US Military Faces Serious Draft Avoidance Among Young Adults
Military-Citizenship Link for Legal Immigrants
The U.S. military has launched an active recruitment campaign offering citizenship to legal immigrants who enlist.
On the 11th (local time), according to the Associated Press, the U.S. military is providing methods such as a fast-track process that grants citizenship to those who enlist.
Recently, there has been a strong tendency among young people in the U.S. to avoid military enlistment, resulting in the worst recruitment performance in decades last year.
The U.S. Department of Defense leadership analyzed that young people are unfamiliar with the military and find jobs in companies offering similar education and other benefits more attractive, while wanting to avoid the risks of injury or death.
"Even if goals are not fully met, it helps"
The U.S. Army set a recruitment goal of 60,000 but only reached 45,000. The Navy and Air Force also struggled to meet their targets.
To overcome this recruitment shortage, the U.S. Army and Air Force have intensified marketing efforts to encourage legal immigrants in the U.S. to enlist. They are distributing pamphlets and actively using social media. In particular, they are targeting immigrants by utilizing existing soldiers with similar backgrounds.
Although enlisting legal immigrants does not cause a surge in applicants sufficient to meet recruitment goals, even a slight increase is considered helpful.
The U.S. Army enlisted a total of 2,900 legal immigrants in the first half of this fiscal year, an increase from 2,200 during the same period last year.
Among them, the largest group was from Jamaica with 384 individuals, followed by Mexico, the Philippines, and Haiti.
"New recruits produced despite screening and communication challenges"
The U.S. Air Force produced 14 new American citizens through a program targeting legal immigrants last April. This group included individuals from Cameroon, Jamaica, the Philippines, and Russia.
As of mid-last month, 100 people were undergoing basic training through the Air Force citizenship fast-track process, with 40 having completed it. Through this program, recruits are registered in the U.S. citizenship system, and once basic training begins, the necessary paperwork and examinations start. After completing seven weeks of training, U.S. citizenship is granted.
Ed Thomas, commander of the U.S. Air Force Recruiting Command, stated, "There are many especially patriotic legal immigrants in the U.S., and they are particularly grateful for the opportunities provided by America."
However, Thomas added that the fast-track program requires screening procedures to confirm changes in Air Force regulations, cooperation from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and that there are no security issues. Therefore, "in many cases, immigrant-origin recruits are not immediately assigned to duties requiring top-secret clearance," he explained.
It is also reported that additional efforts are needed to assist volunteers who are not fluent in English with completing their application forms.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps is currently the only military branch on track to meet its recruitment goals, competing with higher-paying and less risky civilian jobs through extensive new hiring programs, promotional activities, and other incentives.
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