The military is concerned about a growing recruitment crisis. Survey after survey reveals young people just aren’t inspired by military service.

Ironically, decades of sky-high military spending — and the endless war it enabled — may have much to do with that. And reversing that trend is critical to making Americans safer.

An 18-year-old today will have lived their entire life watching one failed, disastrous war after another. Born in 2006, they would have been an infant when George W. Bush surged troops in Iraq in 2007, years after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner. They would have been in about second grade when ISIS took over much of that country.

They could have been eligible to join the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) just as the United States withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years, having only made conditions worse.

That same young person would have spent formative years in isolation........

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