Selling Military Service During Wartime: U.S. Army Recruitment Advertising and Enlistment Motivation During the War Against Terror

This article examines the coherence between the themes expressed in the U.S. Army’s recruitment advertisements and the enlistment motivation among American soldiers enlisting in the Army in the years 2001–2010, when the country was involved in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. Based on exploration of the prevalent research, the article begins by assessing the history of military recruitment and enlistment motivation in the United States after the introduction of the draft in 1917 and after the introduction of the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) in 1973. In this section, the article discusses the role of the Army’s recruitment advertising. Based on an analysis of selected interviews with Army veterans, the second part of the article aims to clarify the different motivations for enlisting in the U.S. Army between 2001 and 2010 and to compare these motivations with the contents of the Army’s recruitment advertisements at the time. The article argues that among the different reasons for enlisting, the feeling of duty to country remained a strong motivator throughout this period. Furthermore, the article argues that there was never complete consistency between the contents of the recruitment advertisements and the soldiers’ enlistment motivation.