And nobody will say any of this in the media. It's always:

• A sluggish economy (soooo...recruitment should be literally UP, way UP as it was in 2008-2009 when the economy was in the shitter)

There isn't going to be a draft. Democrats would lose their votes. Troops are going to be replaced in large numbers in the next 10 years by remote piloted vehicles and platforms. The Army will drastically shrink it's numbers by 2035. It's already being worked on.

• Recently, the UH-60 was piloted remotely. They're turning the big ass Blackhawk into a drone, basically. Able to do MEDEVAC and Resupply operations. This takes a Crew of 4/5 out of the sky.
• There are already auto-loading "sentry" style Mortar systems and Artillery guns on the international weapons market. Nobody has purchased them for full implementation into their country's military, but they will. Why worry about feeding and sustaining a Mortar crew or a Howitzer crew when you can drop a shipping container on a hill, have automatic doors to open up the top, and auto-load and fire on a target 2 miles away?
• Unmanned cargo platforms with CROWs systems (command-remote operated-weapon) will deliver cargo and can perform CASEVAC operations at the Brigade and Below echelons for the Army/USMC. This option literally negates the purpose of an armed convoy escort (2 gun trucks with a total crew of 10 troops) AND a Field Litter Ambulance (FLA) (crew of 3). Units in a close fight can just drop 2 bodies on stretchers onto an unmanned mobile vehicle, and send it on it's way as a remote operator somewhere in Florida drives the vehicle back to Role 2 for urgent surgical care.