With an estimated 80% of serving personnel having an immediate family member who also serves/served, the generational military family cohort is the #1 provider of today's recruits. That's 80% of the less than one-half of 1% of Americans who serve in the armed forces.
When older (or still serving) familial veterans start advising their youngest relatives to avoid military service... it's a huge & worrisome red flag. A signal that the root of the tree is dying.
Current recruiting shortfalls are a concrete manifestation of how gefuckt-up things have gotten in today's military.
We have a bad economy and no ongoing major conflict. Normally, those two factors would contribute to more (not fewer) folks seeking military service.
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