Military Recruitment Crisis

31st August 2024

Hey McBeth,

Just a note on the military recruitment crisis you mentioned in one of your videos. I would have to say that you have a point about the positive stories of the military being in short supply in the modern day. I would still have to say that the G.I. Bill isn’t as attractive as it once was which is a big factor. Mental health is also an issue in the modern time.

WWII was the “greatest generation”, as we now call them, and almost all media depicting military service was heroic and positive. The Vietnam Conflict showed a change in perception of the military with vets coming back scared and broken but for nothing. I looked after a WWII vet on his death bed back in the 90’s and my old man went to Vietnam.

I had a close friend in Iraq. He was the first Striker Unit, Army Intelligence, and the man who came back was insufferable. He always thought he could get his way by yelling at people, and that just doesn’t fly with civilian life. A good deal of what happened in the Middle East is now a national embarrassment. I could say that right now I know about a dozen vets and none of them are really advertisements for the military unless I include you, and I think I should just call myself a fan.

Much like military recruitment college attendance is falling. Why go to college if it doesn’t mean you’re going to get a good job? My last job that wanted a college degree paid seventy five cents above the non college positions and my BA in Psychology doesn’t open a door for any better paying jobs in mental health.

A modern American seeking to rise out of poverty has little reason to join the military, get the G.I. Bill, go to college, and find themselves poor. Add in the fact that college loans are being forgiven and it’s just a formula for bad recruitment numbers.

Homeless veterans have been a national scandal since the 30’s but things are worse now. A man who joins the army is likely to find himself on the street with mental health issues when it’s all over. Look at films like the 2017 “Thank You for Your Service”. It was a horror story for the military that showed Americans that the country didn’t care about them. You’ll find no films of this nature about the Second World War.

The final point that needs to be made is that the youth of today come from a more mentally ill nation. They’re parents spend more time working and less time looking after them. Depression and other forms of mental illness are common in a nation where the average person working as hard as they can can’t get ahead in life.

Basic training is designed to be hard so that soldiers will react without thinking. This can save your life in the war zone but really do damage in the blue zone. There was a welding class for Vietnam Vets to get them back in the workforce, but the machines would often make a popping sound.

When this happened often times a Vet would have a bad reaction and they would curl up under the desk and need to be dragged out. What happened to them after that I don’t know. I guess a stay in the mental ward, but a job in welding wasn’t in their future.

That was PTSD and the problem has only gotten worse. We as a nation have failed to address the this, and many enlistees going into the military already have mental problems that will only get worse.

To be honest, you probably know all this, and your video wasn’t about getting more people in the army, but I figured it was worth mentioning. You may have some inside into this that I don’t have.

Best,



Richard Leland Neal