How COVID may have crushed military recruitment

Our reaction to Covid did a few things simultaneously, all stymieing recruitment. Recruiters went from readily accessing schools, social institutions, and public events to having prolonged removal from all of the above. Recruiters are salesmen, and if MM2 (SW) Abel can’t shake hands with a young man or woman and fervently extol the many virtues of living in a press of sweat-stained coveralls eating reheated chicken for months at a time, then the sale becomes much more difficult. As a former recruit, I can attest that you build a relationship with your recruiters. I remember mine fondly. One was round; the other had a creepy mustache and worked part-time as a barista at Starbucks. But man, were they hilarious. A comedy duo, with the former playing the straight man and the other the gonzo funnyman. It was these exhibitions of camaraderie that made the Navy attractive.

But with Covid, the military became a good deal less fun and increasingly antagonistic. While rarely a click-your-heels-with-joy adventure, deployments have provided young sailors the opportunity to experience countries they would never otherwise have known. Ask any servicemember about his or her enlistment, and foreign travel tops the list nigh-always. But bases locked down, deployed ships pulled into port, and masking was mandated. Imagine day after day in hot, humid climates with your breath recycling into your face. That whole thing about required vaccination didn’t help either.