Post Draft America and Covert Recruitment 

A captivating video showing a slew of young boys enrolled in the military has recently gone viral. In the video, the videographer records each boy’s answer to the question: “If you could say one thing to your recruiter, what would it be?” There are lots of four letter words, death wishes, and general jokes made at the recruiter’s expense. One stands out in particular: 

“Why the [expletive] did you lie to me?”

The Vietnam War draft officially ended on July 1, 1973. Shortly thereafter, President Carter pardoned all draft dodgers from the Vietnam War in 1977. From then on, selective service had to be seen as a last resort. In a post-draft America, the U.S. military had a new battle to fight: convincing young Americans to voluntarily serve their country.

Since 1948, the Pentagon has had an “entertainment Liaison office”. The Pentagon often gives movie studios permission to filmmakers to use military vehicles and aircraft carriers in private locations. It also gives advice, and is allowed to make unlimited script changes to any movie for which they provide patronage. Most recently, the “Top Gun: Maverick” script was reviewed by the United States Navy. Commander Ron Flanders of the U.S. Navy stated: “The Navy did review the script so that (A), it was accurate and (B), was consistent with the ideals of the Navy.” If the studio refused to comply with script changes, the military would cease support for the movie. For an airforce film such as this one, that means hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment would lose monetary backing. 

But, how do these positive portrayals of the military lead to tangible results? When the original “Top Gun” was first released in 1986, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “When the film opened in May, recruiters in some cities manned tables outside movie houses during ‘Top Gun’ premieres to answer questions.” 

Lieutenant Ray Gray, head of the officer programs in Los Angeles, explicitly said, “There seems to have been a big rush in those categories that I have to attribute to the movie,” when interviewed.

Sixteen years after the release of “Top Gun,” President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law—a watershed moment for US military history. This mandated unlimited access to public schools for the military in an effort to aid upcoming recruitment efforts during the war on terror. 

Military recruiters now had the ability to craft attention-grabbing messages that able-bodied candidates could simply not ignore. Recruiters would host pushup and pullup contests in common areas to hype up crowds and get students to encourage each other to compete. Recruiters would also pass out free merchandise for the military, such as Air Force drawstring bags, Army hats, and Marine pins. 

Many high schoolers were even recruited to a “Future Soldier Program”—a boot camp held between 11th and 12th grade. Middle schoolers also had access to join similar programs designed to create a pipeline from the classroom to the armed forces.

Since 9/11, the Pentagon has pushed recruitment efforts into overdrive. Historically, the Marines use a modified version of “Doom II” for training purposes. They’ve even used Xbox 360 controllers to maneuver periscopes in submarines and to pilot drones during remote bombings. In modern times, however, video games have provided a covert, innovative way for the military to reach prospective recruits. In 2002, the Pentagon released “America’s army,” a first-person shooter/military simulator that was available for free download on the military’s website. The game was very similar to contemporary shooting games like Call of Duty. The biggest difference was that the military’s game website and download page were saturated with links aimed towards military recruitment. 

Recently, the military hasn’t bothered producing their own games. After all, other military simulators are already available for purchase. Instead, they’ve turned to Esports in their latest effort to innovate recruitment. The military has begun streaming on Twitch in an effort to relate to young people. This sort of innovation shifts military recruitment efforts from a school-to-military pipeline to a video-game-to-military pipeline.

However, recruitment through online services has not necessarily eased military recruitment. Currently, the military is embroiled in a possible class action lawsuit for violating the First Amendment in their Twitch chat by abusing report functions to silence organized teens commenting on the propagandistic nature of the stream and mentioning government scandals and war crimes.

Whether or not the military continues its newest recruitment endeavors, it’s certainly interesting how much recruitment strategy has shifted since the Vietnam draft was suspended.

Harrison Alexander Campbell ‘24 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at c.harry@wustl.edu.