That really is the Republican / Trump logic in yet another nutshell. Biden economy is so good that basically everyone now (other than convicted felons) have better options than poor-paying and potentially risky military service.
It's high paying and less risky than taxi driver for most enlisted even during a war. There are other risks, too, you know. Some of these are associated with college that a lot of people ignore that are far more common such as earnings risk, academic mismatch/graduating risk, and financing risk. Even then, most of those careers won't pay as well as an enlisted military career (especially if including disability) and you're competing with more capable people (the college bound vs. ASVAB middle school level content screen for enlisted) for the best positions and promotions in a given field.
A lot of people that join wouldn’t even consider jobs like police, trucker, lineman, or roofer, so that should already tell you something. Democrat politicians want minorities and women (even as they suggest 1/3 experience MST or "military sexual trauma”) to join. They don't want diversity for nothing. Both officer and enlisted make around 90th percentile of civilian equivalents on RMC alone (and enlisted more than most BA/BS holders and officers obviously well above) and even in AF you can rank to E-7 in just 10 years. That isn't comparing per diems, reenlistment bonuses, special pays, free pension/subsidized health care at 38, etc..
But by far the biggest benefit is military “disability” so it's optimal to just do one enlistment which can make your time in military one of the highest paid positions in the US. Anyone that wants it gets it currently and it has been this way for awhile, which with COLA is around 5 million plus in benefits at 100% P&T (most common combined rating). It’s the easiest way to be a millionaire at the start of your 20s. If everyone else had worker's comp like this where you can easily get 2-4k monthly lifetime checks and no cost healthcare, you would need trillions annually.
Rather than finding ways to, say, 1) make military service more attractive, and 2) make the military more efficient with less standing manpower
No, it’s because of the inane medical accession standards, which ironically the same government will allow 100% P&T to be cops and pilots. This was made worse with the rollout of Genesis because at least before a lot of things could be hidden and not mentioned. Democrat pols don't care about this kind of discrimination because it's allowing more minorities to get in when the ASVAB score cutoffs have to be lowered.
Leaders blame various factors for the recruiting crisis. But some recruiters on the front lines say one big cause is missing from the conversation.
www.militarytimes.com
The United States' military is struggling to meet its recruiting goals, as many Americans either don't want to serve or are ineligible to do so, due to obesity, drugs, or other problems. Short of a draft, there are several ways to help people who would like to enlist meet the standards needed.
www.brookings.edu
“We must revamp military accessions and recruiting based on practicality and necessary force effectiveness. With only 25% of the target population for military service able to meet accession standards, the services compete with each other and private industry for the same talent. There are two ways to address this issue: either change the requirements so more people are eligible or make more people able to meet the requirements. Pursue both in short order.”
^ The quality would go up as they would no longer have to take all these special ed people by lowering the ASVAB cutoff. It doesn’t help either though that both veterans and politicians have incentives to lie about military compensation to the public, so something like what Peru (I think) did with college degrees and earnings for students to look at would get more people to enlist and they would all be breaking down the recruiter's door if they knew about all the legalized fraud going on with military "disability".
No, the rich are note exempt. Just those too dumb to pay a doctor to diagnose bone spurs.
lol. The smart thing for most people who aren't trust fund babies is to enlist and
then make doc appointments for that sweet disability check and no cost health care. It's better than Boebert trying to hang on for the Congressional benefits that's considerably less and she can't even draw until 60s (if say she got 3 terms for eligibility and was dropped next cycle).