"It Defines Me to This Day" — Kai Ryssdal on What Military Service Teaches

Kai Ryssdal argues that young Americans have good reason to feel pessimistic because they are growing up amid inequality, broken politics, weak national ambition and a lack of shared civic purpose. He says social media can amplify that mood, but the deeper problem is the future they are being handed, including doubts about housing, wealth-building and higher education.

He ties that unease to the example set by national leaders and says Trump’s style has normalized coarseness, shamelessness and the absence of common purpose. Ryssdal says the greater danger inside the military is not young service members, but senior officers who should know better and who have a duty to resist illegal orders. He blasts Pete Hegseth’s leadership at the Defense Department as damaging and corrosive.

Ryssdal also says military service shaped him permanently. He describes eight years in the Navy as an obligation to something bigger than himself, a code of duty, respect, loyalty and mission first. He argues that some form of national service would be valuable for young people now, not because the military is perfect, but because it can sharpen character and give structure to a life.