Military recruiting results in 2024 are much improved and five of the six military services met or exceeded their annual goals for active-duty forces. While this is welcome news, we should remain clear-eyed about the continued challenges. The recruiting environment remains one of the most difficult since the advent of the All Volunteer Force in 1973, with interest in serving low, disqualification rates high and the military-age population shrinking over the next decade. Both military and civilian leaders highlight the seriousness of the problem.
During his confirmation testimony in July 2023, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr. said a key part of the solution “is ensuring that young people” and their mentors “understand the opportunity to serve, and the great opportunities provided by serving in the military.”
The chairman is spot-on. Unfortunately, not enough Americans see military service as the opportunity he, and most veterans, know it to be. The percentage of youth who would consider joining the military, what the military calls propensity to serve, sits at a disappointing 11%. Only a minority of parents and grandparents would recommend joining the military. Some of their opinions, however, are formed from false narratives.
Most prominent of these false narratives is that of the damaged veteran. A Google news search for “Iraq veterans” or “Afghanistan veterans” overwhelmingly returns links to articles about pain, loss and trauma disproportionate to reality. It gives the impression that damage is the universal and exclusive veteran experience.
This narrative is reinforced by veterans’ charities and advocacy groups that do vital work but loudly tell only one side of the story. I was personally reminded how pervasive this narrative is when I recently applied to rent an apartment in California for which I was exceptionally qualified. After the owner learned I was in the military, he told me, “I once knew a captain in the National Guard. He had a lot of problems. I don’t think you’d be a good fit. Thank you for your service, though.”
This landlord’s opinion is seemingly shared by many Americans. According to a 2023 Rand report, the two most commonly held negative stereotypes of veterans are “damaged” and “mentally damaged.” 46% of those surveyed in the report believe that veterans are “likely” or “very likely” to do something violent towards themselves. According to Department of Defense surveys, the majority of youth uninterested in joining the military feel that way because of the possibility of injury, death or trauma.
The truth, however, is most will leave the military healthy, and with the character and tools to succeed as civilians. Hard data supports this. The veteran unemployment rate is consistently lower than the non-veteran rate. In October, 3% of veterans were unemployed versus 4.1% of non-veterans. Data from the Pew Research Center similarly shows that veterans, “have consistently had higher standards of living than non-veterans over the past 40 years,” and on average will earn more than non-veteran peers. There are cases where individuals struggle financially, but they aren’t broadly representative.
Veterans are a large and diverse group, and there are certainly many who do need help. Their stories are important, and they deserve assistance. Veterans overall, however, are not a damaged class. They are most often enhanced by their service. We can acknowledge this without diminishing those who have sacrificed or ignoring the real hardships and risks of service.
When recruits swear in to the military, they know they could go into harms way and risk injury or death in defense of their nation. They should not, however, confuse possibility with probability. They should know that the likeliest outcome by far is they will leave the service healthy and become highly successful civilians, like millions of veterans before them.
To ease our recruiting challenges and sustain the All Volunteer Force, we must paint for our communities a balanced and accurate picture of the military experience. Our fallen heroes, injured veterans, and those struggling as civilians are an important part of that picture. So are the millions of healthy, secure and thriving veterans who go unnoticed daily. Unfortunately, they often succeed in silence. The media, government officials, military leaders and veterans themselves ought to proactively tell these deserving stories.
Greco is a Marine Corps colonel and National Security Affairs Fellow for 2024-2025 at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton from 2021-2024 and will be stationed in San Diego upon completion of his fellowship. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. military or government.