Military recruitment

Across the world, the large majority of recruits to state armed forces and non-state armed groups are male. The proportion of female personnel varies internationally; for example, it is approximately 3% in India,[1] 10% in the UK,[2] 13% in Sweden,[3] 16% in the US,[4] and 27% in South Africa.[5]

While many states do not recruit women for ground close combat roles (i.e. roles which would require them to kill an opponent at close quarters), several have lifted this ban in recent years, including larger Western military powers such as France, the UK, and US.[6][7]

Compared with male personnel and female civilians, female personnel face substantially higher risks of sexual harassment and sexual violence, according to British, Canadian, and US research.[8][9][10]

Some states, including the UK, US and Canada have begun to recognise a right of transgender people to serve openly in their armed forces, although this development has met with political and cultural resistance.[11][12][13]

State armed forces set minimum and maximum ages for recruitment. In practice, most military recruits are young adults; for example, in 2013 the average age of a United States Army soldier beginning initial training was 20.7 years.[4]

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child means a person aged under 18.

The minimum age at which children may be recruited or conscripted under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is 15.[14] States which have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) may not conscript children at all, but may enlist children aged 16 or above provided that they are not used to participate directly in hostilities.[15]

Historically, the use of children for military purposes has been widespread—see Children in the military—but has been in decline in the 21st century.[16] According to Child Soldiers International, as of 2017 approximately two-thirds of states worldwide had committed to restrict military recruitment to adults from age 18, and at least 60 non-state armed groups had signed agreements to stop or reduce the use of children for military purposes.[17][16] The organization reported that the so-called Straight 18 standard – the restriction of all military employment to adults – had been emerging as a global norm since 2001.[16]

However, Child Soldiers International also reported in 2018 that at least 46 states were recruiting personnel below the age of 18.[18] Most of these states were recruiting from age 17, including Australia, China, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United States (US); approximately 20 were recruiting from age 16, including Brazil, Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK).[16]

Most states which recruit children under the age of 18 have undertaken not to deploy them routinely on military operations, having ratified the OPAC treaty.[17] According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UNSG), in 2016 14 states were still recruiting and using children in active armed conflicts: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.[19]

The UNSG also reported that non-state armed groups were recruiting and using children in armed conflict in India, Pakistan,  Palestine, Libya, Philippines and Thailand.[19]

Cross-cultural studies suggest that, in general, children and young people are drawn to military employment for similar reasons: war, economic motivation, education, family and friends, politics, and identity and psychosocial factors.[20]

The hope of escaping socio-economic deprivation is one of the main reasons that young people are attracted to military employment.[20][21] For example, after the US suspended conscription in 1973, 'the military disproportionately attracted African American men, men from lower-status socioeconomic backgrounds, men who had been in nonacademic high school programs, and men whose high school grades tended to be low'.[22] However, a 2020 study suggests that U.S. Armed Forces personnel's socio-economic status are at parity or slightly higher than the civilian population and that the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups are less likely to meet the requirements of the modern U.S. military. A study found to technological, tactical, operational and doctrinal changes have led to a change in the demand for personnel.[23] As an indication of the socio-economic background of British Army personnel, in 2015 three-quarters of its youngest recruits had the literacy skills normally expected of an 11-year-old or younger, and 7% had a reading age of 5–7.[24] The British Army's recruitment drive in 2017 targeted families with an average annual income of £10,000.[25]

Recruitment for officers typically draws on upwardly-mobile young adults from age 18, and recruiters for these roles focus their resources on high-achieving schools and universities.[22][26] (Canada is an exception, recruiting high-achieving children from age 16 for officer training.[27])

The process of attracting children and young people to military employment begins in their early years. In Germany, Israel, Poland, the UK, the US, and elsewhere, the armed forces visit schools frequently, including primary schools, to encourage children to enlist once they become old enough to do so.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34] For example, a poster used by the German armed forces in schools reads: "After school you have the world at your feet, make it safer." ["Nach der Schule liegt dir die Welt zu Füßen, mach sie sicherer."][28] In the US, recruiters have right of access to all schools and to the contact details of students,[34] and are encouraged to embed themselves into the school community.[33] A former head of recruitment for the British Army, Colonel (latterly Brigadier) David Allfrey, explained the British approach in 2007:

"Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, 'That looks great.' From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip."[35]

Recruiters use action films and videogames to promote military employment. Scenes from Hollywood blockbusters (including Behind Enemy Lines and X-Men: First Class)[36][37] have been spliced into military advertising in the US, for example. In the US and elsewhere, the armed forces commission bespoke videogames to present military life to children and have created the U.S. Army Esports initiative as an outreach program using esports.[38][39]

Many states operate military schools, cadet forces, and other military youth organisations. For example, Russia operates a system of military schools for children from age 10, where combat skills and weapons training are taught as part of the curriculum.[40] The UK is one of many states that subsidise participation in cadet forces, where children from age 12 play out a stylised representation of military employment.[41]

Armed forces commission recruitment advertising across a wide range of media, including television,[42] radio,[43] cinema,[44] online including social media,[45] the press, billboards,[46] brochures and leaflets,[47] and through merchandising.[48]

Recruiters use civic space to promote their military organisation. Among the methods used are recruitment stalls in public spaces, air shows; military amusement parks, such as Patriot Park in Russia; national days, such as the Belgian national day and military parade; and annual armed forces days.

Armed forces have made effective use of short slogans to inspire young people to enlist, with themes ranging from personal development (particularly personal power), societal service, and patriotic duty. For example, as of 2017 current slogans included:

• 'Army strong.' (US Army).
• 'Be the Best.' (British Army).
• 'Dare to be extraordinary.' (Canadian armed forces).
• 'We. Serve. Germany.' ['Wir. Dienen. Deutschland.'] (German armed forces).
• 'For me, for others.' ['Pour moi, pour les autres.'] (French Army).
• 'Join the fight for Israel.' (Israel Defense Forces).

A recruitment poster is a poster used in advertisement to recruit people into an organization, and has been a common method of military recruitment.

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  "To Arms! To Arms!" Recruitment poster for Confederate States of America. Floyd County, Virginia, 1862.
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  A World War I recruitment poster featuring Lord Kitchener (British Minister of War)
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  J. M. Flagg's Uncle Sam recruited soldiers for World War I, and was revived in later wars. Based on the Kitchener poster
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  Recruiting poster made by and for the United States Navy c.1917
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  "This Soldier Defends India" - An Indian Army recruitment poster during World War I
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  A Canadian World War I recruitment poster
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  An Australian World War I recruitment poster
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  Recruitment poster for Polish Army in France
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  "Why aren't you in the army?" Volunteer Army recruitment poster during the Russian Civil War featuring Anton Denikin.
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  British Army recruitment poster of the inter-war period

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  A British Military recruitment centre in Oxford
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  A United States Military recruiting station on Times Square, New York City
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  A New Zealand Defence Force recruiting office in Palmerston North, New Zealand

United States Navy recruitment poster from 1918. Note the appeal to patriotism. (Digitally restored).

Prior to the outbreak of World War I, military recruitment in the US was conducted primarily by individual states.[95] Upon entering the war, however, the federal government took an increased role.

The increased emphasis on a national effort was reflected in World War I recruitment methods. Peter A. Padilla and Mary Riege Laner define six basic appeals to these recruitment campaigns: patriotism, job/career/education, adventure/challenge, social status, travel, and miscellaneous. Between 1915 and 1918, 42% of all army recruitment posters were themed primarily by patriotism.[95] And though other themes – such as adventure and greater social status – would play an increased role during World War II recruitment, appeals to serve one's country remained the dominant selling point.

In the aftermath of World War II military recruitment shifted significantly. With no war calling men and women to duty, the United States refocused its recruitment efforts to present the military as a career option, and as a means of achieving a higher education. A majority – 55% – of all recruitment posters would serve this end. And though peacetime would not last, factors such as the move to an all-volunteer military would ultimately keep career-oriented recruitment efforts in place.[96] The Defense Department turned to television syndication as a recruiting aid from 1957–1960 with a filmed show, Country Style, USA.

On February 20, 1970, the President's Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force unanimously agreed that the United States would be best served by an all-volunteer military. In supporting this recommendation, the committee noted that recruitment efforts would have to be intensified, as new enlistees would need to be convinced rather than conscripted. Much like the post-World War II era, these new campaigns put a stronger emphasis on job opportunity. As such, the committee recommended "improved basic compensation and conditions of service, proficiency pay, and accelerated promotions for the highly skilled to make military career opportunities more attractive." These new directives were to be combined with "an intensive recruiting effort."[97] Finalized in mid-1973, the recruitment of a "professional" military was met with success. In 1975 and 1976, military enlistments exceeded expectations, with over 365,000 men and women entering the military. Though this may, in part, have been the result of a lack of civilian jobs during the recession, it nevertheless stands to underline the ways in which recruiting efforts responded to the circumstances of the time.[98]

Indeed, recommendations made by the President's Commission continue to work in present-day recruitment efforts. Understanding the need for greater individual incentive, the US military has re-packaged the benefits of the GI Bill. Though originally intended as compensation for service, the bill is now seen as a recruiting tool. Today, the GI Bill is "no longer a reward for service rendered, but an inducement to serve and has become a significant part of recruiter's pitches."[99]

Recruitment can be conducted over the telephone with organized lists, through email campaigns and from face to face prospecting. While telephone prospecting is the most efficient, face to face prospecting is the most effective. Military recruiters often set up booths at amusement parks, sports stadiums and other attractions. In recent years social media has been more commonly used.

• Military service
• Women in the military
• Children in the military
• Transgender people and military service
• Counter-recruitment
• Conscription and Impressment
• Recruit training
• Military science

• Conscription in the United States
• America's Army (recruitment game)
• Slogans of the United States Army

• UK: Be All You Can Be
• Canada First Defence Strategy