As recruitment tanks, the military aims for more boots on the ground

Airman Basic Isabella Hartley, a recruiter for the Air Force, during a late November visit to Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force
FALLS VILLAGE — Earlier this month, a U.S. Air Force recruiter manned a table at Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s (HVRHS) cafeteria.
Armed with swag and promotional pamphlets, he fielded questions from curious students and touted the merits of a military career.
Army recruiters also paid the school a visit in 2023, and a spokesman for the Marine Corps said the Region One school is due for a visit from its local recruiter soon.
“When the military comes, they are very well received,” said Kirin Terni, HVRHS’s college and career center coordinator. “The students seem engaged” in conversations with the uniformed visitors, she said, adding, “We are very open to any career paths they consider.”
While it is not unusual for representatives of all the major branches of the Armed Forces to visit high school students throughout the school year, the pressure is mounting for recruiters to put more young people in uniform.
Except for the Marine Corps, all major branches of the military missed their recruitment goals in 2023, making it the worst recruiting year since the institution of the all-volunteer force in 1973, according to local recruiters.
Simply put, the U.S. military is in a war for talent.
A number of factors are causing young people to shun Uncle Sam, said military officials.
To name a few: A hot job market; increased competition from the state’s community colleges, which are offering free tuition; fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, which, for two years, prevented face-to-face contact with the public; and escalating global conflicts.
“There are a lot of programs helping students get into the workplace where they qualify for immediate employment” in addition to lofty bonuses and on-the-job training, noted HVRHS Principal Ian Strevor.
According to Defense Department polling data, when asked, only 9% of Americans expressed a willingness to serve in the military. On top of that, the number of people eligible for service has dropped to 23%, with obesity and low test scores being major barriers to enlistment.
To solve the recruiting crisis, it is essential to bridge the gap between the military and the public, said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kimberly Nagle, the marketing NCO in charge of the 319th Reservists Squadron, which oversees recruitment in six New England states.
She cited differences between the Gen Z population, who are the prime age for recruiting but lack interest in enlisting, and previous generations, who were more familiar with and supportive of the military.
“We’re hitting social media to get the word out, giving bonuses quarterly and we’re pushing out the Space Force. That’s our shiny, new tool,” which has generated “a lot of interest. We’re feeling confident heading into 2024 and want to do everything we can to keep our Air Force running efficiently.”
In an effort to target the Gen Z population, the Navy recently introduced its new ad campaign, “Forged by the Sea,” featuring videos of soldiers explaining why they chose to enlist.
According to recruiters, a young person is more likely to enlist if they come from a family of military veterans.
Recruiters are most effective when they have boots on the ground meeting face-to-face in local communities, which, until recently was limited, said Capt. Matthew Sims, Future Ops OIC, who oversees the Army’s Northeast Battalion headquarters covering the Hudson Valley up to Albany, New York, plus Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts.
Earlier this year, all major branches of the military were represented at a job fair sponsored by the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, including recruiters from the Armed Forces Military Recruitment Depot in Torrington, which covers the Northwest Corner. Their presence was a popular draw with attendees.
“People are very respectful and honorable, and I think our country still believes in the military, but there is a lack of understanding of how differentiated opportunities are,” said Sims. He noted that while the enticements from fast food chains look good on the surface, young people fail to equate it to what the military has to offer.
“They don’t think of the opportunities for upward mobility, career satisfaction and benefits, that are basically unparalleled, and the Army is taking steps to communicate that through the “Be All You Can Be” campaign, Sims explained.
He compared roles within the military to a professional sports organization. “You need equipment managers, coaches, physical therapists, engineers, medics. We have all that to support our combat arms athletes in the field.”
Sims, who enlisted as a medic out of high school and worked his way up the ranks, noted that “people do come in with concerns” about the possibility of deployment to a war zone, and that a military career “may not be for everyone.
“It is a commitment, and the possibility of seeing combat,” even if a chosen career, does not necessarily involve the front lines is made very clear to recruits and their families, said Sims. “When you raise your right hand, it is because you’re willing to go to conflict areas.”
According to a fall 2022 poll by the Department of Defense of youth ages 16-21, physical and emotional trauma (70% and 65% respectively) are the most common reasons for not considering joining the military, followed by leaving family and friends (58%), other career interests (46%), and dislike of military lifestyle (40%).
On average, one or two HVRHS students per graduating class enlist in the military, according to Terni.
“We had two or three sign up a couple of years ago, but that was an anomaly,” she explained. “Since the pandemic, a student’s plan for the future has become more ambiguous between the family’s decision and the student’s. It’s not as clear now.”
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Cocktail Party
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Douglas Library | 108 Main St.
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Boot Drive
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
North Canaan Fire Co. | 4 E. Main St.
3rd Annual Fly-In
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Triumph Airfield | 547 W. Main St.
Canaan Railroad Station Museum
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New England Accordion Connection
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Rosa setigera is a native climbing rose whose simple flowers allow bees to easily collect pollen.
After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.
At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.
On the cover of the new edition, a quote from Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post boasts, “Michael Dirr is the oracle of ornamental horticulture. I trust his judgements implicitly.”I heartily disagree with Mr. Higgins:I blame this book — and my poor use of it — for some of my worst tree and shrub choices.
I realize some readers might find this declaration inflammatory. The book still occupies a place of high regard among experienced and novice gardeners alike, so please allow me to explain.
In addition to giving the reader his opinion on the aesthetic worthiness of the woody plants included in the book, Mr. Dirr makes good on the book’s title with a review of each species’ hardiness. What makes a tree hardy?It thrives in its intended site, resisting disease with leaves and bark not readily eaten by insects and other critters.
Non-native plants make up the majority of the recommended hardy plants in the book.And here is why:Native trees and shrubs are, by evolution’s design, food source and host to our native fauna — critters large and small. There is no substitute equal to the fauna’s co-evolved flora.A native caterpillar cannot eat a kousa dogwood leaf, as it has not evolved to digest it.Non-native plants seemingly have the advantage if the lens we look through values pristine, uneaten leaves.
In the days when there were sufficient thriving ecosystems to maintain local habitats, a non-native specimen tree here and there was just fine.But where we live in Northwest Connecticut, our woods, meadows, marshes and other natural areas have, for a couple of decades, been severely compromised by invasives that have almost entirely removed the food sources for native insects. It is up to us — now — to plant native plants to save the food chain.Without insects, not only will native animals die, but human food sources will also be at risk.
The security of our food pipeline seems a worthy exchange for some caterpillar-eaten leaves — and to be clear, we’re not talking about non-native infestations such as spongy moth, but rather native caterpillars, which are the singular food source for nesting birds.
My issue is that, in being a trusted source for plant selection, Dirr’s book should give equal — if not prioritized — space to information on ecological impact.For example, it would be good to know when selecting a tree, that a native oak provides food and other ecosystem services to more than 400 native animal species, while a native tulip poplar supports fewer than 30 — though that includes the Eastern tiger swallowtail. Including information on the birds and insects attracted to a given plant would enable reader to weigh these factors in choosing what to grow.But this information is not mentioned at all.
Dirr makes no mention of the role some of these plants have played in the degradation of our natural areas — an omission that is highly relevant, as many of the plants featured in his book are, in fact, invasive culprits. Plants like barberry, porcelain berry and tree of heaven are showcased for consideration alongside native plants without recognition of the devastating infestations they can manifest. Tree of Heaven is now responsible for hosting the spotted lanternfly, which is devastating crops.
Similarly Euonymous alatus (winged euonymous) and Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi) — two highly invasive plants touted in the book — have been banned or are close to being banned for sale from nurseries in the state of Massachusetts. To his credit, Dirr does point out the invasive nature of Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet), calling it “a terrible and devastating escapee that terrorizes floodplains, fencerows and even open fields, reducing native vegetation to rubble.” Yet Japanese honeysuckle gets an understated warning, with Dirr describing this massively invasive shrub as “bullying their way into understory and open areas.”
The latest edition of Dirr’s book devotes seven pages of copy and photos to various Berberis species, about which Dirr waxes poetic. He notes the addition of “30 new cultivars” in the latest revision and complains that “this species is under assault for its aggressive invasive nature.” He refers to Berberis thunbergii — Japanese barberry, the most invasive of them all — as “the species of major importance in garden commerce.” This plant has already been outlawed for sale in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hamphsire and Maine.A few weeks ago, a bill was passed in Connecticut recognizing the harm of a broad group of invasive plants. Under this new legislation, barberry will be phased out from sale or transport by October 2028.
In understating the invasive nature of many non-natives and de-prioritizing the importance of native species, Dirr’s widely used reference may be partly responsible for many a devastated woodland, forest, meadow and marsh in New England — if not across the U.S.Certainly, the evolution of species, and scientific knowledge about the environment, is changing faster than new editions of books can be printed. I can only hope that if a new edition of Mr. Dirr’s reference book is in the works that it will account for this criteria we now know to be vital in plant selection.
Which brings me back to that quote on the cover from The Washington Post and the larger issue it suggests:Should “ornamental horticulture” get a pass when it comes to ecological survival?I think we can agree — it should not.The consequences are simply too destructive.
Dee Salomon ‘ungardens’ in Litchfield County.
Foxtrot Farm & Flowers’ historic barn space during UAW’s 2024 exhibition entitled “Unruly Edges.”
Art lovers, mark your calendars. The sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns July 17 to 21, with an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events celebrating the cultural vibrancy of the region. Spanning eight counties and over 130 venues, UAW invites residents and visitors alike to explore the Hudson Valley’s thriving creative communities.
Here’s a preview of four must-see exhibitions in the area:
1. Wassaic Project (37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic)
“So It Goes” is a powerful group exhibition curated by Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby, and Will Hutnick. The title, drawn from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” signals a reckoning with how we process the horrors of the world. Through play, reflection, and immersive scale, 43 artists respond with urgency and imagination. Installations can be seen throughout the town of Wassaic at Maxon Mills, Gridley Chapel, and Luther Barn, each space transformed by this deeply thoughtful show.
2. Foxtrot Farm & Flowers (6862 Route 82, Stanfordville)
“Queer Bestiary,” a group show curated by Charlotte Woolf, is inspired by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s book “Forest Euphoria.” The exhibition investigates queer ecology and human relationship to land through the work of 10 artists using painting, sculpture, textiles, and photography. The exhibit is accompanied by a variety of interactive experiences including tattoo pop-ups, karaoke, book readings, and pick-your-own flowers.
3. ChaShaMa North/ChaNorth (2600 Route 199, Pine Plains)
ChaShaMa North (ChaNorth) will have open studios all weekend and has partnered with Paradice Palase, a platform for emerging artists, to mount a site-specific sculpture exhibition featuring 20 artists entitled “Alone, You Are Heard.” On Saturday evening, July 19, stop by for Weird Music Night for an audio-visual synthesis of experimental music, performance art, and unexpected happenings. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience an eclectic lineup of acts that redefine the boundaries of performance.
4. Millbrook Arts Project(3 Friendly Lane, Millbrook)
The Millbrook Arts Project is hosting a curated exhibit entitled “Generated Utility” at the newly renovated gallery at the village library. The exhibit will feature the work of artists Natalie Beall and Kathy Greenwood. Additionally, visitors will have access to 12 open artists studios across town. The weekend culminates in a free outdoor concert on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Millbrook Bandshell. Enjoy the Indie-Folk sounds of Strawberry Runners and She Keeps Bees.
For more information and a complete list of participating artists and locations, visit: upstateartweekend.org