I'd read somewhere a hypothesis that Germany would've done better to have just kept the peace and (at least by pre-1914 growth paths) outcompeted the British economy. I guess (a) people at that time thought growth wasn't possible without colonies, and (b) people in all times seem to lose any commitment they might have had to free trade once a serious economic competitor emerges?

True, they lost both times.

Im no expert on ww1, so i can't comment there, but the German army of ww2 was (by far) the most well trained, and effective, fighting force of the war.

Yes, their politics were terrible, and the leadership at times questionable, and losing is never going to win accolades, but the reasons for losing had nothing to do with skill, ability, or execution.

They had world-leading technology and arms, well respected general officers, and a battle tested force that occupied all of Europe (and came within a whisker of invading the UK). But for the fairly obvious strategic error of invading the Soviet Union, the outcomes may have been very different.

I once heard it summarized like this: Hitler inherited the best army of the world. It took him a decade to run it down.

Correct. The primary beneficiaries of conscription are the working class.

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan.

The veterans for those conflicts often went in enthused, and came back entirely disillusioned. Pretty much created a machine for damaging their reputation, which ran for decades.

This is an interesting take and it sounds sensible. I wonder what the labor market looks like in Germany.

As far as the US goes, I'm also curious how the dawning changes led by AI technologies in the workplace and budding trends in the labor pool will affect their military's posture recruitment-wise.

We've seen them attempt to appeal to more diverse crowds in the last few years, but I think that the particular demographic(s) in question are most likely to equate serving the armed forces in general as bad.

A generation comprised of mostly men without college educations who are not satisfied with Door-Dashing or "Twitching" for a living may not feel the same.