It's the economy, stupid. So the latest defense budget includes a military pay hike that the administration describes as the biggest in a generation. Plans call for improving retirement benefits by restoring an earlier, more generous system. The Navy, meanwhile, has hired Spike Lee to produce a series of TV spots. Pentagon surveys indicate that the propensity of women to serve, although less than that of men, has held steady since the end of the Cold War.
Women remain a relatively untapped market.
Yet such concerns are by no means limited to women. One unforeseen consequence of eliminating the draft has been to create a military that is married with children. Long gone are the days of high-testosterone youngsters living out of footlockers in crowded, spartan barracks. Today's soldier typically has a spouse and kids and aspires to a middle-class lifestyle. If we explain recruiting and retention shortfalls in economic terms, we overlook the fact that the decline in willingness to serve predates the current boom.