On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that they would be removing anyone from their payroll who was not willing to deploy on a life-threatening mission. Because some 300,000 service members have been non-deployable since President Trump took office, the Pentagon’s new “deploy or be removed” policy will be cutting off benefits to soldiers who are not doing their job. This change saves the Pentagon money that can go towards wars and expensive automated battle equipment.

Robert Wilkie broke the bad news to the military personnel who have not been deployed in a year. Wilkie works as the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. He said:

“This new policy is a 12-month deploy or be removed policy.”

Wilkie made the announcement during the Senate Armed Services subcommittee. While it saves the government money, military personnel are not happy about the directive and the threat to their income.

The move stemmed from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s memo last year that urged “Everyone who comes into the service and everyone who stays in the service is world-wide deployable.” If someone does not fit these strict criteria, the government wants them “removed.”

About 11 to 14 percent or more than 200,00 service members fail to meet Mattis’s requirements for military readiness. This failure threatens America’s ability to remain a competitive world power. If hundreds of thousands of the 2.1 million military personnel are unable to deploy, then the armed forces are not effective. These numbers include all people on the military payroll who serve on active duty, in the reserves, and in the National Guard. Mattis needs the armed forces ready for anything.

Although the new policy is strict and hopes to crack down on those taking advantage of their military benefits, exceptions do exist for the ruling. For example, pregnant servicewomen will be allowed time off with their babies. Military medical boards also retain their power to grant wound personnel time off duty without that person needing to fear of losing their posts.

Wounded warriors are not be targeted. Those taking advantage of the system are.

“The situation we face today is really unlike anything we have faced, certainly in the post-World War II era,” Wilkie told the Senators on the panel. “On any given day, about 13 to 14 percent of the force is medically unable to deploy. That comes out to be about 286,000.”

Wilkie then asked the Senators to think about the armed forces like a business. If Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, realized that a large minority of his employees were not showing up for work, what would he do? He’d fire them. Wilkie wants the military to be able to fire their underperforming service people.

“(Bezos) would no longer (have) the largest company in the world.”

 

Some people are non-deployable because they have failed to meet requirements like getting immunizations or completing medical exams, which are both standard protocol.

 

Read more AWM