From Draft NOtices, July-September 2023
— Lauren Reyna Morales
[Note: Fort Hood was built in 1942 near the town of Killeen, Texas. The infamous post was named after Confederate General John Bell Hood and is the third largest military base in the United States. On May 23rd, 2023, Fort Hood was renamed Fort Cavazos after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, the Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. This article will use the name Fort Hood when describing the various incidents that occurred at this Army base.]
Private Ana Basaldua Ruiz of Long Beach, California, was found dead at Fort Hood on March 13, 2023. Basaldua was 20 years old and had served the 15 months prior to her death as a combat engineer with the 1st Cavalry Division. She joined the Army in 2021. Basaldua’s family insists that in the weeks leading up to her death, their daughter had confided in them that she was the victim of inappropriate sexual behavior. Alejandra Ruiz Zarco, Basaldua’s mother, told Telemundo News “her daughter had told her . . . that an Army superior was ‘harassing her’ and that she was the target of repeated sexual advances on the base” (The New York Times).
Fiscal year 2022 marked a period of record low recruitment levels for the United States Armed Forces. All military branches struggled to reach their benchmarks. The Army alone missed recruiting goals by about 15,000 new soldiers, coming up 25 percent short for the fiscal year. To put the recruitment “crisis” into perspective, the military has not experienced such a problem enrolling new members since 1973, when the draft officially ended. So, why isn’t Generation Z interested in joining the military? The answer to that question depends on whom you ask.
