Kennard details how, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on, the Bush administration faced a recruitment crisis. Rather than reintroducing the draft, it loosened enlistment standards, opening the door to recruits who would previously have been barred from service. Drawing on years of investigative reporting, interviews with veterans, whistle-blowers and extremists themselves, Kennard breaks down how those policies reshaped the culture of the US military and created consequences that are still unfolding today.
He also examines the wider political legacy of those decisions, arguing that the culture fostered has since spilled into American public life - particularly through the second Trump administration. He examines the role of Pete Hegseth, explaining why his retreat from tackling extremism has institutionalised the very trends that began during the War on Terror.
