Why Don’t America’s Young People Want to Join the Military?

If we don’t figure out why soon, it will become a national security crisis.

Movies have always had an unhealthy influence on me. I came of age in Ronald Reagan’s neon-tinted 1980s, complete with big hair and big action heroes. My role models were people like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando, Sylvester Stallone in Rambo, and Carl Weathers in Predator.

Even James Cameron’s Colonial Marines from 1986’s Aliens made militarism cool well before the word “tacticool” (a portmanteau of tactical and cool) was invented in 2004.

These over-the-top action heroes glorified the unstoppable might of the American military; no doubt an effort to save face after the Vietnam War. Even Oliver Stone’s Platoon, arguably an anti-war movie, taught me about self-sacrifice.

For me, joining the military was a grand adventure — A hero’s journey

Joining the Army seemed like an adventure; I thought “I’ll live my action movie fantasy and get college money while I’m at it.” At that age, I didn’t give a millisecond of thought to my own mortality. After all, as 80’s action movies illustrated, bad guys have horrible aim.

When my Army recruiter in Texas used to talk about his job in artillery, his eyes sparkled. It was clear that he loved his job (or at least loved blowing things up). But my mind was firmly set on the infantry, due in part to some weird fascination with…