Ever since the liberals began fully pushing their agenda on Donald Trump, recruiting numbers for the US Army have fallen. Dropping more significantly post-COVID, recruiters are having a tough time convincing anyone to put on the uniform. When the days of people joining “for God and Country” started going away in Vietnam, recruiters had their numbers slashed as people just lost their desire. A thankless like does that. Post 9/11, recruiters started talking about little-discussed perks. Ones like 1999’s Tuition Assistance (TA), and since 2020 the Credentialing Assistance (CA) program.
Now, Army officials are looking into taking that benefit away from troops.
The Daily Caller received a statement from Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee about the potential for these programs to disappear. “The Army recognizes the value of both to support our soldiers’ professional development and readiness levels. However, in order to ensure their long-term sustainability, the Army is conducting a thorough review of both programs.”
Given the fact that the use of the TA program provides $250 per credit hour and a max of $4,500 per year for undergraduate and graduate level programs, it’s not super expensive. In turn, troops sign up for an extra two years of service obligation. With Military.com listing the total education cost in FY 2023 cost at $278 million, it’s comparatively cheap compared to the incentives and cost of training recruits.
Across the various components, 101,000 members of the US Army have used TA. Since its launch in 1999, it saw a massive expansion post 9/11, and on average since 2020 it’s run $218 million per year. Meanwhile, CA has been helping soldiers to grow and adapt their skill sets since 2020. This means they have the skills to continue being of service. Now being widely reported, it’s gone from costing $8 million in 2020 to $60.2 million as of 2023.
In 2023, they failed to meet the recruiting goal of 65,000 with only about 55,000 signing up. Cutting positions instead of trying to meet the standard is setting our nation up for failure, and it makes us ripe to be overrun. Especially as Biden’s leaders keep making decisions to force out the experienced troops for yes men, the nation and our resolve to defend ourselves erodes day by day.
