The army secretary is full of crap...I was a Navy recruiter in the late 80’s in a college town. In 3 years my office never missed our goals. And at the time military pay was lagging. It is not the pay! It is partially the woke crap, partially openly gay persons and other stuff but the biggest reason is unending deployments. Navy ships for example are seldom in port, army brigades are constantly deployed fighting for countries that don’t give a crap about the United States and in fact want us gone. Want to improve recruitment and retention? Close the bases in germany, jaoan and korea. Stop sending out kids to die for some despot in some shit hole. In 20 years in the navy my total deployed time was about 5 years. I know kids who in a 4 year enlistment have been deployed for 30 months. Who wants to do that no matter what the pay. And despite what the tranny folks say it is mighty uncomfortable to shower with a female who says she is male or male who says they are female. Get in the shower with some naked female and it is almost impossible to not be aroused which makes it embarrassing for all. How dare the male get an erection! They end up charged with sexual Harassment!
A USN O-6 helo pilot acquaintance has 1 day of sea time. Used to tell him I had 10x that much backing down before I was a LT.