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With the draft year still half a year away, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she is optimistic about reaching the 55,000-enlistment goal and adding another 5,000 recruits to the delayed-enlistment pool over the next year or so.
“Right now, we’re 5,000 more contracts than we were at this time last year,” Warmus told The Associated Press. “I don’t want to set too high expectations right now, but I feel good.”
It’s a bright spot for the Army, which has long had smaller numbers and lengthy deliberations on how to reverse that momentum.
The Navy, Army and Air Force each missed their recruiting goals in the last fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The Marines and small space forces consistently hit their targets, although the Marines struggled a bit. The Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000 last fiscal year, and the other services had to tap into a pool of late-enlisted candidates to meet their recruiting numbers.
Now, after six months of recruiting — including the historically meager winter months — the Air Force and Army are optimistic about meeting their goals.
Warmus said a key success is the Army’s Future Soldier Preparation Course, which has graduated about 17,000 Soldiers since its launch in August 2022, including about 5,300 so far this fiscal year. The preparatory program, currently offered at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Fort Moore, Georgia, provides low-performing recruits with up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and continue with basic training.
“Not only is the graduation rate very high, but also the number of graduates of the program who are selected for leadership positions where they have received basic training or have performed particularly well in basic training,” Wormuth said. 34 percent, he added. Leadership positions in basic training are filled by Soldiers who have attended preparatory courses.
“We still have six months to go, so I don’t want to be overconfident,” Wormuth said. But recruiting is high in February and March, which are typically the most difficult months. “Now we’re starting to get into the spring and summer, which are typically better recruiting months.”
The Air Force is also optimistic after making a series of policy changes, easing tattoo regulations, increasing bonuses and stepping up efforts to recruit legal permanent residents. The Air Force missed its active-duty recruiting mission by more than 26,800 last year, about 3,000 fewer airmen, but has exceeded its goals so far this year. Encouraged by these developments, the Air Force just increased its active-duty enlistment goal for this year to 27,100, an increase of about 1,200.
Brig. Gen. Christopher Allain, who oversees the Air Force’s recruiting efforts, said that while he is “cautiously optimistic” about achieving the goal, “we cannot let our guard down.” He said the service needs to continually monitor policy changes and other adjustments.
However, Navy leaders said that while they are doing better than last year, they expect to fall short of last year’s recruiting goal of about 40,000 by about 6,700 men.
“We continue to face challenges from the current and projected economic environment and a difficult labor market,” said Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman, director of Navy personnel. “The Navy will continue to explore and evaluate new ways to attract qualified, motivated and capable applicants.”
The Navy has begun its own recruit preparation program, beginning earlier this year to recruit those who have not graduated from high school or earned a GED as long as they score 50 or above (out of a possible 99) on the Armed Forces Qualifying Exam. This is the second time in about a year that the Navy has opened its doors to lower-performing recruits. In December 2022, it began recruiting large numbers of sailors with low test scores.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti made clear last week that recruiting challenges have a direct impact on the Navy’s maritime mission. She told Congress that the Navy is about 18,000 short of the number of sailors needed for operations at sea and about 4,000 short of the number of sailors needed to work ashore.
Much of that will be filled by new recruits, a gap that comes as naval ships in the Middle East continue to come under pressure to counter attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Marine Corps, meanwhile, has not missed its enlistment target but will have to tap into a pool of delayed recruits to meet its goal from two years ago.
“We will continue to perform our mission, but we will not lower our standards,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith told Congress bluntly earlier this month. The Corps is working toward a goal of 31,100 personnel, including active duty and reservists, this year.
Other services have begun copying the Marine Corps’ long-standing plan to use high-performing service members and up-and-coming commanders as recruiters.
Army leaders have begun a broad reorganization of its recruiting force, creating specialized job classifications and conducting reviews to weed out poorly performing recruits who would be better off in other jobs. The service is looking for other available benefits.
For example, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said about 25 percent of new recruits choose their first duty station. Until recently, recruits didn’t have that option. The key, Warmus said, is figuring out which incentives work.
She said the Army is now trying to juggle short-term enlistment goals with longer-term changes in how the service recruits.
“The biggest challenge is to stay focused on fulfilling our mission this year and keep all the work we’ve started rolling while also building on the more transformative work we’re doing,” Warmus said. “We’re building it while the plane is flying.”
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