New recruits are joining the military in big numbers, but not for the reason Hegseth says

By lunchtime at a northern Virginia high school, the hallway outside the cafeteria buzzed with students finishing homework, joking with friends and playing video games.

Off to the side, Tech Sgt. Omar Herrera, an Air Force recruiter, had arranged his table with the standard fare of glossy brochures, foam model fighter jets and Air and Space Force-branded water bottles students could earn with a round of pushups.

The scene was strikingly low-key, almost at odds with the life-altering decision many of the teenagers wandering past his table were weighing...