INTEREST IN MILITARY SERVICE DECLINING
Gen. Paul Funk speakes
Thu, 06/02/2022 - 11:00
The general officer in charge of recruiting the next generation of soldiers said the shrinking pool of young people who are eligible to serve represents “a problem in our nation.”
Gen. Paul Funk, commander of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, said the two biggest hurdles to qualifying young people for service are obesity and addiction, which he considers “national security issues that we’ve got to address.”
But ahead of those two issues and, more important, is a prevailing lack of willingness to serve. More than 50% of young people “have never considered service to the nation,” Funk said June 2 at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army as part of its Coffee Series.
“If you want to ask me what the biggest challenge facing our nation today is, it’s the propensity to serve, it’s down at its lowest level,” he said.
https://www.ausa.org/news/interest-military-service-declining