Kyle Phelps
COMM 367-Rhetorical Criticism
Unit 3 Assignment
5 November 2020
An Ideological Critique of the ‘What’s Your Warrior?’ Campaign
According to a 2014 study conducted by the Senior Advisor for Mental Health Services
at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington D.C., suicide rates of servicemembers
doubled between 2004 to 2005 and again from 2008 to 2009. In 2012, 349 military suicides
would take place in one year alone, exceeding the number of reported combat deaths from the
year prior (Colpe). Even then, these figures still neglect to include the exponentially increasing
rate of suicides amongst veterans. It is no secret that many American veterans are left
floundering in financial and emotional distress following their time serving with the military.
The military’s inaction is an unjustifiable disservice to any notion of proper mental health, and it
steps on the true morals we should uphold for the people that put their life on the line against our
trivial wars. With the ever-growing obstacle of mental health in the path of the United States
Army, one might reasonably assume that a substantial amount of military spending would be
allocated to address such a pertinent issue. Just this year, the Department of Veterans Affairs
proposed that they will be spending $682 million more to tackle mental health and suicide
prevention efforts. However, upon closer examination of the proposed budget, funds are being
directed outside the VA to support President Trump’s lackluster PREVENTS Task Force, rather
than supporting the already lackluster budget put in place for access to mental health facilities
and care. The Army has already requested a significant increase in the fiscal year 2021 budget
for training and recruitment (Army). In fact, relative to the military’s spending on advertising in
2012, mental healthcare had ranked significantly lower (Mills-Gregg). It is a wonder, then, why
the Army bolsters its own advertising budget, making up 30% of the allocated budget afforded to
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all branches within the United States military. Look no further than the ‘What’s Your Warrior?’
campaign.
In this essay, I will be analyzing my artifact — a 60–second ad spot for GoArmy created
by the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, a subsidiary of the United States Army Recruiting
Command. The ad’s rhetor or publisher is, of course, the United States Army. The ad was
published in the ladder half of 2019, kickstarting their new ‘What’s Your Warrior?’ campaign
geared towards engaging and educating young adults and Gen Z audiences who may only have a
surface-level understanding of the military while claiming to provide the economic and societal
tools one may use to help support their own lifestyle later on in life, especially targeting low-
income families. The Army claims their campaign attempts to steer away from the gritty, battle–
ready soldiers so many people see in mainstream media. In my analysis, I will be utilizing the
