The U.S. Army is expected to fall nearly 40,000 troops short of its recruiting goals over the next two years. The Army is blaming youth obesity, addiction, medical, and behavioral health issues, and a lack of understanding regarding the benefits of military service in the general public. The Army says all these issues have been magnified by COVID restrictions.

Military members think there is a lot more going on.

One Soldier with 15 years of service doesn’t see the same interest in patriotism as in the past:

“Much of the country doesn’t love America like it use to. We now have a Department of Defense that has taken various political positions that are very much opposed to the heart of America.”

A Marine source had similar views explaining,

“Military readiness has been impacted in the past few years by ‘a toxic combination of poor leadership and the politicization of the military.’”

An Air Force Master Sergeant said:

“There is an imbalanced focus on diversity over performance when deciding the fate of an Airman’s career.”

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