The U.S. Military Can’t Con Enough Young People to Join Up

Laments Thomas W. Spoehr, a retired Army lieutenant general who is director of the Center for National Defense at—you guessed it—The Heritage Foundation. Turns out that “since the transition to an all-volunteer force in 1973,” there have only been three years “when the military services missed their recruiting goals”: 1999, 2005, and 2018. But according to military officials, 2022 is shaping up to be “arguably the most challenging recruiting year” since 1973. The Army cut its size “by 12,000 soldiers because it cannot find enough volunteers to fill its ranks.” The Navy, Marines, and Air Force are having trouble as well. I say great news.

The Best of Laurence M. Vance