Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) thanked the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum, which serves the 10th Mountain Division, for hosting a Career Day event at Wheeler-Sack Army Field for high school students in her Congressional District 21.
With the photo below, featuring four teenagers in army camo and holding rifles, she wrote: “An incredible experience for NY21 students.”
Note: The 27th congressional district is rural and includes most of the Adirondack Mountains. It borders Vermont to the east and Canada to the north.
An incredible experience for #NY21 students. Thank you to the @drum10thmtn for hosting Career Day last week!https://t.co/5Xa9YTw7To
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) October 16, 2023
Local news station WWNYTV reported that hundreds of north country high schoolers attended the Career Day and got “hands-on experience with helicopters, [operating] a bomb defusal robot, and [donning] 89-pound protective gear.”
It’s been widely reported that the U.S. Army missed its last recruiting goal by 15,000 soldiers (or 25 percent of its target). While some politicians including Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama blame the low recruitment numbers on the military being “woke,” U.S. Army Public Affairs reports that fewer young Americans meet the military basic academic and fitness standards, and that the military is recruiting in a fiercely competitive labor market.
Last year, the Army launched a new Future Soldier Preparatory Course, to help young Americans meet the academic and fitness requirements needed to join the Army.
During a recent Pentagon news conference, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth and Chief of Staff of the Army Randy George detailed “sweeping changes in how the Army will identify and recruit talent” and “set a goal of at least a third of the Army’s newest soldiers to have more than a high school degree by 2028, compared to 20 percent today.”
Note: Teenagers in Stefanik’s District will have another opportunity to visit Fort Drum. Organizers say another Career Day on the base is slated for Spring 2024.
