We've covered the new series of ads from the U.S. Army looking to try to get more people to join up.
Suddenly, they're not showing ads about people having two moms or catering to the woke. Instead, they're showing what I would call a classic military "Be all you can be" ad, emphasizing jumping out of a plane and achievement, rather than what people's sexuality might be.
As my colleague Brandon Morse wrote:
By 2022, the Army's recruitment numbers had indeed plummeted. Their attempts to recruit with virtue signaling resulted in very few people signing up, and not just from the pool they were looking to siphon from, but the average middle-American male stopped coming too.
Some also wondered if this might be a sign that the military-industrial complex was trying to ramp up again, with the Biden administration looking like it might like to involve us in more wars. But they're desperate to try to get more people to sign up.
Now they're even implicitly acknowledging -- at least on some level -- how wrong they were to boot people out for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. A letter that they're sending out to people is circulating on social media.
Task and Purpose has confirmed with the Army that the letter is real.
“As a result of the rescission of all current COVID-19 vaccination requirements, former soldiers who were involuntarily separated for their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination may request a correction of their military records,” according to a letter signed by Brig. Gen. Hope Rampy, Army Director of Personnel Management.
It also instructs soldiers looking to return to service to contact an Army, Army Reserve, or National Guard recruiter. It was not immediately clear to an Army spokesperson if soldiers who rejoin would return to their former unit or MOS.
So part of it is the rescission of the requirement. But the other part is how desperate they are. Task and Purpose says the Army missed its recruitment goals by about 15,000 people. They must be hard up to hire new people who can put out such letters without typos too, as they made a mistake on the spelling of "Military" in the signature block, as my colleague Streiff picked up.
They booted 1,903 people over not getting the vaccine, and now have sent out 1,900 letters to try to get people back. But even if they got all those people back, they still would be far below their goals. And why should people who were separated trust that it might not happen again? This is an admission that the decision was political.
Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) called for them to be reinstated at rank and with back pay.
But while the Defense Department had suggested people who were separated might get back pay, they walked it back in January. So, I'm not sure how many people would go back at this point.