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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world

The Department of War (DOW) is receiving well-earned praise for reversing the military’s recruitment crisis. In FY2025, all the branches of the military met or exceeded their recruitment goals.

(The problem) is America’s retention crisis. Given the immensely complex tasks we demand of experienced enlisted service members and officers, the time and money it takes to replace the expertise required to perform these tasks, and how central this expertise is to modern warfighting, we cannot afford to keep hemorrhaging essential talent.

Despite spending nearly six billion dollars on recruiting and retention in recent years, including giving over 70,000 people retention bonuses, people are leaving the military at some of the highest rates of the last decade. For instance, 7% of Air Force officers and 11% of Airmen now leave the service each year, 350% and 550% above the national average, respectively.

Unsurprisingly, the more specialized and in-demand an officer’s skill-set is, the more likely the military is to lose them to the private sector. Four thousand troops left cyber jobs in 2024, despite DOW facing a 16% cyber position vacancy rate. While DOW does not publicly track how many AI experts it employs and loses each year, Georgetown University reports an intense shortage of uniformed personnel who understand both the mission and the emerging technology.

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[-] limonfiesta@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Apparently it's unpopular to call it the DoW, and while I realize that Congress has yet to officially change it, I think it's a much more appropriate, and accurate, name.

When was the last time the DoD was engaged in a defensive war?

So unless they plan on further changing it to the Department of War Crimes, I think DoW is as good as we can hope for a name that aligns with their actual purpose.

[-] Dogyote@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 months ago

It also might be easier to defund the department of war. Cutting defense spending might sound unwise to someone who doesn't know whats actually going on. Cutting war spending when there's no war is a much easier sell.

this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
166 points (97.7% liked)

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