A faltering cease fire for another 70 to 2 hours on humanitarian grounds. And continued fighting, making it difficult for thousands of people trying to leave sudan, many a, making a treacherous journey to port sedan on the North Eastern coast. To board evacuation ships him, morgan reports from houghton. It looks like the debris f. B, as an organization has looked into the needs of the sudanese people, are, are the, are people fleeing from the Capital Hotel into neighboring states and into neighboring countries who are in need of assistance. Now many people say that theyre out of food, and this is of course, looking after the conflict that happened here in the capital. A harder to them prior to that, at least 15000000 people, thats a 3rd of the population of sedan were in need of humanitarian assistance and doubly of be had to held its operations during the 1st day of the conflict at because 3 of its staff were killed tens of thousands of people are rallying in south Koreas Capital to Market International workers. Day trade unions are demanding a raise to the minimum wage there also against plans to increase the number of working hours rallies are also taking place in multiple cities across indonesia. The jakarta, thousands of people of march towards the president ial palace. They wanted the repeal of a new job creation law which was passed in march and was meant to attract more fallen investment. Couldnt say of benefits, Big Companies rather than workers and the environment. You are secretary of state Antony Blinkin is said to have meetings with the Foreign Ministers of armenia and azerbaijan, the talk same to reduce tensions about than a goal. Carbonic disputes as are by jones set up checkpoints in the region along the lashing corridor. Last month is the only road connecting armenia with the area backers dismissed calls to remove the checkpoints, which according to armenia, violate a 20 twentys ceasefire agreement between the 2 countries. But a guys conservative ruling parties, candidate has won the president ial election. Santiago, opinion, Colorado Party has been in power for most of the last 75 years. Then his center left royal f and a leg got just under 27. 5 percent. Despite having a narrow lead in opinion polls. And those of the headline stay tuned up front is up next. I roberson stay with us. Talk to al jazeera, we ask who is really fighting this russia . Is it wagner or is it the Russian Military . We listen, we started talking to mom, mom, so that this via your citizen ish look to get him back. We meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al jazeera, the u. S. Military is facing its greatest recruitment crisis in 50 years. Military leaders say they are struggling to hit their enlistment targets because most potential recruits simply do not meet the militarys eligibility standards. While data shows that over half of young people simply do not see a future in the armed forces. Many attribute this to information about the militarys internal culture being more readily available in this day and age, including reports of racism and Sexual Harassment and fears of lack of adequate care and support for veterans. Others argue that the decline in recruitment has more to do with how young people view the military and a shift and personal beliefs when it comes to war. So what is behind this decline . And are we witnessing a change in americans relationship to the military . Thats our conversation this week, and it up front special. Ah, joining us is minissha real, some veteran of the u. S. Army and member of truth in recruitment, a non profit group, educating young people on the consequences of a military career. Richard broke shire as a u. S. Army veteran and co founder of the black veterans project and Caitlin Constantine is the u. S. Marine corps veteran and Founding Member of gamers for peace. A group dedicated to speaking truth to war in digital spaces, in order to counter military recruitment. I want to thank you all for joining me on up front, caitlin, im going to start with you. 2022 was the worst year for military recruitment since the us draft ended in 1973 with the army in particular, struggling to meet its goals. Military officials have pointed to the fact just 23 percent of young people ages 17 to 2324, excuse me. Meet the militarys health and fitness and academic standards. You counsel young people about recruitment. What would you say are the main factors that keep prospective recruits from joining . I think theyre correct and that a lot of the immigration would not qualify for military service in the 1st place. Additionally, i do think that kenzie the generation after us. I do think that they are much more skeptical of military service. There is a study from the military Family Advisory network that saw an 11 percent decrease in Service Members who would recommend military service to their families as of at the, i believe 2022. So there is a shift in a, in their perception of military service in addition to a lot of systemic problems like lack of education and lack of access to a, to decent food and poverty that is making a lot of the population not very suitable for military service when he said there was a survey in 2019 up by the center for american progress. And in this study found out that a majority of jin z, respondents ages 17. 00 to 24. 00, agreed that quote. The wars in the middle east in afghanistan were a waste of time lives and tax payer money, and they did nothing to make us safer at home. Thats a quote. Do you see an ideological shift in how young people are perceiving the u. S. Military, and if so, what are the ways it, its changed . Absolutely, and i think if we start with how the u. S. Was created to begin with, we know that the u. S. Was born out of exploitation slavery, the theft of land, and the u. S. Military was born out of that same character. And so our generations now have had way more access to information and have been challenged in ways that have grown them up. Unlike previous generations where those generations were taught not to question a, the Us Government and not to question why were going to war, but that it your duties ago. And if youre a good citizen, then youll go. But now our, our use are, are not being fooled. By these narratives and climate change, i think has a lot to do with that. And you have access to information on the front lines of resistance, sort of violence against the land. Like you have standing rock, you have missing a murdered indigenous women. You have the hypocrisies and contradictions of the u. S. Right in our faces. And were able to talk about it now in ways that we werent able to talk about it before, especially after the trump era. And so with the u. S being the largest polluter in the world, the largest holder of real estate in the world with more than 4800 defense sites, everywhere on all continents. In more than 160 countries. I think jen z, its really connected with what the impacts of that are and, and as you said in that, in that quote, i mean, absolutely, it was a complete waste of life for all parties concerned to go to war and for what, today with the internet young people have all kinds of access to the realities of war, the violence, the bodies, the harm, the soldiers suffer in also the harm that soldiers cause. Do you think that those things are not only changing peoples perception of war, which i think is we could agree on, but isnt making people less likely to want to enlist kaitlin . Would you agree with that . I would agree with that. I think that with the rise of the digital age and greater access to all of this information we, we, we have a box that literally contains almost all of the information in the world in our pocket. Most of the time and gen z grew up with that. I really do think that having that access and having at ready you can just google us military war crime and have a list right in front of you within seconds. So i do think that that is having a very real effect on peoples desire to unless its, its definitely being viewed as more of a rigid decision or a rigid Decision Making process rather than oh, my dad did this. So i can do this type of a deal. I wanna insert that. What, whats often missing from this conversation is that military services, intergenerational, theyre, theyre usually through things that indicate very well whether someone will join the military. Its whether they come from a military family. They grew up near military base and in socioeconomic status. Right. And i think were what, whats, whats happening is that you have general generations of veterans that have gone through unjust wars. You also have generations of veterans who have been fighting to get access because they have to live in deplorable conditions outside of just war. Right. You have, you have bases that are rife with, with mold i, i, when i was a combat medic, i worked in an 8 station on a base in germany, been condemned by the German Government and that was our medical center. Oh, so you know, i think that that like the extent to which these problems exacerbate themselves when you, when you get out and you dont, you cant get access to basic health care or disability compensation. And it is affecting the generations that are growing up, watching their fathers or their grandfathers or grandmothers. Theyre on their sisters not struggle with access. We just had our country past the biggest veterans bill in history to try to, to try to address that issue because that is the real issue is that people have been locked out and sometimes it, depending on the color skin generationally, from benefits. Right. And so the appeal on that the military has the that the, the lie that they can sometimes propagate, that youll be better off if you, sir, like the veneer of that is so diluted now. And mary, that with the information that you can so readily find online, its no surprise that young people can kind of see right through. It is well documented that military recruiters target young people from low income neighborhoods. Over 80 percent of people who enlist, come from households with lower incomes, recruits are offered attractive signing bonuses, offers to pay for education and recruitment materials. Emphasize the Career Opportunities of joining the military. Keeping in mind that you as poverty is steadily growing in terms of the poverty rate over the last few years. Has this actually become a full fledged poverty direct . Yeah, i believe so. And listen to that. That does not negate that if you are able to go into the military, have a full career actually gain access to your benefits that you cant be better off. But so many folks is specifically marginalized. People from marginalized communities are the ones left holding the bag of falling through the cracks, struggling to obtain access and, and malware kind of focuses as explicitly on the black community. And if the effects there. Well, i mean, thats a great point because black folk are over represented in the military, we make up over 17 percent of active duty members. For now, for con, next week we make a wells and a half to 13 percent of the u. S. Population depending on the year. So, you know, theres a 2019 survey of active duty Service Members that found that more than half of Minority Service member say they have personally witnessed examples of White Nationalism of ideological driven racism within the rank. One of the other, given the high number of reports of racism, why we still join is so heavy because theres a, theres a illusion of lack of oper. No, not, not just an illusion. It or its actually a lack of are absolutely in a lot of these neighborhoods that, that black youth are being pulled from. And thats been the case for decades now. And then yes, what you get out of the military, even if you served 20 years, are likely returning to those poor resource, poor neighborhoods where your family reside. Right. So, oh yeah, no that, that absolutely has. When i want to pivot for for minute, the department of defense estimates that in 2021 close 236000 active duty Service Members experienced unwanted sexual contact. More than half of them women a 3rd who reported and want to stress that were discharged within one year. The military has claimed that theyre making significant reforms, or they want to address the culture that enables Sexual Violence in the military. But those same 2021 department of defense statistics show some of the highest estimates for unwanted sexual contact since they started keeping records back in 2004. I guess my question is simply, is that what is the military doing to really prove it . Sexual violence, theyre not really trying to prevent that rape as a weapon or its sanctioned. Its accepted. Say more about that. Explain what you me when you say that. So i said it ally, and i always get a, an angry response. But its true if we actually take the time to listen to the populations that we are in meaning and with our words of conquests in wars of choice. And when we actually take a look at their dana, that theyre presenting about the sex crimes that occur from military personnel on to their communities on to their children until theyre young. When in then you can actually see the whole picture. And when you look at historically, the lack of adjudication thats occurred inside the military with military Sexual Violence because of the good character defense. Because of all the reasons why maintaining good order and discipline all the excuses that leadership maintains, in order to perpetuate the use and acceptance of this weapon of war. Then it makes sense to anyone. Ah, well, to me that we share perpetrators. How am i going to believe as a person who went through this myself, who witnessed it constantly, every duty station that i was at i was wearing the teams uniform. It happened to me. So of course, its gonna happen where, where people are stationed, where were occupying, where were taught to dehumanize those people. So if order and discipline and structure and rules are part of what makes the military the military, then why is it so hard to get justice . When you Say Something about it wire is intelligible, getting discharges. Why are stuck with this number . A 3rd of those who reported were discharged. Not a 3rd of the people accused. A 3rd of people who said i got assaulted. I got touched, i got harm done to me. A 3rd of those people are gone within 12 months. How and because it keeps you quiet because it takes you or moves you, you become the problem. If youre the one who speaks up, if you report, thats why theres retaliation and theres a lot of talking about preventing it about stopping it, about supporting people. If they report, but that doesnt actually happen, caitlin, i see you nodding. I agree with moneisha. I mean one thing is she saying, where is not just within the ranks, it is also where Service Members are stationed. It doesnt just have to be an act of war. We have bases in what over 80 countries and pick any one of them. You can definitely see that effects. I also experience as while i was active duty in the marine corps wearing the same uniform. And one thing that i noticed all of these briefs about prevention, all of these briefs about what to do if it happens and how to report it. It is framed as how not to get in trouble. Its low. Be careful if you have a beer and this other person also has a beer. You need to be careful. Its not i, its not based on in respect. Its always, i remember this one very like were turning point for me. It was during a brief end. It was, i think of bull. I believe a Gunnery Sergeant was giving the sapir brief, which is a Sexual Assault, Sexual Assault prevention and response program. And he asks, why is this such a bad thing . And the 1st person to raise their hand said because it affects unit cohesion. And now im not saying that that person is wrong. But that wouldnt be my 1st. It wouldnt be my birthday is that . Yeah, exactly. Its a bad thing to do, should be the 1st answer, right. And because it takes away bodily autonomy abuses your power, all of these different things, but it was always framed in how not to get trouble, egg get in trouble and how it affects your unit as opposed to basic respect for human bodily autonomy, right . Thats why it doesnt go away when you report. Thats why the person who report it goes away. Thats why i experienced mild read of, you know, deathly not to the level of some people but mild retaliation because i was the problem by making waves iraq of the boat. And so they want that to go away because that means they dont have to deal with the core of it, which is so much of this is happening to women in some, im curious to know as a man who served in the military. What do you see . Do you see that discourse of their talking about the how not, what do you see the harm do you see . We do in cove and it doesnt just affect women. I mean, i think the statistics around actual saw of the around a male Sexual Assault in the military are, are horrendous as well. And the unit cohesion argument, im glad that you brought that up because i served under dont ask themselves as good as a, as a gay soldier. So i understand the harms and, and the excuse that they can make about including inclusion or the dangers of inclusion. Because how it might affect unit cohesion, but its also the same argument that they used against black people. 75 years ago, this year is a 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the military. And they talked about how in world war 2, when they were doing surveys, when they were preparing for after world war 2, up to 940, to desegregate the vast majority of people, the military were against it because they felt it would disrupt unit cohesion, right . So i think that that, that, that, thats a, thats a common response. Its a disturbing response. Kaitlin a, ive been seeing a lot of, um, recruitment efforts in Digital Entertainment spaces. Now a big boom in it. Frankly, especially video games. The militarys had a hand in the creation of somebodys video games for decades, but now all 6 branches of the u. S. Military ha