{"id":344,"date":"2024-11-08T19:08:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T19:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=344"},"modified":"2024-11-08T19:08:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T19:08:43","slug":"us-air-force-hit-2024-recruiting-goal-by-meeting-americans-where-they-are-not-lowering-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=344","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force hit 2024 recruiting goal by meeting Americans where they are, not lowering standards"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s strong economy, recruiting successfully for the all-volunteer United States Air Force means overcoming strong and persistent headwinds. The challenges aren\u2019t hard to find.<\/p>\n

Low unemployment, competitive private sector wages and benefits, and broader societal shifts such as the legalizing of marijuana and rising obesity rates, to name a few, make a complex job even harder.<\/p>\n

That reality is why we are proud that the US Air Force not only met our 27,200 active duty enlisted recruiting goal for this year, opening the aperture for more high-quality recruits to join in the future, but we also achieved it ahead of schedule. This stands in stark contrast to 2023 when the Air Force missed its goal of 26,877 new recruits.<\/p>\n

But as important as the raw number is \u2014 and it is important \u2014 this year\u2019s success highlights a lesser known but equally important story about the way the Department of the Air Force looked at the world as it is and moved decisively to eliminate out-of-date and indefensible barriers that blocked capable recruits from joining the service.<\/p>\n

For example, while our standards for physical fitness and health remain rigorous, some policies persisted solely due to the \u201cway things have always been done\u201d mentality. Recognizing we were denying enlistment into the Air Force for things like certain tattoos or body fat composition, we optimized these policies without diluting the qualities and capabilities we need in each recruit.<\/p>\n

\n
In the real world it means we are no longer instantly rejecting smart and physically fit recruits simply because they have a small tattoo on the back of a hand \u2014 something that was happening just last year and conveyed to young Americans that our entry standards were out of sync with our nation\u2019s current cultural norms.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We also instituted a two-year pilot program allowing recruits who tested positive for THC at entry a chance to retest after 90 days. Unlike before when they would be forever banned after failing the first test, if they pass the second and meet all other requirements, they are provided an opportunity to complete basic training and ultimately join the Air Force. This common-sense change is a clear example of how we are adapting to a reality in which 24 states have now legalized the recreational use of marijuana, not to mention the ever-expanding variety of over-the-counter products that include various levels of THC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s strong economy, recruiting successfully for the all-volunteer United States Air Force means overcoming strong and persistent headwinds. The challenges aren\u2019t hard to find. Low unemployment, competitive private sector […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-air"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/US-AIR-FORCE.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}