As the military services struggle to meet their recruitment targets, they’re finding more success in certain parts of the country, Military.com reported.

“When you look at it regionally, the North and the West tend to be less positive” on military service “than the South and the Midwest,” said [retired Army Brig. Gen. Michael] Meese, the former head of West Point’s Department of Social Sciences.

“The implications of that for recruiting are problematic,” he said, “because where are you going to fish” to fill out the ranks?

Meese is president of the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association. He was speaking at a RAND Corporation panel on its recent report, “What Americans Think About Veterans and Military Service.” The report found that Americans think highly of veterans, but more than half would discourage enlistment. Almost two-thirds of survey respondents, however, would recommend joining as an officer through ROTC or the service academies.

ADC’s View

ADC President Karen Holt wrote a Military Times op-ed last year on how DOD can work with learn from defense communities to recruit and retain service members across the country.

Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Sarah Grawock