Young people want the benefits like the promised free college, but don't want to get sent off to die for a cause nobody believes in and nobody approved.
Volunteer, but only on the way in. And new recruits are very young. Things in thier lives change. They grow up a bit and often want out, but cant get out. Being stuck in a multi-year term of service doesnt feel like a volunteer army to them.
easy to volunteer when you're a hoodrat or hillbilly and it's the only way out of your situation.
but that's just the way in. Problem is you're on the hook for 4+ years and you can't just quit. I've definitely had white collar jobs I got to, realized it was fuckin miserable, and noped out in < 2 years. Cuz, like, I can just quit.
you end up in a shitty unit with a shitty boss, you get to eat shit for ~4 years, and will go to jail if you fuckup or disappear.
put another way, there is some statistic like 25% of military recruits who get kicked out get kicked out in the first year; it wasn't what they thought it'd be