The Trillion Dollar War Machine That Barreled Toward Iran
And the games: the army even has a team of players who compete with civilians. This is apparently one of their best recruiting tools. And they even did a study after 9/11, when everyone was saying, “Oh, these kids. They’re lazy, they play all the time and can’t concentrate.” The Pentagon’s response was: “These kids are great. They’re multitaskers. Let’s hire them.” And that’s what they do. They even consulted players on how to control the drones. You know, what would be the most effective way? So they kind of integrated.
OI: Recruitment figures have been declining for years. Do you think the Defense Department’s new cultural message under Hegseth — patriotism over diversity, toughness over inclusion — is an attempt to resolve this crisis, or is it a deeper ideological rebranding?
WH: I think it’s mostly ideological. When they say they are against DEI, the flip side is that they don’t want to do anything about racism, misogyny, anti-gay and anti-trans activities within the military. It’s almost as if Hegseth’s ideal army would be like the Michigan militia with better weapons. And it is not representative of the country. Also, there seems to be this idea that they are supposed to be loyal to Donald Trump, not the Constitution. So I think his ideal military will be weaker, less representative, and less consistent with what the military is supposed to be, which is to serve the civilian government and the people in cases where we are actually threatened.
