The U.S. Army celebrates its 250th birthday on Saturday, June 14, 2025, with a parade in Washington, D.C., in which thousands of soldiers and heavy pieces of military equipment will roll through the capital streets.
However, beneath the festivities, there is an escalating decline in the number of people joining the US armed forces year after year. The recruitment targets are rarely met, despite attractive offers.
Among millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, there is less confidence in U.S. global engagement and the efficacy of military solutions. And the rationales young people cite for rejecting military enlistment are fear of death, worries about post-traumatic stress disorder and leaving friends and family.
Moreover, the U.S. gun violence, mainly carried out by mentally stressed ex-soldiers, is primarily to blame for the lack of interest in joining the military.
If the growing disinterest in military enlistment — essentially a profession in state-sanctioned killing for political agendas — becomes a global trend, the world might finally get a break from its blood-soaked history. Fewer boots on the ground could mean fewer graves in the dirt.
And imagine this: the workers on assembly lines of destruction—designing bullets, building bombs, stitching uniforms for war—suddenly walking out, choosing conscience over paycheques. That would be the real march for peace. A world where factories go silent, not from sanctions, but from sanity—now that’s a revolution worth celebrating.
Promod Puri.com 