Can the military solve its recruiting crisis?

The country's armed services are scrambling to address a significant drop in people signing up to serve Uncle Sam

Missing toy soldier
(Image credit: Illustrated / Getty Images)

It's been fifty years since Defense Secretary Melvin Laird announced the end of the nation's military draft system, writing in a memo to senior Defense Department officials: "With the signing of the peace agreement in Paris today, and, after receiving a report from the Secretary of the Army that he foresees no need for further inductions, I wish to inform you that the armed forces henceforth will depend exclusively on volunteer soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines." After a quarter century of continuous, mandatory military service, Laird's announcement marked the close of a major chapter in American conscription practice, and fundamentally altered the public's perception of what the armed services are, and to whom they belong.

Now, more than a half-century later, the country's all-volunteer force has reached a crisis point; 2022 was the Army's worst recruiting year since the end of the draft in 1973, missing its goal of 60,000 new soldiers by approximately 25 percent. Other military branches have experienced similar shortfalls — a trend that's fueled the growing question of whether the Pentagon's recruitment difficulties are a reversible problem or a permanent feature of the 21st century.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.