It’s not surprising that the Army has been experiencing a ” Tick Tok Mutiny “. When the military, a force designed for the ruthless application of mass violence to the Generation Z, promises self-actualization and the nation is surprised when the recruits rebel over a military life of sacrifice and service.

Multiple news outlets have observed that active duty servicemembers are posting complaints on popular social media sites about their military life. They complain about fitness tests, body composition rules, and mediocre food on the field.

It’s possible that the problem began when recruits were encouraged by the Army to “Be All You Can Be” and now they complain to their online audiences about how the military was not designed for them. The military, like it has always been, is a project “we”. The Army, however, is trapped in an incoherent and endless loop that presents military service to young Americans as a way of self-expression.

In The soldier and the state, Samuel P. Huntington described the tension between military lethality and the social imperatives to defend and serve a liberal society. Huntington, like too many modern day defense leaders, think tank officials, or senators, believes that the military must adhere the values which make its services effective at the expense ideologies, political views, and passions in civil society.

The military failed to meet its recruiting targets by an astounding 40,000 recruits in 2023. Pentagon’s capitulation in response to our progressive society is manifested by declining service commitments. The Army is trying to convince that a career in service will help you achieve your potential.

Conservatives must reclaim Huntington’s concept of the institution military and infuse the recruiting environment with an honesty about the sacrifices that make a military life so unique. Although the service members who have expressed their dissatisfaction with military life are being scrutinized, it is hard to blame them since they were recruited in the hope of a self-development institution.

The military must be honest and direct about the sacrifices and hardships that come with service in order to attract better recruits. Army Rangers are required, for instance, to sleep 45-90 minutes a night and eat two meals per day in order to demonstrate their ability to handle the stresses of combat on the ground.

While most recruits won’t ever receive Ranger training and typical combat deployments are rarer today, some units train in the California desert for 4 to 6 weeks to prepare them for an unknown world. The food in these environments is not good, the hours long and the physical strain immense. It is an experience that would be unthinkable in a modern America where one can almost live by default a comfortable and easy life. A astonishingly low proportion of Americans is even eligible for recruitment. The Army shouldn’t lie to them about achieving personal success through enlistment.

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American boys grow up in a society that is largely indifferent towards their development as men. A boy is not expected to be able to take care of himself and grows up in an environment that caters to him, rather than challenging him. This cultural chaos leads to an increase in addiction and premature mortality.

These men will not be joining the Army. According to recent surveys by the American Principles Project, almost 75% veterans believe that the military is overly politicized. Nearly a third of those veterans wouldn’t want their children to serve.

The recent “Tik tok Mutiny”, is a sign young Americans don’t buy the military spin. The military should be ruthless in its approach to recruits, following the example of Samuel Huntington. The message is clear: Join the one team where you are able to give your all in exchange for modest pay, preservatives-laden food and long work nights. They can also learn that life is much more than an Instagram post.