the Marine Corps, the primary method of
recruiting Veterans back into the Marine Corps is through the Marine
Corps Recruiting Commands' (MCRC) Prior Service Recruiting (PSR) force.
PSR has recruited and processed Veterans into Marine Forces Reserve for
over three decades, and into Marine Innovation Units since its
creation. In 2022, Navy Recruiting Command (NRC) established the
dedicated Navy Recruiting Reserve Command (NRRC) to focus on the Prior
Service and Direct Commission Reserve recruiting mission. NRRC's model
focuses Reserve recruiters in Reserve markets, working a Reserve-only
mission and lead by Reserve leaders. In support of this model, NRRC
developed a Reserve-centric prior service training and prior service
marketing and advertising efforts. NRRC is staffed with Officer and
Enlisted Canvasser recruiters from a variety of general and specialty
rates and designators. Canvasser Recruiters are Reservists on active
duty recruiting tours for up to 3 years. In essence, NRRC recruiters
are Reservists selling Reserve careers. The Prior Service recruiters
are strategically placed in densely populated Veteran markets in each
State and territory. Navy Recruiting is attacking ways to expand the
prior service reach across the active duty market to ensure separating
individuals have the information they need to consider extending
service by way of the Navy Reserve. NRRC currently attends all
Transition Assistance Programs (TAP) in the local areas and they have
designated benefits advisors that partner with active duty Command
Career Counselors to educate separating Sailors on Navy Reserve
benefits.
Ms. Jones. Department recruiting focuses on the Total Force, which
includes the Regular Air Force and Space Force as well as the Air
National Guard and Air Force Reserve. Our recruiting enterprise brings
in non-prior service recruits not just for the Regular component, but
for the Reserve component as well.
However, we also value the skills and experience that our prior
servicemembers bring specifically to the Reserves and we do have a very
direct focus on leveraging this talent as members leave service, or by
reaching out to already separated members.
The Department's 'Go Blue--Stay Blue' campaign is a
whole-of-service approach to recruiting and retaining America's best
for service-includes attracting veterans for service in the Air
National Guard and Air Force Reserve.
We recently shifted to a Total Force marketing campaign
to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and inter-connectivity of our
campaigns.
We have specialized marketing campaigns targeted at prior
servicemembers.
o We leverage tactics such as on-base and near-base advertising
for Out-of-Home (advertising seen while ``on the go''), both print and
digital.
o The Recruiting Service also uses paid search, digital, social,
and other opportunities to specifically target and reach the prior-
service audience.
o We have specific out-reach to prior-servicemembers in the
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) members who may wish to rejoin the
force.
Additionally, while we do value our high retention in the
Regular forces, should they desire to separate, we have outreach
efforts to encourage and incentivize continued service in the Reserves.
o Prior to leaving Active Duty, members are briefed on
opportunities and benefits of Reserve service. There are dedicated ARC
In-Service Recruiters to provide this outreach.
o Additionally, as with the Regular Force, we leverage bonuses
and incentives to attract members in key specialties
o We are reviewing our transition programs to reduce barriers,
speed transition and increase affiliation rates upon separation from
the Regular Forces into the Reserves
Realizing the unique talent that many Reservists bring
with them from their civilian and academic backgrounds, the Reserves
have developed unique programs to capture these skills and experience.
o The Reserve Hypersonics Team ``Bullpen'' concept is developing
a structure to focus reserve talent on Service priorities within
hypersonics
o The GIG Eagle concept uses commercial skill matching software
to match an AF demand with an individual who has that skill, regardless
where they acquired it. This promises to unlock talent that is
potentially available, but not being utilized.
improving the medical waiver process
5. Senator Sullivan. Mr. Camarillo, Secretary Raven, and Secretary
Jones, one of the hurdles you have each spoken about in your
testimoneys is the lack of the propensity to serve among our younger
generations. Additionally, you have also spoken of the decreasing pool
of young people who are eligible to serve from 29 percent in 2013 to 23
percent now. However, there are young people out there who have the
desire to serve but are unable to do so completely or must obtain
medical waivers through a process which is often neither expedient nor
straightforward. Research has shown that granting waiver is in the best
interest of our military as demonstrated by a 2021 RAND Study which
found military recruits who received a waiver for ADHD, anxiety, and
depression did not have a higher likelihood of dropping out of training
than those who did not. I understand the DoD is currently reviewing
some of the existing medical standards. But how are you specifically
ensuring your service is granting medical waivers and not using a one
size fits all determination to turn away young people who are eager to
serve their country?
Mr. Camarillo. The Army's approach for each medical waiver
submitted for a behavioral health diagnosis involves a rigorous process
to ensure that each applicant's record is provided a holistic review.
The Army utilizes the ``whole person'' concept to fully vet each
waiver.
The Army extensively evaluates every prospective applicant against
fitness standards for military service during the medical phase of
applicant processing that starts at the Military Entrance Processing
Station (MEPS). Certain applicant conditions may immediately
disqualify, while others require a consult or additional testing. Based
on the results, a determination is made regarding whether a a medical
waiver is appropriate. For example, if an applicant took medication for
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a child, but last
underwent treatment more than 3 years ago, a waiver may be granted,
and, the applicant's candidacy can proceed.
In the past three fiscal years, we have seen a significant increase
in accessions with medical waivers. To expedite the waiver process and
prevent applicants from losing interest after a disqualifying medical
condition is identified during medical processing at the MEPS, the Army
has implemented a Conditional Enlistment Program (CEP). The CEP allows
medically disqualified applicants to contract into the Delayed Entry
Program (DEP) and remain in the DEP. At the same time, a medical waiver
is considered and eliminates the requirement for applicants to return
to the MEPS. The CEP has been an Army success story, bolstering an
approximately 80 percent medical waiver approval rate for participating
applicants.
Along with our sister military services, the Army participates in
the DoD's Medical Accession Records Pilot (MARP). This pilot reduces
the time limitations on 49 disqualifying medical conditions by
utilizing verifiable medical information available in Military Health
System GENESIS (MHSG), the Department's electronic medical system of
record. These 49 identified standards previously disqualified any
candidate with any previous history of injury, illness, or disease.
However, this revised process limits the history of the injury,
illness, or disease to a limited timeline (e.g., the previous 5 years).
This pilot will reduce the time required for the military services to
complete enlistment contracting actions and enable more applicants to
qualify for enlistment without the time-consuming requirement of
requesting additional documentation and/or a medical waiver.
These two initiatives, CEP and MARP, are already netting positive
results and ensuring qualified applicants who want to serve in our Army
have an effective path to make their desire to serve a reality.
The Army continues to proactively work with the OSD to
furtherexpand upon the traditional qualification standards to allow
propensed applicants the opportunity to serve.
Mr. Raven. Eagerness to serve is one of the most desirable traits,
however individuals still need to be safe for training and deployment
in order to meet the service-specific mission. The Navy and Marine
Corps Service Medical Waiver Review Authorities (SMWRA) employ an
individualized waiver process, considering each person independently.
With each waiver request, regardless of the disqualifying condition,
the SMWRA reviews and considers the individual's past medical history;
current work, school, and extracurricular performance; and the risk to
the person in a military environment. Individuals who successfully met
the service waiver criteria, and received a waiver to enlist, showed
minimal difference in completion of recruit training and early
attrition as compared with fully qualified individuals.
Ms. Jones. All requests for medical waivers are reviewed on a case-
by-case basis rather than a ``one size fits all'' model. DAF uses
multiple criteria to inform decisions and ensure applicants meet five
basic criteria for military service as outlined in DODI 6130.03 Vol 1
to be: (1) Free of contagious diseases that may endanger the health of
other personnel; (2) Free of medical conditions or physical defects
that may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from
duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization or may result in
separation from the Military Service for medical unfitness; (3)
Medically capable of satisfactorily completing required training and
initial period of contracted service; (4) Medically adaptable to the
military environment without geographical area limitations; and (5)
Medically capable of performing duties without aggravating existing
physical defects or medical conditions. These criteria ensure
applicants meet DAF requirements to be agile, resilient, and able to
serve in all potential environments.
The example you cite is a strong case for the effectiveness of our
process. When an applicant has a history of any medical condition,
including ADHD/anxiety/depression, their specific history is evaluated
to understand the environment that allowed the condition to present
itself, what level of treatment was needed, and how the applicant
responded to that treatment. Air Force medical waiver experts apply a
knowledge of the military working environment (including operational
deployments) and medical data showing rates of recurrence and impact on
life to the applicant's medical history to create a risk assessment.
Medical literature and experience show that people with mental health
conditions have significantly high rates of recurrence, which leads to
decreased operational capabilities. If it is determined that the
applicant's situation is such that he or she has a low risk of having
the medical condition, or there has been an appropriate period showing
stability since showing symptoms, then these people are granted waivers
to access into the Air Force.
high schools that have denied recruiters on campus
6. Senator Sullivan. Mr. Camarillo, Secretary Raven, and Secretary
Jones, please provide a list of all high schools that have denied your
branch's request to have recruiters on their campus.
Mr. Camarillo. Crofton High School in Gambrills, MD.
Mr. Raven. Navy Recruiting Command (NRC) and Marine Corps
Recruiting Command (MCRC) are required to report high schools that deny
access via the Recruiter Access to High Schools data base, maintained
by the Defense Manpower Data Center. NRC and MCRC are currently
reporting zero high schools on this list.
However, current statute sets a very low bar for compliance that
does not facilitate meaningful engagement with student populations at
schools that only fulfill their minimal obligations. The current law
(10 U.S.C. Sec. 503) requires visits comparable to colleges and other
employers which means some high schools only allow access no more than
once a year. Mandating high schools provide timely information and
allow monthly access (if requested by the recruiter) would provide
quality engagements that let our recruiters build relationships with
both educators and students. We continue to enhance communication and
partnerships with local, State, and Federal education officials and
influencers to promote military service as a meaningful post-high
school pathway. We also welcome the opportunity to work with Congress
to modernize recruiter access requirements, include military service as
part of school accountability metrics, and encourage engagement between
recruiters and local and State education officials.
Ms. Jones. The Air Force is tracking nine schools that outright
deny access to recruiters on their campus. Recruiting leadership teams
are actively engaging with these schools to open access. Specific
schools that deny access to Air Force recruiters are as follows: Bay
Port Bluepoint High School (Bayport NY), Freeport High School (Freeport
NY), Onteora High School (Boiceville NY), New Hartford High School (New
Hartford NY), Owen D Young (Van Hornesville NY), Brookfield Central
School (West Edmeston, NY), Finneytown High School (Cincinnati OH),
Anderson High School (Cincinnati OH), and Coldwater High School
(Coldwater MI).
army recruiting commercial
7. Senator Sullivan. Mr. Camarillo, whom was the target audience
for the May 4th 2021 commercial ``Emma'' from the Calling Series?
Mr. Camarillo. The target audience for ``The Calling'' campaign was
youth aged 17 to 24.
8. Senator Sullivan. Mr. Camarillo, did Senior Army uniformed
leadership specifically the Army of Chief of Staff know about this
commercial before it was released?
Mr. Camarillo. I was sworn in as the Under Secretary of the Army on
February 6, 2022, after the advertisement was developed and released.
Accordingly, I am not able to confirm which Army leaders were involved
in the development of this advertisement in 2021.
motivation to join the military
9. Senator Sullivan. Mr. Camarillo, Secretary Raven, and Secretary
Jones, what are the primary reasons people join the military?
Mr. Camarillo. Prospects primarily join the military to serve their
country. According to JAMRS research, primary motivators incluGde
compensation and benefits; pay for future education; travel; gain work
experience; and health and medical benefits (Source: Joint Advertising
Market Research & Studies, DOD Youth Poll (youth ages 16 to 21), Spring
2022).
Mr. Raven. According to the latest survey of American youth taken
by DOD's Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies program in Spring
2022, the top ten reasons young people indicate they would join the
military reflect a mix of the tangible and intangible benefits of
service.
48 percent indicated pay
44 percent indicated pay for future education
43 percent indicated travel
36 percent indicated gaining experience/work skills
34 percent indicated health and medical benefits
34 percent indicated to help others
29 percent indicated to experience adventure
28 percent indicated pension and retirement benefits
25 percent indicated to better their life
23 percent indicated to make a positive difference in
their community
Navy and Marine Corps recruiting efforts promote the common
tangible benefits such as pay, but put particular emphasis on the
transformational, intangible benefits that set us apart. For example,
the Marine Corps continually advertises the Marines as smart, tough,
elite warriors and the personal and professional challenge necessary to
earn the lifelong title of ``Marine.'' The Navy continues to promote
how it can help recruits become stronger versions of themselves through
the incredible variety of unique opportunities and the unrivaled
experience provided by naval service.
Ms. Jones. According to the DoD's Joint Advertising and Market
Research & Studies (JAMRS) Youth Poll (Spring 2022), the top five
reasons to join the military are: Pay/Money (48 percent); To Pay for
Future Education (44 percent); Travel (43 percent); Gain Experience/
Work Skills (36 percent); and Health and Medical Benefits Tied with to
Help Others (34 percent).
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