However, once again Trump has lost Credibility completely worldwide by statements like this.
He has also lost credibility by statements like "The U.S.S. Lincoln wasn't there long enough" which shows he was never in the military at all and has no touch at all with regular people in the military or throughout the U.S. especially the parents of soldiers and sailors.
So, as Trump turns the U.S. more and more into a scary sort of "Banana Republic" and all credibility is gone regarding ANYTHING Trump says by the American People and the world something serious has been lost:
ANY REAL SENSE OF ANY LOGICAL ORDER OR FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN NATIONS ON EARTH, ESPECIALLY OTHER DEMOCRACIES WHO CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT COMES OUT OF TRUMP'S MOUTH BECAUSE IT USUALLY HAS NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH ANY REALITY ANYWHERE!
Young
men in the U.S. will be automatically registered into the military
draft pool by this December through a measure signed into law last
December, formalizing a practice already conducted in much of the
country.
The
measure was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act,
the must-pass legislation that sets the Pentagon’s budget and policy
agenda, and has no relation to the current war with Iran.
The change follows years of debate on Capitol Hill over how, or
whether, to reform draft registration, a system the U.S. hasn’t
executed since 1973, when it shifted to an all-volunteer force.
Lawmakers
have been split, with some pushing to expand registration to include
women, while others have argued the system should be scrapped entirely.
STOCK PHOTO/Adobe
For
a century, men between 18 and 25 years old, including most immigrants,
have been required to register for the draft manually, typically through
a government website or at the local department of motor vehicles, with
uneven compliance rates, federal data shows.
The
Selective Service System, which governs the draft pool, has an annual
budget of $30 million, spending much of that on outreach and other
advertising campaigns.
Automatic
registration is already conducted, in some form, in 46 states and
territories, such as when a man gets a driver’s license, according to
data from the Selective Service System.
Rep.
Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat who introduced the change
alongside Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, said in 2024 that
automatic registration “saves taxpayers significant money and makes it
easier for these men to follow the law and register with the Selective
Service.”
The Selective Service System estimates the new platform will cost roughly $6 million to build the automated system.
By
lunchtime at a northern Virginia high school, the hallway outside the
cafeteria buzzed with students finishing homework, joking with friends
and playing video games.
Off
to the side, Tech Sgt. Omar Herrera, an Air Force recruiter, had
arranged his table with the standard fare of glossy brochures, foam
model fighter jets and Air and Space Force-branded water bottles
students could earn with a round of pushups.
The
scene was strikingly low-key, almost at odds with the life-altering
decision many of the teenagers wandering past his table were weighing.
When they stopped, Herrera answered questions and explained the Air
Force's job opportunities with an encyclopedic knowledge of making a
career out of the military, which he was passionate about and eager to
share.
By the
time Herrera met with dozens of prospective recruits, much of the Air
Force's annual recruitment quota was already complete. The recruiting
business is good after years of shortfalls.
Tech Sgt. Omar Herrera goes over Air Force career opportunities with a potential recruit.
Steven Beynon/ABC News
Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, has repeatedly
elevated military recruiting successes into the marquee achievement of
his tenure and folded recruiting, long treated as an apolitical function
of the military, into a broader culture-war proxy.
Recent Stories from ABC News
In
remarks to roughly two dozen of the military's top recruiters at the
Pentagon in December, Hegseth framed improved enlistment numbers as a
reflection of confidence in the administration.
"You
can talk about polls, you can talk about money, but men and women
willing to serve and put on the uniform is a reflection of the belief
they have in civilian leadership and military leadership," he told them.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a statement to ABC News, shared that same sentiment, adding that, "Americans everywhere are prouder than ever to serve in our unmatched military that prioritizes lethality, merit, and protecting our nation from those who seek to harm it."
Yet
the military has been selling effectively the same proposition since
the U.S. abandoned the draft and fully transitioned to an all-volunteer
force in 1973: job stability and benefits, with a sense of adventure to
sweeten the deal. What has changed, however, is the politics surrounding
that bargain.
The
military’s recruiting rebound is real, but the reasons behind it are
far less political than Hegseth's framing suggests. ABC News interviewed
nearly 40 recruits and prospective recruits at different stages of
enlistment, along with two dozen recruiters across the military and
current and former defense officials, and found young Americans are
still largely making the same calculation that has driven enlistment for
decades: steady pay, education benefits, job training and a direct path
to the middle class.
The Pentagon's own data backs that up too, with financial compensation and benefits ranking as a top reason for joining the military.
The
recruitment turnaround also began before President Donald Trump
returned to office and has been aided by changes under former President
Joe Biden to how the Pentagon finds and qualifies recruits. Yet Hegseth
has increasingly cast those gains as a referendum on his leadership and
conservative overhaul of the military, even as the force depends more
heavily on women, minorities and recruits from Democratic-leaning cities
-- populations some defense officials worry the Trump administration's
culture war could alienate.
To
Herrera, the Air Force is a phenomenal product that speaks for itself,
and every recruit is an opportunity to make the force even better.
"I
don't do sales, I hate sales. I was that kid who couldn't sell a candy
bar," Herrera said. "I'm approaching this as more of a mentor."
The
students' ambitions varied, but even in this affluent suburb outside of
Washington D.C., with access to one of the country's strongest job
markets, the conversations kept circling back to careers and economic
security.
Recent Stories from ABC News
One
potential recruit was preparing to graduate and was interested in
becoming a diesel mechanic in the military. Another asked what it takes
to be a military lawyer.
One
young woman saw military service as a way to pay for college while
continuing a family tradition following her father's career in the Army.
According to Pentagon data,
some 80% of recruits each year have a family member who served in the
military, which is why defense officials have long half jokingly
referred to the armed services as "a family business."
Beyond
career opportunities, recruiters said they tend to hear the same
questions from prospective recruits. For some, the prospect of war
carries an undeniable appeal -- not because of the violence itself, but
because combat has long been viewed as a proving ground and a source of
bona fides that can shape a career in the military and after for
decades.
Others
are just as deliberate about avoiding the front lines, gravitating
toward technical or support specialties where the likelihood of direct
combat is lower, but translating those skills to a civilian job may be
smoother. For most of those who spoke with ABC News, joining the
military is a series of career decisions rather than approval or
disapproval about the administration in power.
Among
the recruits and prospective recruits interviewed, only two said they
knew what a secretary of defense is, and neither could identify who
currently holds the position. One recruit who had recently graduated
basic training only vaguely recalled Hegseth's name. For many junior
service members, the Pentagon's senior leadership has historically been
largely removed from their day-to-day concerns.
Despite
the ongoing war with Iran, recruiters interviewed said the conflict has
rarely surfaced in conversations with applicants. Some cautioned that a
prolonged war, especially one marred by a steady stream of American
casualties and little visible progress, could eventually weigh on
recruiting at the margins.
Women
considering enlistment are generally more likely to ask practical
questions about pregnancy policies, hygiene and whether barracks were
coed, recruiters and women currently serving explained.
One
Army recruiter recalled the only applicant who mentioned current events
wanted to know whether recently released UFO videos were real.
Recruiting woes
During
a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in July, Hegseth told reporters that a
recruiting turnaround began "on Election Day 2024," tying a rebound from
COVID-19-era lows directly to Trump's return to power.
Yet
the military's recruiting recovery was already underway. The services
met their active-duty fiscal 2024 recruiting goals by Sept. 30 -- more
than a month before Election Day. Recruiting was so successful that
year, the Army grew its capacity
for how many recruits it is able to send to basic training to get a
surge of enlistments into the force following its post-pandemic
recovery.
Secretary
of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a Cabinet meeting hosted by US
President Donald Trump at Camp David in Maryland, July 31, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images
The
Army, the military's largest branch and by far its biggest recruiting
challenge, hit its fiscal 2026 goal, signing 61,500 active-duty soldiers
before a Sept. 30 deadline this year. The Navy also met its target with
45,000 sailors, while the Air Force recruited nearly 33,000 airmen.
The
Marine Corps is also on track to meet its recruiting goal this year,
according to officials, having largely sidestepped the deeper struggles
facing the other services. Its smaller size means it needs far fewer new
recruits each year, typically bringing in about 30,000 Marines
annually. Space Force, a branch still in its infancy, brought in 730 new
recruits this year.
This
year's recruiting numbers mark the third straight year every active
duty military service has met its recruiting goal, a remarkable
turnaround from the recruiting bumps that started to manifest in the
late 2010s and fully materialized during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022,
the Army brought in just under 45,000 new recruits when it needed
60,000, while the other branches also endured some of their worst
recruiting years in decades.
Military service likelihood
The Pentagon
It's the economy
Military
service still offers one of the country's most robust benefits packages
with college tuition, generous home loans, retirement savings and a
pension for 20 years of service. For many, it marks one of the most
direct paths to the middle class. Pentagon data consistently shows pay,
education benefits and career opportunities are the primary reasons
young Americans enlist.
Khaleed
Ajadn, 24, a potential recruit and Nigerian green card holder, studied
medicine in the Caribbean and now works as a medical assistant at a
civilian clinic in the U.S.
"The
end goal for me is to be a doctor in the Air Force," he said. "I just
want to be in the military. I want to take care of people."
Main reasons for military service
The Pentagon
Others
join as a response to a shifting economy. The propensity to serve, per
the Pentagon's own survey data, broadly aligns with federal data
tracking the youth unemployment rate.
"I
was really hoping to be an artist, but then AI came along and I needed
to find something more practical," Layla Gerstman, 18, said as she
prepared to take the military's SAT-style aptitude test, which
determines eligibility for enlistment and qualifies recruits for
specific jobs.
Historically,
the strongest predictor of a recruiting boom has been a weak economy.
The 2008 financial crisis, the deepest economic downturn since the Great
Depression, saw the Army enlist about 80,500 active-duty recruits. It
marked the best recruiting year since the immediate aftermath of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack and after years of struggling to fill the
ranks as the Iraq War became increasingly unpopular and bloody. Just a
few years earlier, in 2005, the service had missed essentially the same
recruiting target by 6,600 soldiers.
U.S
Army badge is seen on a uniform of American soldier who attends a
ceremony at the Kosciuszko Mound in Krakow, Poland, Aug. 4, 2020.
Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Why recruiting became political
The
Pentagon is emerging from the yearslong recruiting slump that followed
the COVID-19 pandemic, easing one of the military's most persistent
political headaches that drew bipartisan anxiety on Capitol Hill.
They
also pointed to Hegseth’s long-standing skepticism of women serving in
some military roles, particularly combat units. In his 2024 book, "The
War on Warriors," Hegseth drew a distinction between the roles of
mothers and fathers, writing that fathers encourage children to take
risks while mothers are more protective.
"We need moms," Hegseth wrote. "But not in the military, especially in combat units."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has rolled back shaving exemptions for troops with pseudofolliculitis barbae, or razor bumps, a condition
that disproportionately affects Black men and that the military has
accommodated for decades. Those accommodations trace back in part to
Vietnam War-era recommendations aimed at removing barriers for Black
service members. The move is part of a greater effort, which have been
framed by the Pentagon as a means to restore discipline.
The Pentagon has also pulled recruiting resources from events aimed at specific demographics. Last year, the services abandoned recruiting efforts ataprestigious Black engineering event in Baltimore, where recruiters had historically sought candidates with high-demand technical skills. The Armyalsoended its partnershipwithAshley Hall,
an all-girls preparatory school in Charleston, South Carolina, for its
annual "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day," Military.com reported.
Both efforts targeted science and engineering talent, fields where the
military has long struggled to fill critical jobs because of steep
academic requirements.
Taken together, current and former officials interviewed say, those positions could narrow the military's recruiting pool while pushing some troops already in uniform to reconsider staying.
Alex
Wagner, who served as assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower
and reserve affairs during the Biden administration, argued recruiting
has remained remarkably insulated from those political battles.
"It's
curious to me that, so far, it seems the moral rot from Hegseth's
office hasn't metastasized to the recruiting side," he said. "The people
in charge of recruiting are really focused every day on, 'How do we
bring in the most talented force to protect the American people?' That's
an honorable goal, and when that's your mission, politics doesn't
figure into it."
The
recruiting pool itself has also changed. In recent years, the Army
shifted more of its recruiting effort into large Democratic-leaning
cities after traditional recruiting strongholds in the South, rural
America and the suburbs could no longer produce enough qualified
volunteers.
The
South in particular faces higher rates of obesity and other health
challenges that have further reduced the pool of eligible recruits and
contributed to higher injury rates during basic training, according to service data.
In recent years, the force has become more diverse, with women and racial minorities making up a growing share of recruits.
Since
2013, male enlistments in the Army have fallen by roughly 35%, dropping
from about 58,000 recruits to 37,700 in 2023, according to Army data.
Female enlistments, by contrast, have remained relatively steady at
around 10,000 recruits a year.
The racial makeup of recruits has changed as well.
The
number of white recruits in the Army fell by nearly 40% between 2018
and 2023, according to Army data. No other major demographic group
experienced a comparable sustained decline. More than a quarter of
recruits across the services are Black or Hispanic.
The armed services have also become more secular.
Christianity,
long embedded in military life through the chaplain corps and its role
in supporting morale, has played a less prominent role as the services
have invested heavily in traditional mental health resources such as
therapists, marriage counselors and suicide prevention efforts -- arenas
that historically have largely fallen under the umbrella of the
military's clergy.
All of those slow-moving cultural shifts came to a head in 2021, when in the Army's effort to broaden its appeal, it released an ad
featuring a female soldier in the service and raised by two mothers in
San Francisco, which immediately drew the ire of conservative pundits
and lawmakers who argued the military had become politicized and "woke."
Hegseth
had embraced the argument that the military had drifted too far to the
political left well before he was tapped to lead the Pentagon. Last
year, he summoned hundreds of the military's most senior officials
to an unprecedented gathering in Quantico, Virginia, where he bluntly
laid out his new cultural mandate, falsely suggesting women have been
erroneously promoted to fit nonexistent gender quotas.
"For
too long, we've promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong
reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic
so-called firsts," Hegseth said. "No more identity months, DEI offices,
dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division,
distraction or gender delusions."
The services did not have any quotas associated with gender and promotions or makeup of the force.
Eligibility crisis
Defense
officials have long warned that America's obesity epidemic is a
national security problem, shrinking the pool of young people eligible
to serve -- which has translated to reductions in recruitment.
The
services have different body weight requirements based on age and
gender. The Pentagon estimates roughly 75% of Americans ages 17 to 24
are ineligible to serve, and has been that way for a long time, with
obesity and failureto meetacademic standards among theleading reasons.
New Air Force recruits conducting a fitness test to qualify them to try out for special operations.
Steven Beynon/ABC News
The Army’s most significant response
has been the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, launched in 2022 and
since expanded into a full-fledged pre-basic training program centered
at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for recruits who narrowly miss academic
or body-fat standards. Instead of being turned away, recruits are given
several weeks to lose weight or improve their scores on the military
entrance exam through tutoring, nutrition instruction and physical
training before moving on to basic training.
More
than 90% of recruits who enter the program ultimately qualify for the
Army, and roughly a quarter of new enlistees now pass through it. The
program has effectively replaced much of the manpower lost during the
service's recent recruiting slump while underscoring that the Pentagon's
key recruiting challenge is less about persuading young Americans to
serve than finding enough who qualify. The Navy has since adopted a
similar model.
"This
was a group of young Americans who had already decided they wanted to
join the military. They just needed some extra help meeting the
standards," said Christine Wormuth, who served as Army secretary during
the Biden administration and oversaw the program's creation. "The
hardest thing is finding people who have the propensity to serve. We had
this entire pool of people who wanted to do it."
Wormuth
said Army leaders were adamant that the initiative not become a
backdoor way of lowering enlistment standards. The military has tried
that before, from World War II literacy programs to Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara's controversial Project 100,000 during the Vietnam War,
which admitted recruits who failed academic entrance standards and
ultimately suffered disproportionately high casualty rates.
"We felt strongly that lowering standards was not the way to go," Wormuth said.
Another
major hurdle has been medical screening. The 2017 rollout of Military
Health System Genesis, the Pentagon's electronic health records system,
gave screeners legal, unprecedented access to applicants' medical histories often flagging minor injuries, childhood diagnoses or old prescriptions without their full context and triggering lengthy additional reviews.
One
particularly stubborn bottleneck automatically sent recruits who wore
glasses for screening for rare disqualifying eye conditions, a
requirement officials eventually scrapped. The Pentagon has since sought
to speed up the process through streamlined reviews and a surge of
medical personnel, including Army Reservists sent to help staff
screening clinics.
Who is born to serve?
Hegseth
has aggressively moved to reshape the military's senior ranks, removing
or sidelining more than two dozen senior officers, without explanation,
including a number of women and minorities. While those moves appear to
have had little impact on young Americans walking into recruiting
stations, they have rattled the upper ranks, with multiple senior
officers describing needing to keep a low profile.
"Women
look at the firings and the statements from the secretary and decide
there is not a good career path ahead of them," said Brenda Sue Fulton, a
West Point graduate, longtime military diversity advocate and former
assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs for public and intergovernmental
affairs.
"The
same thing with Black men and women," she added. "They're looking at the
chain of command, which has become much more male and much whiter over
the past few months, and thinking there's no place for them here."
Military
service has long been cast as the highest form of public service. But
from the nation’s earliest days, the military has also been a
battleground over a more fundamental question: who gets to serve, and
who gets the privilege of risking their life for the country.
Those
fights stretch back to the nation’s founding, when property and social
standing helped determine who could become an officer in the Continental
Army and Indigenous troops were afforded limited roles. In the
generations since, similar battles have played out over the service of
Black Americans, women and LGBTQ+ Americans.
A
growing question among defense experts and across the military's
recruiting enterprise is whether Hegseth's partisan rhetoric built upon
cultural grievances is shrinking the military's appeal.
"Here
in Washington D.C., we're consumed by these things," Wagner, formerly
of the Air Force, said. "But if it doesn't directly impact your life, it
doesn't come up."
