Well... I mean...
Let's just say there are multiple factors.
"Bugmen" is a nifty insult I heard from Ryan Long describing soy-based semi-men who cannot do anything remotely physical or mechanical. Like changing a fuse is a problem for the bugmen.
(I'm a bit of a bugman myself, but unlike many bugmen, I'm not satisfied with my status as a Person of Bug.)
Everybody knows the military has been having trouble hitting its recruitment numbers, and Republicans have been banging the drums about COVID vaccine mandates and the sudden swing to woke in the military.
Nope, says the AP and the current military brass. It's that there is a sudden outbreak of scaredy-cat 18-year-olds.
No doubt the fact that 85% of Generation Z boys are transgender (that's my rough guess, based on the media never shutting up about the subject) is hurting recruitment.
But there have always been pussies and cowards.
But there have also been men who were willing or even eager to go on a very dangerous adventure for the sake of protecting the country -- and that pool of men was always a fraction of the total number of men. (Or, "those assigned male at birth.")
And they have traditionally signed up for military service in such numbers that there has never been a serious fear that the US would have to resort to the involuntary draft, since the Reagan presidency restored confidence and prestige to the military, at least.
But now that fraction of men traditionally willing to risk physical injury or death for the sake of service is also not signing up now.
The AP says it's just because that group -- the group which has always been less afraid of death than the average men -- are suddenly just sniveling cowards.
While some Republicans blame the COVID-19 vaccine or "wokeness" for the Army's recruiting woes, the military service says the bigger hurdles are more traditional ones: Young people don't want to die or get injured, deal with the stress of Army life and put their lives on hold.
They "just don't see the Army as something that's relevant," said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of Army marketing. "They see us as revered, but not relevant, in their lives."
Addressing those longtime issues has taken on greater urgency as the Army tries to recover from its worst recruiting year in decades, a situation aggravated by the tight jobs market. The Army is offering new programs, advertising and enticements in an effort to change perceptions and reverse the decline.
Sounds to me like it's the military brass that is filled with sniveling cowards who are afraid to tell their Woke Bosses the truth about why military service is no longer seen as manly to actual men.