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Key Points and Summary: The U.S. Army is grappling with a recruiting gender gap, as male enlistments have dropped 35% over the last decade while female enlistments remain steady.

-Experts attribute this trend to societal shifts affecting young men, including mental health issues, lack of motivation, and political perceptions of the military.

-Meanwhile, women’s steady enlistment rates contrast with higher college attendance. The Army might benefit from tailoring recruitment strategies: emphasizing career development for women and promoting adventure and excitement to appeal to young men.

-As the Army adapts to these changes, addressing societal trends will be key to meeting recruitment goals.

Should the U.S. Army Recruit Males and Females Differently?

One of the difficulties of U.S. Army recruiting is trying to predict what young people think and what they believe about their future career prospects. 

The current economy, geopolitical events, and the military threat environment can guide this. Phases in war and peace, such as the end of the Cold War and the advent of the Global War on Terror, affect recruiting levels. 

Plus, the unemployment rate’s ups and downs can drive how many people raise their right hand and take the oath of enlistment.

Army Has a Recruiting Gender Gap

Sometimes, this breaks down by gender. 

Most recruiting scenarios combine males and females for statistics on recruiting, and the Army has endured its struggles in this regard. 

But sometimes, the numbers of men and women recruits affect the overall totals differently.

Over the last ten years, it has been men who have not volunteered as much as women. 

The number of females joining the Army has remained the same over the last decade, but males are less likely to enlist.

An investigation conducted by Military.com in June 2024 revealed that “since 2013, male enlistments have dropped 35 percent, going from 58,000 men enlisting in 2013 to 37,700 in 2023, according to the service data. Meanwhile, female recruitment has hovered around 10,000 recruits each year.”

A Soldier assigned to the 109th Transportation Company, 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, U.S. Army Alaska, handles a M136E1 AT4-CS confined space light anti-armor weapon during live-fire training at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Oct. 12, 2017. The Soldiers of 17th CSSB recently completed a series of live-fire training events that honed their skills on a variety of weapon systems to include: the M4 carbine, the M9 pistol, the M203 grenade launcher, and the M136E1 AT4-CS confined space light anti-armor weapon. (U.S. Air Force photo by Alejandro Peña)

Hey Guys, What’s the Problem?

Last year, the Army had a shortage of 10,000 recruits. So, what’s wrong with young males who usually seem enamored with military service? Conventional wisdom would predict that women may not want to join the Army. Now, the reverse is true.

Men Are Going Through Social Development Issues

Men who recently graduated from high school are struggling to transition to adulthood. 

They are more likely to drink alcohol, take illegal drugs, and smoke. Men may also have the proclivity to commit suicide or die from drug overdoses. 

They can sometimes be overweight or out of shape and may have mental health issues that could eliminate them from the pool of eligible candidates.

Some critics have pointed out that young men are becoming more conservative politically and are avoiding service because of the so-called leftwing “woke military.” 

It is difficult to determine the political views of high school students, but exit polls have determined that more young men voted for Donald Trump than women of similar age in 2024. That could mean that males from 18 to 22 years old lean more towards the Right. 

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are avoiding service for political reasons.

More Women Are Choosing College While Men Lag

Another mystery is women’s employment prospects and how more are choosing to go to college rather than taking jobs right out of high school. 

M14 U.S. Army Training

U.S. Army Sgt. Andrew Barnett scans the area using the optic lens on his M14 enhanced battle rifle outside an Afghan border police observation point in Kunar province, Afghanistan, Jan. 28, 2013. Barnett is assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jon Heinrich

More females attend university than males. This means that the Army should have a large pool of men to choose from, but males are just not visiting recruiters and signing up as often.

“[This] goes way beyond military recruitment,” Ronald Levant, professor of psychology at the University of Akron and former president of the American Psychological Association, told Military.com. “It really has to do with social change. I think there is a motivational syndrome that seems to permeate a lot of young men today. They’re just not motivated to do very much.”

The Case of the Lazy Young Man

Does that mean that women are more motivated? My 16-year-old son is not very organized academically but has ample attention to detail when pursuing hobbies and specific schoolwork such as the hard sciences. 

He is highly motivated to do things he enjoys and less motivated in academic subjects he is not interested in. 

This is a natural occurrence for many teenagers, both male and female. How it affects recruiting for the military is not clear.

The Army should tailor their recruiting efforts to males and females differently. Women may be more likely to enlist for reasons that lead to career advancement and professional development, so monetary bonuses and the Post-9/11 GI Bill may be better incentives when advertising and marketing the Army to them. 

U.S. Army

The Army’s goals are to train incoming civilians to become more than they once were — warfighters capable of managing the stresses of their role within the defense apparatus.

While men could be recruited by playing to their sense of fun and adventure, so I enlisted in the Army. I wanted to get out of my tedious desk job and quit pushing a mouse around. I wanted to see the world and live a life of danger. 

This may be the answer to get young men away from playing video games, staying up late at night watching TikTok videos, and sleeping the day away. Inspire them to do adventurous things; you could have some willing recruits who dare to win at all things in life.

About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood 

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus, two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.