Max Power said:
This is a very good but long read. There are some very concerning time ahead of us on the military recruitment and retention front.
TLDR version: Times are changing and we have to get creative to fill ranks. The best and brightest are avoiding the military for dozens of obvious reasons.
I still think the military, even with it's flaws, is still the best bet for many young Americans today.
Not everyone is built to "code" or survive and work in STEM. With college costs exploding, inflation spinning out of control and housing costs also spiking, there is some value in consistent "cost certainty" for lots of young people.
For people doing the FI/RE movement ( I think it moves past early retirement and might just be plain survival in the future) then it's still not a horrible option. It's not as good as it used to be for the retirement systems, but at least there's a pathway for one.
Want me to unpack the coal from the Xmas stocking, Max Power?
At some level of mass disinterest, there will just be conscription. The vaccine mandates are a clue as to the tone of the current political establishment. Authoritarian regimes blur the line between their military and their federal law enforcement apparatus. Always.
It's more than obvious Team Blue wants a completely federalized law enforcement system.
Put it this way, when things pop off and society starts to collapse, at least those in the service will be trained to use a rifle, likely have a rifle, and have a collective around them that they can hope to form small unit bonds with to survive. That's not great, but it's not horrible.
This will be reinvented when some states finally break off on their own. The Texas Army will be a totally different animal than the current military.