Defense looks to trim spending by moving to electronic recruitment files

CHICAGO — Seven new recruits raised their right hand in Chicago and repeated after Defense Secretary Ash Carter, promising to support and defend the Constitution, as they took their first steps into their military careers.

Carter thanked the families, who lined the walls of the ceremony room with cameras and posed for pictures after the ceremony with the Pentagon’s top civilian. He also thanked the recruits for volunteering to serve and gave them his challenge coin, imploring them “don’t sell it on eBay.”