Our country continues to face a military recruiting crisis 鈥� as many and other incentives to get more people to join. , a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and an adjunct professor at 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is an Army veteran and believes he knows the real issues at hand. He writes:
Sean McFate
鈥淗onestly, I have a hard time with the , and most things that come out of them these days. It鈥檚 a little na茂ve, because the military has already tried all these things, but it鈥檚 not worked. I don鈥檛 think their researchers are paying attention.
People don鈥檛 volunteer for the military just because they want job opportunities or a free education. Military life is hard, and you can get killed. You need to believe it鈥檚 worth it, and that鈥檚 the current problem. Who can blame youth today who look back on 20 years for war and ask: What was it all for? Nothing, apparently.聽
Also, this is an absolute trope and 鈥榬ed flag鈥� that these analysts are not taking it seriously: 鈥楲ow unemployment rates (plenty of job opportunities in the civilian sector).鈥� It鈥檚 not like the late 1990s tech boom. The 鈥榩lenty of job opportunities鈥� are not career opportunities. For example, yes McDonald鈥檚 and the Gap are hiring, but that鈥檚 probably not the reason people aren鈥檛 volunteering for the force. No one is saying, 鈥楪ee, I really want to be a VP at Burger King, so goodbye Army!鈥�
It seems like the military is caught in the culture wars where half of the recruiting pool thinks the military is too woke to join (conservatives) and the other half thinks military service is distasteful (liberal). That doesn鈥檛 leave much of a recruiting pool.鈥�
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