Sports Thrill Seekers Sign Here: According to USA Today, Air Force recruiters have taken their pitch to such venues as motocross races—with their young, thrill-seeking competitors—to seek out likely candidates for its battlefield airmen fields. The Air Force is short of pararescue jumpers, controllers who work with ground special forces, and other specialties that require exceptional physical prowess, not to mention nerve. Of course, as Today points out, the Air Force isn’t the only service with its eye on this type crowd. (Read about the training these airmen undergo in our April 2006 pictorial.)
Americans’ trust and confidence in the U.S. military has declined precipitously in recent months, according to the results of a survey. Experts lay the blame on increasing political polarization and the fallout from this summer’s turbulent withdrawal from Afghanistan.