The New Warrior Class

Something is changing in California. In the eyes of service members, military families, and community voices across the state, coupled with more legislative support of military-related bills than we have seen in years, a shift is underway in how veterans are being served.

Senate Bill 296, authored by Senator Bob Archuleta and now joint-authored by Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, may deliver a long-overdue request from the disabled veteran community: a meaningful expansion of the property tax exemption for qualified veterans and surviving spouses. The measure expands California’s existing partial disabled veterans’ exemption, offering relief on a portion of a qualifying home’s value, with fuller relief for lower-income households and protections carried to unmarried surviving spouses. It cleared the Assembly on a 78-0 vote and returned to the Senate for concurrence, a rare stretch of bipartisan momentum on veteran policy.

This pro-military movement is expanding into communities. We are seeing more service members and veterans run for office, from school board and county sheriff to California State Assembly districts and city council. New social media networks and veteran organizations are forming. And despite the long-running friction between the VFW and the American Legion, younger crowds of leaders and participants are moving in, fulfilling a wish list these organizations have needed to survive. That reversal matters when you consider that favorable views of the military among Gen Z had slipped from 46 percent in 2016 to 35 percent in 2021, only to rebound today to roughly half of the generation holding the armed forces in high regard.

The Numbers Tell the Story

This is not only a California story. With every branch of service meeting its fiscal 2026 recruiting mission months ahead of schedule, the data speaks for itself. The Army signed more than 61,500 future soldiers four months early. The Navy hit its goal of 45,000 sailors three months ahead of schedule. The Air Force and Space Force reached their targets five months early, and the Marine Corps met its mark as well.

Collectively, the five services reached 103 percent of their combined active-duty mission, the strongest recruiting performance in roughly 15 years. That momentum is not a one-year fluke, it followed a fiscal 2025 in which every branch again averaged 103 percent of mission, the first time in years that all of them hit or exceeded their targets, and the Department of War entered fiscal 2026 having already filled nearly 40 percent of its delayed-entry accession goals.

The generational data is even more striking. Ten years ago, Department of War tracking polls showed youth interest in service averaging just 13 to 16 percent. Today, roughly 3 in 10 young adults say they would consider joining the military, and about half of Gen Z holds a favorable view of the armed forces.

Four out of five Gen Z respondents personally know someone who has served, a familiarity that is building a foundation of respect and recognition for the uniform. Gen Z now accounts for nearly 100 percent of new accessions and about 43 percent of the active-duty force, with an average age across the ranks of 28.7 years.

The New Warrior Culture

What we are witnessing is the rise of a new warrior culture, and it is resonating with young adults in a way the institution has not seen in a generation. This is not the reluctant, war-weary enlistment climate of the late Iraq and Afghanistan years. It is a renewed embrace of discipline, physical readiness, personal growth, and service to something larger than oneself. Slogans built around that idea, such as the Army’s revived “Be All You Can Be,” are landing precisely because they speak to a generation hungry for challenge, structure, and identity. For those weighing enlistment today, the top motivators are career growth, education benefits, and skill development, ambition paired with purpose. What makes the turnaround remarkable is the headwind behind it: only about 23 percent of Americans aged 17 to 24 are physically, mentally, and academically eligible to serve without a waiver, and the pool of 18-year-olds is projected to shrink by roughly 13 percent between 2025 and 2041. The services are meeting mission early despite a smaller and harder-to-qualify population, which tells you the shift is one of genuine willingness, not just favorable math.

Whether you believe this is economically driven or the product of patriotism and a pro-American cultural movement, the honest answer is a little of both. Economic drivers have always been part of the equation, and financial and educational benefits remain a real reason people raise their right hand. But the culture of loving your country and the willingness to serve to preserve American values is genuinely on the rise, and it is contributing to what we are seeing.

A Shift in Focus: The Family at the Center of Readiness

So what is changing within the military beyond what you see on television? The force is shifting its focus toward what combat readiness truly consists of. The American family has moved into the crosshairs of the Department of War as one of the heaviest driving factors behind defense readiness and warfighter success. That means developing programs like SpouseWorks to connect military spouses to employment, building talent pipelines into the private sector, enhancing the military-to-civilian transition experience, deepening public-private partnerships, and reducing the burden of permanent change of station moves and assignments. It means placing the military family at the heart of combat readiness and success.

A new recruit may join to get ahead financially or to build something with a firm foundation to grow with. But one of the hardest things to do is change behavior and culture, and that is exactly what has been happening. Paired with the Department of War’s initiatives to build something meaningful and attractive, there is a measurable uptick in young men and women willing to serve.

The benefits remain part of the contract when you raise your right hand, and they have been enhanced. In-service tuition rates and scholarships for military spouses have expanded, and reforms like the Rudisill Act have made education a part of growth throughout a military career. The Department of War understands the logic: if you build a robust quality of life inside the uniform, service members leave civilian-ready, mentally and physically sound, well educated, and connected to workforce opportunities. That, in turn, feeds the recruiting pipeline.

We are watching it happen in real time. From a statehouse in Sacramento to recruiting stations across the country, a new warrior class is stepping forward, and the culture is rising to meet it.