The paper addresses a question that has remained largely unexplored among scholars of Middle East politics: how do Arab Armies recruit rank-and-file soldiers? Studying the social fabrics of military apparatuses is important in that recruitment mechanisms generate important insights into the size and effectiveness, the social composition and cohesion, and by extension the main dynamics of relations between armies on the one hand, and states and society on the other hand. Conventional wisdom on recruitment emphasizes the distinction of conscription vs. volunteer service. In this perspective, a pattern emerges in the MENA region pitting conscript armies typically found in republics against volunteer militaries largely characterizing monarchies. Drawing on the author’s field research in Tunisia, Jordan, and Morocco, however, allows for a more fine-grained analysis. First, many armies across the region developed hybrid recruitment patterns, with conscripts operating alongside volunteer soldiers. Second, recruitment patterns remain surprisingly volatile and witness frequent changes in general recruitment policies. The paper explores these recruitment patterns empirically and discusses the social and economic underpinnings for these dynamics. Recent developments indicate that a push for military professionalization, economic crises, and youth unemployment prompt military organizations to increase volunteer recruitment. Armies in the Middle East therefore serve as “employers of last resort,” with significant consequences for the social fabrics of military organizations.