Good Morning!

AAV is back from a two-week hiatus, so let's see what's going on...


I think for the most part we're X-ers here. There may be a stray tail-end Boomer among us, but for the most part, the 80s are us.

Think back to those years when we were younger - did many of your friends enlist in the military? I'll confess that I looked really hard at the Navy back in '84 when I was graduating. I have a family history with that branch of the service - but I wanted to fly. I had the grades, but I didn't have the eyes. My recruiter thought I'd be good running a radar station, but I point blank told him that if I can't fly it, I'm not going in, and that was that. (A decision I do regret every now and again.)

Some of my friends did serve - and over time I've met many more folks that did serve back in the day. Of course, the first Gulf War was "our war", and many of my Scouting friends were there.

But fast-forward 40 years now. The current generation is called "Gen Z" or "Post Millennial". Our own Javier is one of these. This is the generation we've heard tell of - drinking their lattes, living at home, and complaining that they can never afford a house. I say it's no different than any previous generation. Whiners are going to whine, and the go-getters will "go and get". I'm marveling watching Javi and his almost-fiancee, spending a day in Disney with the both of them and listening to side chatter about maybe houses and babies and a future together - they both know what they want and are doing the necessary things to move in that direction.

But what does any of this have to do with veterans? Continuing to read and research for this column, there has been a multi-year trend with all branches of the military wondering about their recruiting, I'm starting to wonder if there is a generational shift of sorts. Despite the trials and tribulations of society, it appears that the military is becoming less attractive than it may have been in the past. I've got to go back to the Great Recession for my anecdote. This would have been around 2009 or so. A young man I worked with at the store had just gotten out of the service, and he was killing time in retail until he got something better. He eventually gave up and re-enlisted, telling us "There's nothing better out there right now.".

It does make me ponder. You know it's been 17 years that I've been writing this column. Most of the time, reporting on the costs of our military in both blood and treasure. Yet politically and socially, the military always seems to get whatever it wants and needs, with little concern for those citizens that choose to serve.

It is a small step, but perhaps it is the first one on a new path; one where the military does not get the primacy that it always had, simply because nobody wants to voluntarily do it anymore?

[Ed - not much of a veteran's column today, I know. For context, here is the story that inspired my muse today. "Can the Army fill its ranks?"]