As a recent graduate from the 21-and-under school, I'll wade in with my opinion on the conditions of my peers. Returning home from school with a degree (and commission ), it's an eye-opener to see the life choices others have made so far. One of the things I see is that my generation is concerned more with living in the moment to the extent that any serious concern about the future is abandoned, and so they trap themselves in the pursuit of day-to-day excitement. I think there's an under-appreciation of consequences in my generation fueled by a desire to avoid judgment by any perceived authority. It's certainly more pluralistic; I think that's good and well in some regards (innovation, etc), but I think my generation is less inclined to balls up and meet threats and challenges head on (paradoxically stifling innovation). They rather retreat and hit the reset button (when there is one). There's an over-abundance of information, networks, etc without any effective means/authority to discriminate what's useful from what's useless. I think this runs deep in the American fabric, however, even entering into our religious and political beliefs (which is another debate ).

As a result of that over-abundance, many in my generation get lost pursuing life choices that, while exciting from day to day, really has no substance, and in the end, leave them without ever approaching their potential. They're more concerned with the journey than the destination. I hear it almost on a daily basis (i.e. "college isn't for everyone", "I want to find myself first", "don't judge people", etc). I'd like to see a study that tracks how many non-traditional students there are today; students that enter school late, complete school beyond the normal 4-years, and students that quit school. How many students can't settle on a major until late in their second or even in their third year of school? Without any scientific basis, I'd guess that those numbers are increasing.

Gaming isn't a cause. It's a symptom of an underlying cultural development. The Army is required by necessity to tap into that demographic to appeal to a generation that's more into the excitement than the opportunities.