Conservatives are outraged following a couple of TikToks posted by U.S. Army recruits and soldiers discouraging fellow Gen Zers from joining the military.
An article from the right-wing outlet Breitbart, published Sunday, cited three TikToks as evidence of the supposed “mutiny.”
But the most recent of the three videos was from January, while the other two were from 2021 and 2020 respectively.
The Daily Mail published a similar article on Sunday, which also referenced years-old TikTok videos.
One video included in both articles, posted in 2020 by @midwest_ant, listed the cons of being in the army, such as no privacy, poor pay, “shitty food,” disrespectful leadership, and lack of sleep.
“Go airforce,” it concluded.
@midwest_ant 😑 #military #usa #army #marines #airforce #navy #rnb #dontdoit #deployment #fypシ #uniform #sad #world #lost #soldier #free #life #enlist ♬ Ya already know – YourDad👔
Another video similarly blasted the pay, the physical demands of the job, addiction to substances including caffeine and nicotine, and officers that “power trip.”
@itsnotfunnytreull Imma do 5 reason why u should join next , gotta make it fair 🫡 #army #military #viral #fyp #foryou #blowthisup #army #757 #foryoupage #murderman #range #music #promo #dontletthisflop #undergroundmusic #rap #allprops #explore #hobby #damn #ysl #gunna #youngthug #nbayoungboychallenge #sleazyflow #lildurk #liluzivert #rapper #pfgnuk #estgee #scam #method #yungeenace #yungmanny #liltjay #lilbaby #vultureculture #vultureisland ♬ original sound – Treull
Though the majority of the videos cited are older than a year, the backlash they have sparked across social media is new.
“Patriot Soldiers vs Paycheck Soldier,” posted one user on X.
Some mentioned the current right-wing culture war concerns, that the Army has been “wokeified,” which explains its struggles to meet recruitment goals.
“The pay has always been terrible, food always shitty, and there’s always been fitness tests,” opined another. “These things didn’t change. What changed were the demographics of recruits. Good luck with your diverse, gay, & female military. The rural white men,” who apparently wouldn’t publicly complain about issues “are done.”
“You’re serving the country not staying in a 5 star hotel,” criticized someone else of the TikTokers’ complaints.
“Did they think being in the military would be easy?” wrote someone else.
But plenty of people have defended the individuals for complaining.
“Hating being in the military while being in the military is a time-honored American tradition,” said one X user. “They just didn’t used to bitch about it in 50 second portrait-orientation videos taken on phones and broadcast to a million civilian peers.”
“Junior enlisted complaining about how the military sucks is a time honored tradition going back hundreds of years,” wrote someone else.
The U.S. Army has struggled to recruit soldiers, falling short of its recruitment goal in 2023 by 10,000 people.
It has launched a range of recruitment efforts—including on TikTok and on X—and will be overhauling its current recruitment system in favor of a new “talent acquisition” enlisted occupational specialty dedicated to recruiting.