In an op-ed for the National Interest, Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) tackles concerns regarding military recruitment. Republicans have long argued that “woke” approaches to the military are negatively impacting recruiting, and in the op-ed, Senator Rubio suggests that we address the concerns before they exacerbate.
Senator Rubio writes that “collectively, the military branches undershot their annual goals of 41,000 recruits last year.” He calls this a grave concern considering that the United States is entering “a new era of multipolar geopolitics, with a chief adversary, Communist China, more powerful than the Soviet Union ever was.”
In fixing the problem to ensure a growing military recruitment method, Senator Rubio offers three solutions.
“First we must take better care of active-duty service members and veterans to rebuild people’s trust that if they sign up, they will be taken care of by their government,” he writes. The next solution would be for lawmakers “to keep woke politics out of the armed forces.” As an example, Senator Rubio cites provisions that were part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. This includes a hiring freeze and a salary cap on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion “bureaucrats at the Pentagon.” The third solution that he offers is for people to “do a better job of explaining the importance of the military.”
He argues that while “policymakers cannot erase the legacies of Iraq and Afghanistan,” policymakers can “accept them, for better and for worse.”
The Florida Republican also posited the next development between the United States and China. He believes that “the next stage of the U.S.-China conflict could well be a military in nature,” explaining that “the good news is that we can keep Beijing at bay, but only if our armed forces remain appropriately staffed, equipped, and focused.”
Senator Rubio has been a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party in China, which has resulted in him being sanctioned by the country.
