Ego Service
Rob Henderson writes in the Free Press that the U.S. military services are changing their marketing to attract a new generation. Not only are there too few volunteers who can pass muster: physical fitness standards have had to be lowered. Today’s recruits also want to know what serving in the military can do for them. Henderson says he saw the shift in attitudes over his eight-year commitment in the Air Force.
Inspiration for the article was the arrest of Jack Teixeira, the young man caught divulging U.S. government secrets on the internet a few weeks ago. Rob says the latest generation of adults tends to be more loyal to themselves and themselves alone rather than to a greater cause like national defense. They aren’t motivated by the idea of personal sacrifice as much as of personal gain. Recruitment advertising has to promise bonuses and prepaid career training to reflect this instead of appealing to a sense of duty. Says Henderson:
But this strategy carries a big risk: young adults tend to be less loyal to organizations with lowered standards that target their personal motives. Study after study has shown as much.
As the University of Toronto psychologist Paul Bloom has written, “If entering the group required a thumbs-up and a five-dollar entry fee, anyone could do it; it wouldn’t filter the dedicated from the slackers. But choosing to go through something humiliating or painful or disfiguring is an excellent costly signal, because only the truly devoted would want to do it.”
In other words, by lowering the barrier to entry, the military has opened itself up to more recruits like Jack Teixeira.
Much of society seems driven by a desire for personal enrichment and self-promotion these days rather than a sense of duty to protecting the country and its citizenry as a whole, we might observe. My preferred explanation would probably be that our political tribes would rather destroy the country than share it with their ideological opponents. Coming in second place would be the suspicion that today’s youth culture is all about the importance of the self and one’s own image.
Whatever the explanation, we will have to hope there are enough who join who want to protect the country if and when it faces the next war.
The above notwithstanding, I would imagine the force of patriotic duty is probably as strong as its historical norm, which likely waxes and wanes over time. We are most certainly grateful to those who have signed up for military service, pledging their lives to defend our country.
Thanks so much for all the good wishes. It means a lot.
The day went much better than expected and I didn't feel the need for a drink the instant I got home.
Hey, Marque, I read that Henderson piece yesterday, and just wanted to say you did an excellent job of condensing and summing it up.
Like you, I'm also grateful to those "pledging their lives to defend our country" by joining the military.
But I'd be even more grateful if more folks would simply sign up for duty as truly responsible citizens, as opposed to tribal warriors and professional malcontents, and then "mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" to defend and maintain this country we all love. Defending America is not the duty of our armed forces alone, nor should it be. And it doesn't require everyone to be capable of performing close order drill or even being able to shoot a gun, although sadly there are apparently some who believe that last is true.
This little citizens' militia you've put together here at CSLF comes to mind as a *recruitment* model. Props for what you and its *members* do here each and every day.