At the present time, men and women can enter the US Army as early as seventeen years old, while the maximum allowable age is thirty-five. The mandatory retirement age is generally sixty-two years, and these age constraints are similar in the other services. Conventional understanding is usually “younger is better” for military service in terms of health, fitness, and longevity. However, Dr. Lanny Snodgrass presents an interesting argument in The Ageless Call to Serve that challenges conventional perceptions about age and military service.
Already a psychiatrist with numerous years of experience in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Snodgrass entered the US Army at the age of sixty-three and served for several years. During this time, he helped many young soldiers deal with the stresses of military service, both in garrison and in combat zones. While he noted that there were various factors contributing to the soldiers’ challenges, a common thread was they were all relatively young, from eighteen to twenty-five years old. His sobering anecdotes and analyses of several cases are interesting, and his cautionary opinion about sending soldiers under the age of twenty-five to serve in war is compelling.
Snodgrass provides a good general discussion on the costs of mental stress. He describes the obvious victims, soldiers involved in direct combat in recent operations, and he highlights the less obvious, like medical personnel serving in forward medical treatment facilities who dealt with the continuous flow of casualties. Snodgrass also includes interviews and studies of veterans from prior wars such as Vietnam and the Second World War. The narrative is sobering in that issues like posttraumatic stress disorder are often permanent and the victims must continuously manage the effects. Also, the victims are not alone since their challenges affect their families as well; thus, the costs are substantial.
Noting young soldiers’ potential vulnerabilities to the traumas of war, the author delivers a good argument for considering attributes other than youth and fitness in the ranks. His own experience is a case in point, while he acknowledges that he was challenged in meeting the physical fitness requirements during his direct-commission training, he was able to provide a critical medical service to soldiers for several years when the Army was pressed hard for personnel and skill sets during its campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Snodgrass believes that many older adults can perform important jobs in the Army. Although they may not score as well as their younger counterparts on physical fitness tests, the author asserts that older soldiers are more than capable of contributing to the Army’s mission, even in time of war, and are less susceptible to mental stress issues, due to their inherent experience, resilience, and emotional maturity.
Snodgrass’s argument for reconsidering military age limits appears valid. His recollection of personal experiences with treating young soldiers for stress-related issues, and his questioning of conventional paradigms regarding age is thought-provoking. Military professionals should find Snodgrass’s The Ageless Call to Serve a worthwhile reading to understand the potential costs of deploying young soldiers into war zones, as well as the collateral costs to their families. Snodgrass also offers suggestions for how the Army could reexamine its policy on age limits. In addition, he offers inspiration to older adults, sending the message that all can provide valuable contributions to the US military.