Teenagers don’t want to join the US army anymore, so the military has decided to start trying to convince children to join when they get older.
The Army wants to start contacting children directly, after last year’s recruiting goals were missed. The Army’s principle recruiting target has been high school kids, but the military has realized they need to start reaching out to even younger children.
The Army assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, Dr. E. Casey Wardynski, said Tuesday, it’s a matter of behavioral economics, teenagers already have an idea of what they want to do when they grow up.
Wardynski said, “We have to confront this question of, will we wait until they’re 17, or will we start talking to them at age 12, 13, 14, 15, when they form the set of things they are thinking about doing with their life?” The tactic is to reach children when they are more susceptible to indoctrination, “If we wait until they’re 17 or 18, we will not be the first impression.”
Realistically, the Army has been going after children for a long time and expanding its outreach with toys, video games, television and movies for decades, but these new programs will have military recruiters interacting directly with children.
Photo: “Engineers Week 2019” by Public Affairs is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
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