BATAVIA, Ohio — As her fellow juniors at Batavia High School focused on preparing for senior year, Cassidy Chandler was focused on heading off to basic training for the summer.
“I actually started at Live Oaks in the JROTC program, that's how I ended up getting enlisted through them because they brought in the National Guard,” Chandler explained.
The split option allowed her to go to basic training at the age of 17 and come back for her senior year of high school before heading off to her actual Army job training upon graduation.
“I joined the Guard because my dad, he was active-duty infantry and then my mom obviously went to college and became a schoolteacher. So, I really wanted to see what both of them experienced. So, when the National Guard presented itself to me, I thought it would probably be the best choice for me,” Chandler said.
Despite her wishes to follow in her father’s footsteps by wearing the uniform, the parental or family influence for younger generations to serve has fallen.
The nonprofit Blue Star Families annual survey of active duty, veterans and their family members shows a drop in the number of people willing to recommend military service. Of those surveyed in 2023, 32% recommended service with active-duty members citing issues or concerns tied to family separation, pay, housing, spouse employment and children’s education.
Daniel Dailey, who served as the 15th Sergeant Major of the Army, recently sat down with WCPO 9 Anchor Craig McKee and said news stories or commercials tied to services for soldiers dealing with VA challenges or life-long issues tied to post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumas tied to their service can provide an altered reality of military service.
“So, unfortunately, what we do is we tend to amplify the negative. No organization is perfect, and the Army or any the military service will ever claim to be, and there is an inherent hazard in our chosen profession, that is a well-known fact that across America, right? But we have to be careful not to over amplify that because the success out far measures the problems,” Dailey said.
One of those traumas from service is Military Sexual Trauma otherwise known as sexual assault. During his time within Army leadership, he focused on ridding the Army ranks of sexual assaults.
“There's not one place for a single sexual assault within the Army or in our society,” Dailey said.
The latest Department of Defense report presented on May 16 highlighted a change.
“For the first time in nearly 10 years, the department is seeing a decrease in sexual assault prevalence. The department estimates that nearly 7,000 fewer service members experienced sexual assault 2023 than in 2021, the last year the department measured this,” said Beth Foster, executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency.
Dailey hopes the downward trend continues, as any negative news story or statistic can directly impact readiness and recruitment.
“When citizens of the Cincinnati area see someone in this uniform, they may not make the connection, but it's probably a Guardsman,” said Brigadier General Matthew Woodruff, Assistant Adjutant General of the Ohio Army National Guard.
Woodruff agrees with Dailey that the impact of news coverage and commercials tied to organizations that help veterans battling issues tied to their service has hurt the Army’s ability to recruit.
“I think it's a messaging issue that we have,” he said. “If that's what you're seeing seven times in an hour segment of the news, the message that our population gets is if you deploy, this is going to happen to you. The truth is, that's a very small percentage. Most of our soldiers go off and deploy or serve and have zero issues when they return.”
He said the positive stories just aren’t sexy and appealing to tell.
“It's telling the good stories, telling the stories of a specialist or an NCO that served for a career or served for six years and had a great experience, got their college paid for, got a trade, did all those things to enhance their life," Woodruff said. "But what if all the public sees is the negative? That's what they're going to think. And why would I want my son or daughter to join?"
Walnut Hills graduate and Ohio National Guard recruiter Williams Edwards said he sees the challenges firsthand when he meets with high school students.
“The biggest thing that I'm looking at right now is the way people look at the military as a country," Edwards said. “I get it all the time at schools, 'All you guys just kick down doors and shoot bad guys,' and stuff like that.”
He said he tries to educate students about the 150 different types of jobs available within the Army National Guard and to open their eyes to opportunities beyond what they think being in the Army is about.
Woodruff believes getting the positive messaging out is critical.
“I think there is a national issue that we all have to understand what the guard does, what the active component does, and make sure that we're guiding our people to make the right decisions,” Woodruff said. “I would also say it's on us. So, as an organization, it's not just on the recruiters out there in the field.”
Woodruff said they’ve launched the “Own Your Community Campaign” to help with the messaging to help with recruitment.
“(Guard members) should be volunteering to meet with leaders from the communities, they should be partnering at fairs and football games, and all the different things that can help enhance the guard presence, show people what service can do, and, and when something happens, know who's going to show up,” Woodruff said.
One of those who could be showing up is Chandler, now trained as a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high yield Explosives (CBRNE) specialist. New to the National Guard, she’s focused on both serving in the guard and going to the University of Cincinnati studying criminology.
“I definitely have an interest in being in like homicide or missing persons,” she said.
You can find out more about the Army National Guard by visiting a local recruiter's office or by going to their website.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
