Why GenZ won't join the Military 

Hard to compel people to join the military when we see how veterans are treated.

It's almost as if people aren't willing to risk their lives for a country that literally hates them

Someone once asked me what it was like being in the military. I said, "Think about your high school bully. Now, imagine he's your boss and you live with him."

My best friend went into the military and came within 2 years stricken with brain damage. VA barely helped, up until we lost him through suicide about 6 years ago. Look out for you and the people in your community locally. The trouble is really in our backyard

one thing I actually respect about the Gen Z. let the politicians fight their own wars.

My dad is a desert storm veteran and has always told me he doesn’t want any of his children to join the military, he barely sleeps and has to jump through hoops to get his VA benefits. Me and my siblings saw how America treats its vets and want no part of it.

The military suffered 3 big losses in a very short time. The withdrawal from Afghanistan. The COVID debacle and the poor treatment of soldiers related to that. As well as the overt politicization from the general officers. This generated a ton of resentment in the ranks towards the higher ups. I always tell people the worst loss the military can suffer is a disgruntled veteran. And the last few years have created a TON of disgruntled vets and soldiers.

Ex-army here and i wont stop telling people how bad it was for me and how terrible it actually is. I wasn't respect when i was in, I was a glorified janitor and the amount of details we had to do(extra duty) was absurd. I love my job but i never did it. I would walk back to my barracks seeing people cry in their cars. The sign for "last incident since drunk driving" stayed at zero for a week straight one time. We couldnt get past 30 days most of the time. If you weren't drinking, there was a high chance you doing drugs on the weekends.

I've talked to vets as well, they tell me the same thing: don't join. Basically citing that they don't care about you.

It is time to start enlisting politicians to fight wars. The military’s goal has never been to “defend the country”, it is to defend and protect the interests of politicians

Not a vet, but I've worked and interacted with tons as a registered nurse in my hospital. Pretty much all of them have told me you're abandoned and forgotten about after service, it's nearly impossible to get their VA benefits, and they have lifelong repercussions of their service (be it mental or physical). Yeah, I can see why they have a shortfall. Our generation is lucky enough to have all this information available to us before deciding to enlist, and I'd rather not be wringed by the U.S government for all my worth only to get nothing in return.

My son is 22 years old and is a technical engineer in the army. He says it is toxic leadership and having to fight for your benefits. He is getting out next year and they already told him that he is getting a general discharge which means he won’t get his GI Bill. His commander right now is fighting for my son to get his benefits.

Finally a generation that realizes that defending your family and country is completely different from sacrificing your life at the whim of the military industrial complex and the commander in chief in some foreign land.

Do recruiters not realize that the problem isn’t that they aren’t making enough tik toks but that no one wants to go fight a war to make other people richer

Young people making 6 figures making Tik Toks it’s a short conversation.

Why fight for democracy abroad when democracy doesn't work at home

The Army only pretends to care about you up until the point where you're counted as a number in their recruiting statistics. After that you're worthless to them. I joined in 2018 during a 6,000 troop shortage and I suffered from starvation at in-processing. I had to fight passing out every morning while others vomited water due to their empty stomachs. Recruits were not allowed to use the bathroom so they peed on themselves. A girl I knew had to stay behind because her knees got infected and they wouldn't let her get treatment. I was even called a liar by the drill sergeant when I did not have any towels in my bag so I had to beg the other recruits for their extras. Even the civilians were straight-up extremely rude and disrespectful. Every day it was made very clear to us that we weren't wanted or needed there. Then in basic I was sick with severe chronic bronchitis, weighed 96 lbs due to constant vomiting and coughing, and wasn't allowed to go to medical until blue phase. When I did all I got was simply cough medicine which did nothing for me. The only reason I was able to pass all my PT tests is because of the training I did before I joined. Pain and heart tolerance while running everyday prepared me more than anything else. After that you are sent to AIT, which is prison school. You can't go anywhere by yourself. Not even to turn a corner or go to the dumpster. Doing anything at all becomes 10X more difficult. I was screwed out of my machining certs when I was put in night classes, so that simply is another tell-tale sign that the Army doesn't care about MOS proficiency. Finally, you end up in your unit, and if you're lucky you'll get to do your job. Otherwise, you're stuck doing endless worthless details which is going to cause early burnout with nothing to show for it. Let's also not forget the complicated six-event ACFT, and the mandatory PT you are required to do with your unit every single morning. This PT is not efficient enough to prepare you for the ACFT test so you have to go to the gym after work and use up even more of your slim free time. Soldiers often get injured because they are not given enough time to rest. I thought I was going to be stuck with knee problems for the rest of my life due to an over-use injury (thank god for covid). The other branches don't have issues like the ones I just presented. Whenever they are stationed in places that have joint AIT they see us being treated terribly and become embarrassed for us. We really are a laughing stock to them and it's sad af. We go through way more abuse for way less benefit. The Army simply can't compete with the other branches in terms of quality of life and MOS training. My service was a complete waste of time and I got nothing out of it. That is why we have a 15,000 troop shortage. Toxic leadership destroyed the Army in addition to all the other issues I presented. Veterans are telling their kids not to join and I've done my own fair share of getting the word out. The greater the shortage the better because then it will force the Army to change. Edit: Some of the toxic individuals who have served for 20 years like to come on here and call me a liar and say that I'm exaggerating, but everything I said here is the truth. This is why you should always take their opinions with a grain of salt. We're talking about modern-day Army and this is just a small amount of the BS I had to go through. If you think 'wokeism' is the Army's biggest problem today you need a reality check.

Old guys like myself who served after Vietnam during peace time the military was completely different to today. Back in the day it was worth it being so many people were patriotic and wanted to wear the uniform. I see today how much has changed over the years and we have a government that is so corrupt and members of Congress who hate America along with civilians. I look around and ask why would these young people want to give their life for this country. If I was young today I would say no way!

Not from the US but I'm GenZ and I'd do my best to avoid ending up in a military. With so many information available now we know what war is like. It's hell. You might lose your life, your friends or get injured to the point where you're somewhat crippled for the rest of your life while being forced to kill another people. That just seems so fucked up to me on so many levels and especially If the war is pointless.

And who wants to fight for a country when it no longer feels like "your" country...we are treated as economic itinerants so people are responding as such.

Your better off working 40 hours at McDonald's and living with your parents after leaving highschool than going to the military.

Don't forget soldiers who were fired for refusing to take covid jab

The issue isn’t just recruiting. Failing to retain the Service Members that are serving is a significant factor that needs to be addressed. A good friend of mine told me there BN CDR said every (1) Soldier they get. The unit loses (2-3), and while reasons for leaving vary person to person. My friend says one of the most common reasons for Service Members leaving in his unit is due to poor leadership. Additionally, the units have to work their Service Members harder due to the known personnel shortage across the military and I can see why people don't to stay in.

The first thing the military needs to do is to fix their toxic leadership issues. That is what is lowering both the military retention and recruits. I'm not saying the all of the military is bad. There are units that have very bad leaders. Favoritism is a very big issue in the military because it is what lowers the unit morale. Toxic leadership is the number one reasons why people are leaving and people are not joining.

I did my 6years and I tell everyone that it isn't worth it. Bad culture, low pay, you are reminded daily that you are expandable, and after you get health issues, drug addiction and PTSD

Just got yelled at for 7 hours and forced to sit in a conference room till 7 PM because some old man told another old man he doesn't like our rooms, while neither of them live near us.

Maybe Gen-Z remembers what happened during Vietnam. I can't say I blame them.

I am a Gen Z male that never served but I hope the recruitment issue gets worst maybe then our Government will stop being the world police and focus more on issues here within our own borders.

The military eliminated its pension benefit and replaced it with a 401k program. This removed a major incentive to enlist and stay in for 20 years.

Everyone in every city in the US has seen homeless veterans drinking/doing drugs on the streets. And the government still has the gall to ask us why we don't want to join the military.

Why should young people risk having their lives cut short for the sake of politicians?

I come from a long line of military. Grandpa was a WW2 infantryman who earned a Purple Heart at Normandy. Dad was a Green Beret in Vietnam. I was a cavalry officer in Iraq. I got severly wounded and earned a Purple Heart also. I have two young sons. I'm hoping to keep them from joining. We've sacrificed enough as a family and I've seen how the govt treats us once we return. They [officials] are worried about what books are in a HS library but OK brainwashing a kid ONE year later to go sacrifice their body ,without upholding those promises of carr in the case of ,f or reasons not entirely clear. The patriotic propaganda built out of WW2 reels that we are fighting for democracy worked then, it's a myth now.

The younger generation just don't wanna fight pointless wars that are caused to benefit the ruling elites.

I once failed a barracks room inspection because of a spec of dust and had to do a re inspection in my dress whites, failed the re inspection because of a small crease in my pants and had a bad reputation of uncleanliness go up the chain of command. It was ridiculous, you would think I committed some heinous crime by the way I was being treated. it was almost like a form of hazing and disrespect. Toxic leadership is the problem

As a 24 year old that has spent a better portion of their young adult life in college just aimlessly switching concentrations about 5-6 times due to getting into college without a set purpose and recently decided to not finish college, I’ve just now started to consider entering the Air Force due to it possibly being a way for me to hopefully find something that I can do with my life. But, watching videos like these make me somewhat question if I should enter or not and just put me in a deeper hole lacking of purpose or clear objective as to what to do in life.

Best generation ever, a generation who knows that fighting for the greed of some billionare is not worth their life

nobody wants to die because some old politicians that are fighting for power. Die for your country is a waste of your life and probably the soldiers that are fighting in Ukraine think the same from both sides

We've finally seen through the "Fighting for freedom" bullshits

Gen Z generally does a good job of doing their homework before committing to something big. I've been approached by numerous Gen Z's asking about my time in the military and what jobs in the military really do. I've prevented a lot from getting shafted, but I've also helped some make the decision to join after I've dispelled the stigmas and myths about specific jobs. It is a lot easier to clear up rumors and stories if you sit them down in front of people who actually do said job.

I also got denied because of having ADHD. I graduated from college and could not get a medical record of when a doctor took me off my meds because I went off the ADHD meds on my own. That was a red flag for qualification.

“a rich man's war but a poor man's fight.”

pretty sure there's mandatory military for men in south korea

Genz aren't delusional morons like the other generations. First generation I've seen that didn't let Boomers bully them.

Almost as if gen z doesn't condone violence in the name of patriotism

This problem is made worse by the fact that, of the GenZ cohort who want to join the military, many of them don't meet the physical requirements to be eligible. This is the result of our population becoming increasingly obese and sedentary with each generation.

I am a Marine who got out last year. I have always thought that they should force military-age politicians to serve as platoon/company commanders when deciding to declare war. I think they would feel a certain way after making that declaration. The military is also a part of the problem. Many of us don't see the problem while we are in and don't understand how we are being manipulated.

Cost of living is too high to even have to consider joining if in the end the skills you gain from the military won’t help you get a job that pays well to live comfortably. Like will your skills be relevant in the end? Most likely not. Best to use them 4 years to learn a valuable skill. 🤷‍♂️

Yes as a veteran/ father after I went above and beyond for the army and when I was injured they threw me out like trash and had offered me surgeries but decided to Med board me. One of my mentally breaking points besides my injuries that made it impossible to do my job was my soldiers ( I was their medic) commit suicide right under my nose. I couldn’t keep up with all my men’s mental health do to them taking away my medics and only 2 of us running a company. I would not recommend my kids to go even though my boys are obsessed with it even after what they say me go through and my current problems.

We have a recruiting crisis? Send kids of politicians kids of, heads of industry, kids of billionaires, deca millionaires, foreign investors, strong wamon, brave trans folks, and everyone who votes for the current president. I think young American healthy men have fought way more then others ☺️

As a Army Vet that served in the 82nd airborne division 504 infantry brigade 30 years ago the largest reason for the shortfall I believe is that conservative rural and small town white straight men are increasingly refusing to join. This demographic has always been the backbone in numbers of recruits for the military. They don't feel like their service is appreciated or wanted anymore. If a war breaks out who do you think is going to be put on the front line meat grinder, the lesbian woman, trans woman filing they/thems nails, or the white country boy from Kentucky, they all receive the same pay and benefits but they are not treated the same. Black Americans have never really trusted the military so their numbers have always been low, so I wonder who is going to be left to service in this new sensitive caring Rainbow military. I told my son not to enlist, and I would never want my daughters to enlist even if they wanted to.

95% of kids first impression of the military who’s parents aren’t in the military are veterans on the side of the road having to beg for money after being abandoned by the government they served and in a lot of cases lost limbs for.

3 things I hate in the military 11b -If you’re right ur wrong and if one sgt is against u, even if you’re right all sgt will be against u -bad pay -walk through mud/rain/forest at night/early mornings with no sleep

People don't want to be slaves to the military industrial complex. people are more informed and know what really is going on. This is good news.

Why go overseas to kill a bunch of people I didn't start a fight with? Hard to convince someone to go over to fight and maybe die on foreign soil for some murky sense of the greater good.

Spot on, I served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 82nd ABN. I would never want my son to experience the ongoing stress and pain of things that happened that I dealt with 10- 20 years ago

They don’t need a better marketing budget; they need to pay their fcking troops a reasonable wage for putting their lives on the line

Why GenZ won't join the Military. Wow, this generation is smarter than I give them credit for.

“Reducing its training standards” “Reducing its standards” All seems like a higher likelihood to die in battle.

The thing too is retention is pretty bad as well. I got out mainly dude to low pay, how awful the barracks are, and all the extra bs you have to deal with.

Korea (at least in 2010 when i was stationed there) has a mandatory service of two years. after that, if you stay voluntarily, you got a promotion, pay increase, and such. I may be wrong though. Times change.

Joined because I wanted to protect others and advance my career at the same time. I don't regret trying to help others, but I was treated like shit for the 6 years I was in. Couldn't even work in the rate I selected which required an extra 2 years on my contract.

It's not a military problem. It's a "who's in charge" problem.

There is also the quality of life and respect aspects. Higher ranking individuals easily often disrepect lower ranking and younger individuals and disregard their concerns. No one is gonna want to join, knowing that they're not gonna be taken seriously. I got out of the navy for that reason.

To become a NCO in the ARMY you have to make points. Points differ depending on MOS. My MOS typically stays at 500 or more. Other MOS’s are so low you just have to breathe to get promoted. But here’s the kicker, once you put that rank on it doesn’t matter what MOS you are, you are now in a leadership position.

Why fight for a country and elite that hate you?

I always wanted to join the military but I put it off for years. I joined the Air Force two years ago at 27. Don’t join. I was in basic two weeks from graduation when the Afghanistan withdrawal happened. Absolutely disgraceful. I’ve also seen plenty of people get accused of sexism, racism, homophobia and all that other stuff and basically no way of defending themselves because the military is bias in one way. Hard to form an effective team when you can’t trust other people to not stab you in the back. I’m glad I gave it a shot but I’m getting out as soon as I can.

in an age of youtube and tiktok the military ain't foolin nobody about the experience lol back in the day if you could get them to basic they had you trapped.If they want to fix the recruiting problem they need to fix the military at the institutional level. It's not going to matter how good your advertising is if the vast majority of people getting out are disgruntled from a markedly poor experience, because veterans have always been your loudest advertisers.

My co-worker was in the Air Force and was never deployed yet is a disabled veteran. What happened was the military put him on so many medications.

I'm a sergeant in the Army Reserve. Don't join! They're not even paying me properly. Kinda pitiful that the best, most well-funded army in the world can't even pay the soldiers that are already in.

The military has also been picky about who they recruit. My wife and I pushed my son to serve who has a bachelor's degree, he was flagged for high blood pressure. but later passed, but he was talked out by relatives. A colleague's son was flagged for acne. They make it difficult for people to just give up.

You said korea was a voluntary military.. idk where you got your info but when I was over there all the katusa soldiers/ roak soldiers def said it was mandatory

I like on how you stated that we should be involved in charity and being more aware of politics if we want to cooperate with the gov. Thats also a good way to avoid paying a lot of taxes. Donating and trying to be involved here in the United States.

After almost 50 years of misusing them and abusing them is the reason. It is a sign of intelligence to learn from other's mistakes.

I'm active duty, and everything he says here is pretty accurate. There are very few reasons to join right now, and I don't really recommend it to anyone.

When I tried to join I had (and still have) flat feet and my shoulders were off set. MEPPS denied me. With their restrictions on meds I don’t see how I would join now.

i am not aware of any studies which prove a diverse military is better? links plz?

People watched a generation of veterans get destroyed and treated horribly while fighting for their General’s Raytheon Board seat

I have a respect for gen Z not swallowing the patriotic bs that lead to two futile wars.

hey hi, just wanted to let you know there was a misspell in your Thumbnail.. I think it should read: Cannon Fodder Wanted

South Korea has never had a volunteer program since its inception but a conscription one like how my grandfather was sent into the ROKN at age seventeen during the onset of the Korean Conflict. Its only voluntary to Korean Americans who wish to obtain Korean citizenships.

I though Emma and her Two moms had things dialled in.

“Sir, maybe we should focus on morale so the soldier don’t want to deep throat a 12 gauge? Maybe THEN we could attract applicants?” “No, Johnson, we need to make TikToks.”

Nobody wants to be stripped of their human rights to fight and defend billionaire cooperations and politicians who don’t care about people. I served seven years and regretted every moment of it. Permanently damaged my body and my psych just to get out with zero experience.

I was a Quartermaster Supply Sergeant for the Army for 9/13 years and 3 deployments under my belt and overall I enjoyed my time and experience during my 13 years service. To me there were more positives then negatives being in the military, but the negatives when they occurred were pretty serious and intense. After 13.25 years of service in total I was sent to a review board to have my entire career under review because during the last 15 months of my career I was going through a bit of a hard time in life because I lost 3 family members over a 15 months period, including my father 20 days before my 30th birthday and those events took there toll on me, my focus, my determination, my motivation, and it was a bit harder to push myself mentally for awhile and I ended up putting on a bit of weight. But during the last 3 months in I pulled my head out of my ass, got focused again, pushed myself hard and got motivated and lost all the weight just in time for the review board. So I was told by the board members that the reason I was sent to the board was for the overweight issue, but that is no longer an issue, however some of the board members saw me as a stagnant E5/NCO who had been a E5 Sergeant for 9 years already going on 10 and I guess the average for my MOS job Quartermaster getting promoted from E5-E6 the average was 8 years. So after 3 hours of deliberation it was a 2-1 vote to release me 25 months early from my contract with a Honorable Discharge, VA Benefits, G.I. Bill usage, and a $21K severance package and I got out about 6 weeks later. I love how they just let me go 2 years early from my contract in which I just wanted to stay in for my last 2 years I signed up for and then get out, I didn't even want to reenlist at that point because the leadership was horrible and full of morons. So, I was an outstanding soldier with two dozen medals, a Combat Action Badge, every unit I was a Supply Sergeant for I improved that units logistical efficiency by 90%-95% within the 2 years I was there compared to the average 3%-5% it was usually at when I took over, and the main reason they let me go was because I wasn't volunteering to go to there stupid outdated NCO promotion boards that have nothing to do with being a good leader and knowing your MOS job inside out by heart and that's why I never cared to volunteer to get promoted, otherwise I would have if the promotion boards actually made sense. I have several ideas of what the Army could do to make major changes to were more Americans would enlist. One major idea is that if the young people don't want to then maybe push back the maximum age group from 38 to like 40-42. Allow those who already served, who would be will to serve again like me, to sign back up, be given one hell of a good sig-on bonus, bump-up our original rank by one, have us go back through basic training and AIT to get back in shape and get updated training for the current times and also the really need to overall there AIT training syllabus for the only absolute necessary knowledge to get them started within their fields, not throw more in-depth information then they really need to know or that they will never actually use because that happens a lot, depending on someone's rank and job position they are usually given 2-3 times more training and info then they really needed to know and that is frustrating and confusing. Just with my 13 years of knowledge and experience I could tell Army high ranking officials where they are screwing up and going completely wrong and share with them a multitude of creative ideas on how to improve upon it, but will they actually listen, properly not!

Genz is clever enough not to die for richs

The all volunteer military has always had recruiting problems in normal times when unemployment was especially low.

When I was in the army in 95 I lived in barracks that had a roach problem. If I got up in the middle of the night I always had to remember to turn on the lights so I wouldn’t step on one. Maybe by now they are a little nicer?

My dad was in the navy for a quarter of a century. My family and I had to move every few years. In addition, Dad was often away from home - sometimes for months. That's why I never joined the military.

Most people only got 1 or 2 kids. Why have your kid killed for no reason.

Just retired from the active duty Air Force. I wouldn’t recommend staying 20 anymore, but I would still recommend doing a four year stint, getting the GI Bill and veteran status. Possibly learning a trade, and maybe get some college done.

Only reason I’m considering is because I’m scared I won’t get a job with my CS degree with all the tech lay offs

As a UK. vet, I would not recommend that anyone goes into the military, when you leave you are nothing but a third class citizen.

It is a Government of the Corporations. And more and more people are finally figuring that out. Once the people noticed this the only real question is why would they fight for it?

Fought in Afghanistan in ‘09 with the paratroopers. Telling all of my nephews that if they have any other options whatsoever, to stay out.

As Swiss dude i am forced to go to military, while on the recruitment days, we had all about 19-21 peeps there, i am 23. Its just all young brains, that are completely unmotivated. Im the only one that is extremely excited to join the military, change my life to good and serve the country that keeps me and gives me food and water.

This generation is more knowledgeable than we were. Our parents were born in the 20’s and 30’s.

Short answer: It's not worth it anymore and there are far better opportunities and ways people wish to live their lives and who can blame them.

Ok genuine question, why does it matter if the military isn’t diverse?

More pay would be better than the bonus honestly, I make less than 2k a month and the price of things continue to rise. After doing the paperwork to get my bonus, nothing has come through and its been almost a month.

I'm in the Army now, 6 years in. I spent all that time in a combat MOS and life has been absolutely miserable for a myriad of reasons. Though, I will say I would recommend the military for one reason in one scenario: If you join for the explicit goal of using your service as a stepping stone to a long term career in the civilian world. There is no other organization that will hire you off the street with no relevant education or experience, train you and educate you to do that job, and then of course provide you the on the job experience. All while paying you an alright amount. But that only works if you sign an MOS that the civilian world has a use for. I recently reclassed from a combat MOS to something that actually applies to civilian employment and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. I would only recommend service to people this applies to.