Then what is the answer to increase volunteer recruitment?
More money? Guaranteed college education for those who want it?
Choice of assignments?
Actually, none of that.
More than anything, many I have talked to in recent years say the lack of stability makes them shy away. And the limited potential for future career growth.
As I stated in a past post, at one time the military was seen as an amazingly stable career choice. The pay was never spectacular, but it was also largely insulated from the economy itself. You had a guaranteed job for the duration of your contract, and it was not hard to spend 20 years there and get a decent pension when you retired. And were still young enough to take another job in the civilian market before you actually retired for good. Or you could simply start your own business or live on the military pension alone. It would not be a lot of money, but you could live comfortably in much of the country on it.
Plus other retirement benefits, like insurance. And while you were in, complete medical for your family.
However, today that is simply no longer the case. The "20 year and retire" at half your pay is simply gone. You are forced to put money into essentially a 401k, that unless you take a significant tax penalty you are not going to see again for many decades. And if you join at 18 and do a full 20, you will only be 38. That means you
have to get a job immediately, as you are still over 21 years away from collecting any pension at all.
And with changes made back in the 2010s, even using the VA education benefits has become a nightmare. If you decide to go to a technical school instead of a 4 year college, then your benefits and payments are going to be all kinds of jacked up. Even if you go to a college, your benefits and payments are going to be all kinds of jacked up.
And on top of that, the severely reduced troop strength has seriously impacted how many can even remain in the military for 20 years. It is simple math, the less that can be in, the fewer positions are available to serve in past your initial 4 years. That means you might serve 4, 8, or 12 years and be shown the door because there is simply not enough positions for you to move up into. Back in the 1980s and before, if somebody wanted to serve 20 years and retire it was pretty much guaranteed. Today, that is no longer the case. A great many hit those 8 and 12 year marks and are now shown the door.
"Guaranteed college" is already in place, the Webb GI Bill was a big part of that (and Montgomery before that). I actually used it twice, but the way it was broken in the 2010s made it impossible to live off of. And if you are going to serve past 4 years, you pretty much will at some point have a "choice of assignments".
But most "kids" by the time they are 18 have now disqualified themselves to be honest. Criminal records, drug use, tattoos, and poor physical fitness and other things have made it that 3/4 of those eligible can not serve even if they wanted to. And that is nobodies fault but their own.