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Who Signs Up To Fight?
[NYT] COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ‐ The sergeant in charge of one of the busiest Army recruiting centers in Colorado, Sgt. 1st Class Dustin Comes, joined the Army, in part, because his father served. Now two of his four children say they want to serve, too. And he will not be surprised if the other two make the same decision once they are a little older."Hey, if that’s what your calling is, I encourage it, absolutely," said Comes, who wore a dagger-shaped patch on his camouflage uniform, signifying that he had been in combat. Enlisting, he said, enabled him to build a good life where, despite yearlong deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he felt proud of his work, got generous benefits, never worried about being laid off and earned enough that his wife could stay home to raise their children. "Show me a better deal for the common person," he said. Soldiers like him are increasingly making the U.S. military a family business. The men and women who sign up overwhelmingly come from counties in the South and a scattering of communities at the gates of military bases like Colorado Springs, which sits next to Fort Carson and several Air Force installations, and where the tradition of military service is deeply ingrained. More and more, new recruits are the children of old recruits. In 2019, 79% of Army recruits reported having a family member who served. For nearly 30%, it was a parent ‐ a striking point in a nation where less than 1% of the population serves in the military. For years, military leaders have been sounding the alarm over the growing gulf between communities that serve and those that do not, warning that relying on a small number of counties that reliably produce soldiers is unsustainable, particularly now amid escalating tensions with Iran. "A widening military-civilian divide increasingly impacts our ability to effectively recruit and sustain the force," Anthony Kurta, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service last year. "This disconnect is characterized by misperceptions, a lack of knowledge and an inability to identify with those who serve. It threatens our ability to recruit the number of quality youth with the needed skill sets to maintain our advantage." Posted by: Besoeker 2020-01-13 |
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