The U.S. military used to be held in the highest esteem by the public. No more. Public confidence in the military has plummeted. The military has gone woke and is increasingly becoming a joke.
Contrast the way that the Navy used to recruit sailors with today.
Here’s how the Navy used to do it:
Here’s how the Navy does it today:
Despite a military budget close to $1 trillion a year, the Navy and the other services are facing a recruitment crisis.
That shouldn’t be a surprise. Why go through all the trouble of joining the Navy for drag shows when you can find than at your local public library or elementary school?
The problem is not with the ordinary soldier. Rather, it’s with the top brass that have become overly politicized.
A 2022 poll showed that 62 percent of Americans say that they have lost some or a lot of confidence in the military because it has become overly politicized.
In that same poll, only 48 percent of Americans said that they had a great deal of confidence in the military. In 2019, the last time that the poll was taken during the Trump Administration, 63 percent of Americans said that they had a great deal of confidence in the military.
It’s not just that the values of General Milley and company don’t reflect those of middle America. It’s that they insist on rubbing our noses in it. They treat small town and middle-class Americans—the demographics most likely to join the services—as the deplorables they think we are.
We can laugh at this one episode. You can be sure that the late night shows will. But this is not an isolated case. Consider the set of military recruitment ads in the video below.
Russia, China, Italy, Brazil and even Germany portray military service as filled with adventure, action, travel and being around cool stuff like tanks, planes and ships.
And the U.S. military: progressive politics.
It’s no wonder few want to join.