Navy releases new SEAL selection and training video

In an apparent move to attract more candidates, the Navy has released a new recruiting video about the Navy SEAL selection and training process. Many people don’t realize that shiny military career fields in special operations—such as SEALs, Green Berets, Rangers, Pararescuemen, and Marine Recon—serve as a great way to recruit quality people for the […]

The US Air Force’s most critical enlisted jobs are going unfilled

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has exposed a personnel crisis within the United States Air Force (USAF). Although the USAF has some of the best aircraft and pilots in the world, it is struggling to train and retain enough enlisted personnel to maintain its fleets. Although in 2017, the USAF had […]

The US Air Force’s most critical enlisted jobs are going unfilled

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has exposed a personnel crisis within the United States Air Force (USAF). Although the USAF has some of the best aircraft and pilots in the world, it is struggling to train and retain enough enlisted personnel to maintain its fleets. Although in 2017, the USAF had […]

Warriors needed: Special Operations units offer bonuses to boost ranks

Despite the astounding success of America’s Special Operations Forces (SOF), decades of conflict and consecutive high-tempo deployments have taken their toll. Army SOF units are having trouble filling their ranks. In an attempt to alleviate this conundrum, the U.S. Army is offering financial incentives to applicants willing to try out for SOF units. Although far […]

Opinion: Why are military recruitment numbers down? Broken promises

A recent influx of headlines about the U.S. Army failing to hit its recruiting goals last year and the U.S. Air Force facing a longstanding pilot shortage prompted a resurgence in concerns about how to effectively draw young Americans to the clarion call of service. You’ll find proposed solutions (“give them more money!”) to assigned […]

China will soon have 3 aircraft carriers, lots of pilots, but no aircraft

China’s long-serving aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, boasts a small fleet of troubled J-15s and, as of 2016, only 25 qualified pilots. Now, as the Chinese test and expedite production of two new domestically developed aircraft carriers, they face a number of significant challenges. Their goal is to become a true “blue water” Navy. But they still have much […]

Child soldiers in 2018

Soldiers are asked to carry out some of the most unimaginably difficult and horrifying tasks a human could be asked to do. They risk their own life and limb, they are sometimes forced to watch as their friends are slaughtered, they take lives and damage families, and they often come home wounded physically or mentally. […]

When the US Army uses a video game for recruitment

I lay prone next to a wooden shed, my M16A2 up at the ready. In my sights was a lone enemy figure, some 50 yards away who had just entered my field of view. I bring up the rifle to quickly line up my rear sight with my front sight post. The sights bobbed just […]

Germany’s new military recruitment strategy for the Trump era? A reality show.

Advertising Germany’s military as a success story is hardly an easy task — even if one ignores its troubled history. Abroad, it is often perceived as a lightweight army, restricted by stringent rules and a decades-old political consensus that post-World War II Germany should exert its influence by diplomacy rather than force. Two years ago, the lack of […]