The U.S. Army's latest recruitment advertisement has raised eyebrows over its uncharacteristic lack of diversity. Some critics have suggested that the prominence of white male service members in the ad might indicate extreme desperation on the part of the Army to hit recruitment targets and/or war on the horizon.

What's the background?

In recent years, the Army has been blasted for pushing ad campaigns that appeared more concerned with identity politics than with attracting a new generation of patriotic warriors.

For instance, it released an ad released on May 4, 2021, featured a lesbian couple, an LGBT activist parade, and the suggestion that supporting non-straight unions was comparable to defending the nation. Critics suggested that beyond its apparent ideological bent, the ad was off-brand for the Army.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ruffled feathers with his subsequent suggestion that "perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea."

When challenged over the tweet, Cruz said, "We have the greatest military on earth, but Dem politicians & woke media are trying to turn them into pansies."

For all the attention this ad and others got for downplaying combat, highlighting personal development, and harping on themes of identity, they did not appear to move the needle on recruitment.

In 2022, the Army fell 15,000 soldiers (25%) short of its target, reported the Army Times.

"In the Army's most challenging recruiting year since the start of the all-volunteer force, we will only achieve 75% of our fiscal year 22 recruiting goal," said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.

Things have not improved a great deal since. Task & Purpose reported that the Army expects to end fiscal year 2024 with 55,000 new recruits, 10,000 short of its original goal.

Getting serious

In March, the U.S. Army launched a rebrand in hopes of increasing enlistment numbers. While still willing to publish makeup tutorials on its YouTube page, the Army ran two ads both featuring recreations of historic battles and celebrating the virtue of yesteryear's fighters with no explicit emphasis on their immutable characteristics. Marvel actor Jonathan Majors, now awaiting trial on assault and harassment charges, served as on-screen narrator.

Wormuth told CNN, "The Army at the end of the day is here to fight and win the nation's wars, and we wanted to reflect the Army that does that. And that's the Army that I see when I go out and visit installations, whether it's here or whether it's overseas."

"These commercials were really based on the market research we’ve been doing about, what do people think about the Army, what do they think they know, what don’t they know, and how do we start telling that story through these ads?" continued Wormuth.

While this campaign ditched the softness of previous efforts, diversity apparently remained a pre-eminent concern.

"You're going to see lots of different people doing lots of different roles," said Wormuth. "You're going to see men and women, you're going to see people of color, and part of that is important because one of the things we found in our market research is that a lot of young people admire the Army, but they don't think there are people like them in the Army."

Numbers over diversity

Now, months later with the Israel-Hamas war in full swing, the Army has released an ad entitled "Jump" in which women and minorities are noticeably absent.

"Jump," released on Nov. 4, is the fourth commercial in the Army's "First Steps" campaign, which was launched in August, and part of its 2023 "Be All You Can Be" rebrand. It features a largely white cast of male soldiers packed into a CH-47 Chinook helicopter preparing for a parachute jump. The camera alternates between the soldiers' point of view and cinematic shots.

As a soldier's parachute opens, text appears saying, "Your greatest victories are never achieved alone."

Critics immediately seized upon the ad's apparent lack of diversity.

BlazeTV host Lauren Chen responded on X, "The Army has abandoned woke advertising. Looks like they're going to war and looking for white boy canon [sic] fodder."

The popular X account Wall Street Silver wrote, "All white guys in the US Army ads again ... we are definitely going to war."

Darren Beattie, the editor of Revolver News, wrote, "Attention white men. Time to fight and die for a regime that hates you. ... The semiconductors of Taiwan must be liberated."

Peachy Keenan, the pseudonymous contributing editor of the American Mind, tweeted, "The US Army's new recruitment ad is so cynical. After 15 years of relentless progessive [sic] brainwashing and doing a literal 'stand down' to root out 'extremists' ( ie white conservatives), they are now facing an existential recruiting crisis and must return again to seducing the children of said 'extremists' into fighting for their country."

TPUSA CEO Charlie Kirk asked, "Are we going to war?"

An unwoke appeal to potential white male recruits might be a sound move for the Army, given its present and historic demographics.

The number of white soldiers in the Army has dropped off precipitously since 2010, when they accounted for 62.2% of the fighting force.

According to the Army, as of June 2022, white soldiers made up 53.9% of the Army's active component, accounting for 69% of all officers, 62% of warrant officers, and 63% of USMA cadets. Males accounted for 84.4% of the total.

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