“It really comes down to this: A more inclusive military won’t matter if young people won’t include themselves.”
Part two in the series examines some additional perspectives from active duty and retired military, as well as some suggestions to bridge the millennial-military divide. Through my background and long association with the military, I was able to reach out to colleagues, friends, and former commanders for insights into this dilemma. I wish to thank all those who participated in this effort with their commentaries.
An active duty military member serving in Texas provided this observation into why young people didn’t serve in the military when I asked for his input.
I think the answer can be found in the culture that develops around each generation. The current day and age of young Americans are very comfortable with the life they have, and they don’t feel the need to join an organization that offers any more than that.
There are always surges in military enlistment whenever a major conflict breaks out, as evidenced in our nation’s history. As of now, there is not any major “pull” that would attract young Americans to join. The military definitely offers great benefits for its service members (both active and retired), but that isn’t necessarily what the youth of today are looking at. Where’s the glory in that?
Perhaps they can’t appreciate what the military offers because of all the comforts of current society today. However, I think we also see a lack in youth wanting to join, because the military has lost a large number of its “hard-charging” enlistees: youthful patriots fighting for what they believe in, to protect American values. By no means do I imply that I (or others currently serving) have lost this keen edge, but I think that it is less implied now since the US military, as a whole, is not fully engaged on any classic “frontlines,” so to speak. Sorry if this sounds like I am rambling, but I feel like the question you have asked has a lot more “pieces to the puzzle” than any one response can atone.
From a retired US Army officer who continues to serve in our military as a volunteer at an airport USO, he offers his views and perspectives in the following narrative:
I “work” at the airport USO and have been there since 2013. My shift is usually Monday evening from 17:50 to 22:00 (5:50-10pm or later). I see many enlistees going to basic training, the Navy, Army future medics, and many more new recruits starting their military career. I also see personnel released from service for misconduct or physical conditions existing before service intermixed with the routine Permanent Change of Station (PCS) and leave travelers.
There is a great deal of real-time opinion that can be gathered on a routine shift. Inductees to seasoned NCOs and officers, they all seem to want to be heard in our USO facility. The inductees share their problems with their parents and their recruiters. The Advanced Individual Training (AIT) graduates frequently share their pre-service expectations and how their AIT graduate status matches up or didn’t. And so on and so on.
Not listed in any order of significance, the perspectives noted below are from a retired Army officer.
- Parental influence. Most parents today have never served in the military. Whatever knowledge they have of the military comes from press coverage, usually highlighting the extreme issues (such as basic training, sexual harassment on the negative side, and Medal of Honor articles on the most positive of views, although most of those are posthumously awarded). The support of their child to consider military service is all too often reluctantly given and hesitant at best.
- Media coverage. Sensationalism and controversy sell! When military personnel make headlines for desertion in battle, selling intelligence data, sexually harassing and abusing their trainees and subordinates, and fraud/harassment/fraternization/misconduct, the eligible recruit questions the credibility of a military career.
- Instability of military structure. Budget shortfalls, force reductions, changing of retirement programs, publicized poor readiness status of many units, multiple deployments with little stateside downtime, poor maintenance for aircraft and ships…all enter into the eligible recruit’s mind during the decision process. Will the “promises” of the recruiting process be kept? Will the possibility of a career in a chosen job specialty really materialize?
- Recruiting command. It is most difficult for the family/recruit to accept the information from a recruiter when the military makes headlines for misconduct or the media highlights sexual harassment and abuse by those who will be training the possible new recruit. More than in years past, the recruiter is enlisting the family unit.
- Personal transition. A significant number of possible eligible recruits might be tabbed the Xbox generation, more familiar with a couch, TV, and remote than a day’s hard work. They are lazy, overweight, and enjoy being a receiver of “entitlements.” They find ways to avoid physical activity, hard work, and community service. They are short-term in focus and have an uncertain outlook on patriotism. They are surrounded by a network of relatives, teachers, and friends that have little knowledge about the military other than media coverage.
- Image of our military. In some instances, the physical images of our service personnel currently on active and active reserve duty have an effect on an enlistment decision. The recruit is told about the importance of physical training by an overweight recruiter. The recruit visits a military installation and sees a high percentage of obese male and female personnel of senior rank; this is a poor example of service impression. All military personnel are not SEALS, Rangers, and special operations in duty positions, but the general standards of fitness are not given enough attention in today’s military.
- Negative word-of-mouth publicity. The military services must come to realize that many factors have a lasting effect on the recruiting process, not the least of which is how the enlisted recruit is actually assisted in getting ready for military service and how his actual experiences match up with what the recruiter had stated to the recruit and the family unit. The worst publicity for future enlistments is a disgruntled current recruit.
- Let someone else do it mentality. Ever since the end of the draft era in 1973, the services have had to face the task of a military that has not been representative of the nation’s makeup. Catchy Army slogans such as “Be all you can be” and “An Army of One” had some success in reaching enlistment goals but did not include the across-the-board makeup of the draft years. As a result, the “let someone else do it mentality” has grown. Just add another benefit to the military entitlements package and someone will take it, not me.
Our patriotic spirit of years past that was handed down with pride from generation to generation has been gradually eroding over the last four decades. It is not the fault of our eligible recruits; they were born into this situation. How they will change their outlook is a task our nation must address…before the state of affairs gets worse!
The Knowledge Deficit
In addition to a knowledge deficit, there is also a general lack of awareness among millennials that service members fulfill duties other than combat. Many young people I have met were just unaware that it is possible to be a lawyer, doctor, nurse, chaplain, or any other profession and have a significant role in the US military. When I was stateside on a college campus, students were particularly shocked to find active-duty officers enrolled in graduate programs.
I remember the presence of “warrior-scholars” on campus where active duty officers taught full-time at civilian institutions: courses such as Military History, Strategy, and Civil-Military Relations. Millennial-military relations merit further investigation and consideration, both in a scholarly sense and in the context of a broader societal discussion.
Our patriotic spirit of years past that was handed down with pride from generation to generation has been gradually eroding over the last four decades.
Sometimes You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up
Look at one of the recent news items where Gregory Salcido, who is both a long-time teacher at El Rancho High School and a city councilman in Pico Rivera, California demeaned and belittled all who serve in the military. This “educator” did his very best to convince his students that the military was full of dregs, dead-end careers, and generally uneducated and frankly stupid people. His exact rant to his high school students went like this:
“We got all our freaking night vision goggles, all that kind of stuff, and we can’t freaking control these dudes wearing freaking robes and chanclas. Because we got a bunch of dumb shits over there. Think about the people who you know who are over there, your freaking stupid Uncle Louie or whoever, they’re dumb shits. They’re not like high-level thinkers, they’re not academic people, they’re not intellectual people. They’re the freaking lowest of our low. Not morally. I’m not saying they make bad moral decisions. They’re not talented people.”
He went on to say:
“How come when you go to like the Rose Bowl, Rose Parade, Dodger opening day, why after the national anthem do we have a killing machine fly over the freaking stadium? You know the stealth bombers out there, and everyone’s like, ‘Yeah that’s what we kill people with!’ Like why would that be something we celebrate? I don’t get it. Anyway, you better not freaking go.”
What Gregory Salcido does not understand is that many military members have advanced degrees and are well educated. Perhaps he missed the very fact that the US Military Service Academies are consistently rated academically above other bastions of higher education. This year, US News ranks the top three public National Liberal Arts Colleges as follows: #1) the United States Military Academy at West Point, #2) the United States Naval Academy, and #3), the United States Air Force Academy.
Just a side note, my husband and my son, both military, have advanced degrees and an educational background this “educator” can’t match.
The principal and most important takeaway from this two-part series is this: there is indeed a millennial-military divide; a knowledge deficit. There is a perception problem that many with little knowledge of the military world perpetuate.
Bridging the divide is not forcing millennials to learn more facts about the military or study American military history. Instead, it is enabling and fostering interpersonal connections between young people and their peers in the military. These connections can inspire interest and essential discussions about military and civilian values and the differences and commonalities between both groups.
It really comes down to this: A more inclusive military won’t matter if young people won’t include themselves.
