National Security and the All-Volunteer Force

Arms Control

Jan 31

*The US Army outside the Lincoln Memorial*

Mission

Conduct a fact-based, holistic, unvarnished assessment of national defense manning; and provide well-reasoned, nonpartisan recommendations for a viable, sustainable manning approach that meets the national security needs of the nation. ACNSL strives to collegially collaborate, arrive at well-reasoned solutions, and effectively and consequentially communicate recommendations that promote a sound American national security strategy.

Strategic Challenges

The United States Defense Service manning crisis is detrimental to National Security. This is due to multiple interconnected factors including; a strong jobseeker market, low birth rates, immigration rates, prevalent physical and mental heath issues within the military aged population and other influences.
Within the All-Volunteer Force, continued sexual harassment and sexual assault erodes the public’s image of the military. And within the AVF these issues have a major detrimental effect on the force, damaging morale and unit cohesion.
The Committee strongly believes that lowering recruiting standards will not solve the manning crisis and indeed could exacerbate the problem, further weakening national security capabilities.
The current state of the VA, primarily regarding differences between the standard of care between Military Medicine and the VA, creates the perception of poor healthcare, both physical and mental, for veterans following their service among the broader public, and especially among potential future recruits. We believe that reforms are needed to the VA to address these issues.
While overall retention numbers are up across the AVF, continued manning gaps within specialist career fields show that improvements within the AVF should be made to preserve its population of specialists and NCOs.
The Committee believes that a Presidential Commission, and its resulting executive actions, can have a major impact on reducing the state of the crisis.
The development and implementation of AI tools can play a potential role in ending the manning crisis and should be investigated appropriately. Proper implementation of tools in this new field will ensure American domination in this new field against potential geopolitical adversaries.