WAUKEGAN, Ill. – Defense Secretary Ash Carter will visit a military entrance processing station on Thursday to continue his push to modernize the system that brings troops into the service as part of his Force of the Future reforms.
A military entrance processing station, or MEPS, is where recruits must pass through before boot camp to perform aptitude tests and undergo other examinations to check for conditions like flat footedness or color blindness.
At the MEPS in Illinois, Carter will be talking with officials about how the process works now, as well as how to implement tranche three of the Force of the Future reforms, which includes computerizing the system, according to a senior defense official. He will also be able to see some new recruits going through the process as it currently stands.
During the first day of Carter’s trip this week, Carter had lunch with recruiters at the USS Constitution officers club to talk with them about challenges they face bringing people into the military in the Northeast.
Carter will also visit the Navy’s boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Station on Thursday to see the last step in recruitment and talk with both drill instructors about what they’d like to see in new recruits, and with recruits about their end of the process, the official said.
The secretary has said his Force of the Future initiative is priority so he can ensure future defense secretaries continue to have the best and brightest military possible. He’s already tackled some reforms, like extending maternity leave, but potentially only has six months left as the Pentagon’s leader to implement more controversial reforms like changing the up and out promotion system that has ruled the military for the past century.
Force of the Future also has its critics on Capitol Hill, who argue that Carter should be focused first on warfighting as budgets shrink and threats around the world grow.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, trashed the program in a hearing this year, and said there’s no reason to spend money trying to retain troops when budgets are dictating cuts to end strength.
“This initiative has been an outrageous waste of official time and resources during a period of severe fiscal constraints. It illustrates the worst aspects of a bloated and inefficient defense organization,” McCain said at a February hearing.
