Army brings back classic jingle in effort to increase recruiting

Washington — The nation’s top soldier, Sgt. Major Michael Grinston, came to Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., armed with a new twist on an old recruiting slogan.

With the Army falling short of its recruitment goals last year, the Pentagon is going back to a familiar slogan in its new recruiting efforts: “Be All You Can Be.”

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the jingle was everywhere. But this is no replay.

“We are reinventing ‘Be All You Can Be’ for Generation Z,” Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, chief of Army Enterprise Marketing, told CBS News.

Fink is the man behind the new campaign, which is being rolled out during March Madness. It features actor Jonathan Majors, star of “Creed III,” walking through depictions of Army history.

“We needed somebody who was popular with Gen Z,” Fink said.

Fink noted that the Army is aware of the reasons young people give for not wanting to join the Army, such as, “risk of dying or injury, the fear of PTSD and the third one is leaving family and friends.”

While recruiting, Grinston tries to counter those reasons.

“You are actually three times more likely to die in a work-related accident than you are in the Army,” Grinston told Dunbar High students during his presentation.

Dunbar student Antonio Graham said he wouldn’t enlist because he doesn’t want to leave home.

“The only reason I wouldn’t join the Army is because I don’t feel like taking a big detachment issue away from my mother,” Graham told CBS News. “I really love my mother.”

However, student Antilae Roberts said she liked what she heard.

“‘Be All You Can Be.’ I really agree with that slogan, I do,” Roberts said.

Roberts was one of 20 recruiting leads the Army said it got during the recruiting session at Dunbar High. According to the Army, 20 leads usually produces two actual recruits. The Army said it needs 65,000.