Military can’t recruit
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 17:40 last edited by
Or my nephew who was an Olympic level marksman and a fine musician who is now in a Marine band.
Today in fact is his birthday.
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 17:41 last edited by Mik
If I were a young man considering the military I’d be very turned off by the wokeness. Thankfully that is waning, permanently I hope.
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https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/06/14/armys-recruiting-problem-male.html?amp
This is not a new trend. But just got me thinking - what’s the narrative for joining the military these days?
Our last 20 years are pretty firmly seen as a waste of blood and treasure.
Our new posture seems to be that we need get resources first.
Would you feel proud as a parent if you lost your son trying to secure Ukrainian mineral fields?
No one likes the military anymore - left or right.
wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 19:22 last edited by Copper@xenon said in Military can’t recruit:
No one likes the military anymore
About 95% of the people living within 40 miles of here would tell you that statement is absolutely not true.
The other 5% are deployed and wouldn't see that statement.
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 19:52 last edited by
I think this is a very new phenomenon. Kids growing up in the Donald Trump era have a very different view of this from people who grew up in mine.
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I think this is a very new phenomenon. Kids growing up in the Donald Trump era have a very different view of this from people who grew up in mine.
wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 19:58 last edited by Horace@xenon said in Military can’t recruit:
I think this is a very new phenomenon. Kids growing up in the Donald Trump era have a very different view of this from people who grew up in mine.
It's also probably regional. What did kids in your high school think about joining the military? Or maybe the better question is, what did kids think of other kids who joined the military?
The Onion started in the area I grew up in, and I remember one headline "Bottom Half of High School Graduating Class Ships Off to War".
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 20:01 last edited by xenon
I move only talked to a very small sample size. I don’t know that many American teens.
But what sort of mission can kids point to lately and be excited about joining?
I’m trying to think about this in terms of my own kids.
If you asked me 10 years ago if I’d be supportive of my son joining the military - I’d probably say yes.
Now it’s trending no.
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 20:04 last edited by
My first cousin's grandson just received his appointment to the Air Force Academy.
Yes, people still join the military.
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I thought recruiting was up after the election.
35 years ago when I was in high school, the military was seen mostly as a destination for the kids who weren't smart enough to go to college.
These days, the narrative is probably more towards economic opportunity. I don't think we need to take anybody's word for that, we should probably look to the military's marketing materials, and what the recruiters actually say when they're recruiting. I'm very sure it's all weighted towards economic opportunity. Also probably excitement and action. (Fun.)
And of course, the honor and bravery and self-sacrifice narrative is still alive. That narrative is part of the compensation as well. It's every citizen's duty to pay that compensation when called upon to do so. Generally this comes up in conversation with random military members who tell you they served, and then it's your job to thank them for their service.
wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 23:09 last edited by@Horace said in Military can’t recruit:
35 years ago when I was in high school, the military was seen mostly as a destination for the kids who weren't smart enough to go to college.
Though even then the marketing messages were about learning marketable skills.
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@Horace said in Military can’t recruit:
35 years ago when I was in high school, the military was seen mostly as a destination for the kids who weren't smart enough to go to college.
Though even then the marketing messages were about learning marketable skills.
wrote on 16 Mar 2025, 02:22 last edited by@jon-nyc said in Military can’t recruit:
@Horace said in Military can’t recruit:
35 years ago when I was in high school, the military was seen mostly as a destination for the kids who weren't smart enough to go to college.
Though even then the marketing messages were about learning marketable skills.
Yep. But now they can compare the economic opportunity favorably with a bachelor's degree. Back then, they were comparing favorably to no college.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2025, 02:35 last edited by
I was surprise to see the below picture. On a historic basis, the % of military vs. the overall population is not a big difference (except of course during major wars)
