The career and educational choices available to American youth are greater than ever before.
Unemployment is at some of the lowest measured rates in three decades.
In addition, the population of veterans will decline drastically in the next decade, taking away prime examples of military service from society. The Demographics of Recruiting The demographics of recruiting actually have been improving. The pool of high school graduates has been increasing for most of the past decade as the children of the baby boom generation come of age. In 1990, there were 3.5 million Americans reaching age 18, and that number only has gone up since then. This, along with the fact that the accession needs of the military are far lower now than a decade ago, means that the recruiting challenge should be easy to remedy.