It's Friday, November 3rd, 2023.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian world view.

You can look at many dimensions of America's moral life.

You can look at moral dimensions of so many big stories.

But you can also look at some indications of where our society is headed.

And some of these might come from some very unexpected places, such as enlistments in the United States military.

The bottom line is that those enlistments are basically declining.

To the point that you have most of the major branches of the armed services

that are having a difficult time meeting their recruiting goals.

The one exception to that, by the way, very interesting, is the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps is hitting its goals, unlike the other major branches of the military.

You asked a question, why are the branches of the armed services in an all-volunteer army,

why at this point are they having a difficult time meeting their recruiting goals?

And the point is there are some reasons that have to do with,

well, the fact there are fewer qualified candidates when it comes to say physical

condition, the avoidance of a criminal background,

the avoidance of certain kinds of patterns of behavior, including drug use.

It turns out that when you look at young adults in the United States, a greater percentage

that at previous times, this is very troubling, a greater percentage is disqualified from enlisting

in the armed services even before you get to the question of their willingness to do so.

But let's just move on to their willingness to do so, because in moral terms this is also a very big issue.

We would understand that our nation is in trouble, not only in

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