[polldaddy poll=1287724]More Americans are joining the military as the job market further disintegrates. With 2.5 million Americans freshly unemployed in 2008–and prospects for millions more in 2009–the military is seeing high recruiting times. Granted the military offers security, training, and a chance to buff up your resume. However, it also capitalizes on the financial insecurity of millions of Americans. It is headlines like these, along with the military’s slightly suspect history of recruiting young high-schoolers, that leads me to be a bit apoplectic. At a time when the US economy needs people to reenter the workforce with their ingenuity and drive, we see the opposite happening: brains are moving into the military for a paycheck, in exchange for a contract on their life. At a time when the US war in Iraq promises to scale back (thought the Afghanistan front will likely reignite), my personal hope is that these individuals do, indeed, find the fulfillment their seeking. However, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a decision driven by fear more than opportunity, and that ultimately, no one–neither the individual, the military, or the world–is the better.
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