from WNYC studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Wednesday, June 7th.

Did you know that this year is the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer military in the United States after the Vietnam-era draft was

ended. It's also the 75th anniversary of the military being officially integrated. Today, headline

issues include recruitment challenges for the all-volunteer force and U.S. roles in Ukraine and in the

Pacific, as there is so much talk about tensions with China,

also fighting sexual assault and sex and gender discrimination in the military.

We are happy to have with us now the Secretary of the Army, Christine Warmouth.

She's the first woman to be Secretary of the Army before being appointed by President Biden

and confirmed easily across

party lines in the Senate. She had previously been the deputy under Secretary of Defense for

Strategy, Plans, and Force Development under President Obama and a special assistant to President

Obama and other Pentagon leadership roles going back to the 90s and the immediate post-September 11th era.

Secretary Warma, thanks so much for coming on with us. Welcome to WNYC.

Thank you so much for having me. Delighted to be here.

Can we get to know you a little first? Where did you grow up and what got you interested in military policy and leadership as a career?

I grew up in College Station, Texas. I didn't, my grandfather was a World War II veteran,

but my father was not in the military. I think I got interested in national security.

You know, I grew up sort of at the end of the Cold War.

I remember when the Berlin Wall fell.

I grew up around a lot of international students, and so I think I started getting interested in foreign policy at an early age.

And I was lucky enough to get a job early in my career at the Pentagon, and after that I was pretty much hooked.

And this is the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer military, but is volunteer even the

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