NONSAN, SOUTH KOREA – Kyle Choi (20 years old), stuck together and taking online lessons, has become determined about where he would end the pandemic: the military-military country in South Korea.
Mr. Choi, a university student in Seoul, has accelerated his plans to fulfill his 18-month compulsory service. As a major subject for environmental engineering, Mr. Choi worries that virtual learning does not repeat in-class experiments that are critical to his training. So at the end of December, he volunteered for a boat camp at this central Korean city.
“You have to go anyway,” he said. “It can happen now, too.”
Around the world, military military advertising is emerging as younger adults seek refuge in a pandemic that restricts jobs, social life and a traditional education. The role often brings health care benefits, such as free virus testing, treatment and vaccinations. Social distance made some facets of early military life less strenuous.
Canada has seen a 37% increase in military applicants for the last nine months of 2020 as a year earlier. For the full year, Australia reported a 9.9% increase over the previous year. The UK achieved its first annual recruitment target last spring for the first time in seven years – and it’s fast on track this year, a government spokesman said. In the U.S. military, about 92% of its eligible personnel ended the year again in September. The previous year’s score was 83%, a spokesman said.