The Ageless Call to Serve: Rethinking Military Service for a Changing World

Summary

An eighteen-year-old in the United States is still barred from buying alcohol, acquiring a pilot's license, or stepping into a casino. Yet, astonishingly, they can be enlisted in the military and deployed to a war zone. On the other side of the age spectrum, individuals over thirty-nine often encounter insurmountable obstacles to enlistment.

Break this mold and meet Lanny Snodgrass, who, at the age of sixty-three, became the oldest American to join the Army and complete officer basic training. It was 2003, the Iraq War had just started, and the Pentagon momentarily relaxed age requirements.

With around four decades of experience treating veterans and active-duty military personnel, many teenagers grappling with psychiatric illnesses such as PTSD, depression, and suicidality, Dr. Snodgrass bears unique insight into the perils of sending young soldiers to war.

Dr. Snodgrass poses critical questions about the limits of service and whether these age constraints should be maintained or relaxed. It's not an overstatement, then, to say that The Ageless Call to Serve presents a life-and-death proposition on how to build a more resilient, professional military force.