Dem
47
GOP
53
There was an interesting story out of the military world yesterday, as the Army announced that, for the first time in several years, it met its recruitment goals in 2024 (roughly 50,000 new soldiers).
What explains the Army's newfound success? There are two ways to answer that question, one of them simple and one complicated. The simple answer is that enlistment of female soldiers was way up; nearly 20%. Enlistment of male soldiers was up, too, although by a smaller percentage; about 8%. Undoubtedly, some number of those new enlistees are actually trans (since enlistment is an effective way to escape hostile families/communities), but the Army either doesn't have that information yet, or chose not to provide it.
The complicated answer is... not entirely clear right now. That is to say, the Army doesn't exactly know why enrollment was up so much, particularly among women. There is no particular initiative or advertising campaign that the Pentagon can point to in order to explain why 2024 was so much better, recruitment-wise, than 2023 or 2022. That said, women are much less likely to have criminal records, and are much more likely to be pursuing higher education, than men. The former makes women less likely to be disqualified from service; the latter makes women more likely to be interested in ROTC and other tuition-payment options.
Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth is, of course, quite hostile to women soldiers (especially in combat). If he is confirmed, then he clearly will have to get over that pronto, assuming he wants the Army to be at full strength. (Z)