US and Russia Put Boots on the Ground in the Same Country – Newsweek
While the two nuclear superpowers fight proxy wars, both have more army boots than feet to put in them. Russia and the US are both facing recruitment issues – for different reasons – that magnify class and economic divides:
From the summons to the funeral – IStories
“A year of mobilization claimed the lives of thousands of conscripted Russians. How long they managed to stay alive and where they most often died – we tell together with the Conflict Intelligence Team.”
The all-volunteer force is dying. Here’s how to save it. – Mark Esper/WaPost
“…the pool of Americans ages 17 to 24 who are qualified and interested in serving continues to shrink. When I was Army secretary in 2017, 71 percent of these 34 million young people could not meet the military’s entry requirements, mostly because of obesity, drug abuse, and physical and mental health problems. That number is even higher now. About half of the 23 percent remaining who are eligible to serve today decide to attend college. At the same time, the share of the entire cohort with a propensity to serve has dropped from 13 percent to 9 percent. That leaves fewer than 500,000 potential recruits. It’s hard to believe that a nation of 333 million people can’t produce a larger pool.”