“Be All You Can Be:” Army brings back the classic jingle to pump up the set

Washington – The best soldier of the country, sergeant. Maj. Michael Greenston 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 hiring goals last year, the Pentagon is returning to a familiar slogan in its new hiring effort: “Be all you can be.”

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, jingles were everywhere. But this is not a repeat.

“We’re reinventing ‘Be all you can be’ for Gen Z,” Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of the Army’s marketing enterprise, told CBS News.

Fink is the man behind a new campaign set during March Madness. In it, actor Jonathan Majors, star of the film “Creed III”, talks about the history of the army.

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

Fink noted that the Army is aware of the reasons young people don’t want to join the military, such as “risk of death or injury, fear of PTSD, and the third is leaving family and friends behind.”

While recruiting, Greenstone tries to counter these reasons.

“You’re three times more likely to die in an accident on the job than in the military,” Greenston told students at Dunbar High during his presentation.

Dunbar student Antonio Graham said he won’t be enlisting because he doesn’t want to leave home.

“The only reason I wouldn’t join the military is because I don’t want to give up on my mother,” Graham told CBS News. “I love my mother very much.”

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

“Be all you can be.” I really agree with that slogan,” said Roberts.

Roberts was one of 20 recruiters Army said it received during the Dunbar High recruitment drive. According to the Army, 20 leads usually produce two true recruits. The army said it needed 65,000.