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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Army hits its annual recruiting goal in eight months
The Army has surpassed its recruiting target for this fiscal year, exceeding a goal that was already significantly higher than it has been in the past. 'Yesterday, the United States Army met its fiscal year 2025 recruiting goal four months early, welcoming more than 61,000 new recruits,' Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll testified before Congress on Wednesday. The fiscal year runs through Sept. 30. Driscoll credited the 'focus on a return to warfighting and lethality' for the Army's recruiting success, though several practical changes to how the Army finds new soldiers have played a key role in the surge of newcomers, lawmakers said. Driscoll noted that the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which prepares potential soldiers for basic training, has helped recruits who were 'right on the edge' of meeting the service's physical and academic standards enlist. 'It seems when I was at the Future Soldier Prep Course that the ones who wanted to join were at the very front edge of their careers, were excited to join in a time where they thought they could contribute to the safety of their community by being on the front lines of keeping Americans safe.' As of May 30, a total of 10,465 soldiers have moved from the Future Soldier Preparatory Course to Initial Entry Training this fiscal year, said Maj. Christopher Robinson, a spokesman for Training and Doctrine Command. The Army expects to have 25,000 soldiers in the Delayed Entry Program when the 2026 fiscal year begins, Driscoll said. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George noted that the 'most productive' recruiting months of the fiscal year are still ahead. He added that the Army is trying to make improvements to technology for recruiters and reducing how many forms recruits have to fill out while in-processing. 'It was something like 670 forms that had to be filled out and we've reduced that to below 10, and it's now going to be in a database,' George said. The last time the Army hit its annual recruiting goal in the first week of June was back in 2014, Lt. Col. Jeff Tolbert, a spokesman for Driscoll, said in a news release. The Defense Department's 'Rapid Response' X account posted a Fox News story about the Army's recent recruiting success along with a quote: 'They call it the TRUMP-BUMP.' However, the rebound in Army recruiting began before President Donald Trump was elected in November. The service met its fiscal year 2024 goal of 55,000 new soldiers a month before the election after missing its recruiting target for the previous two years. The Army also announced in October that it would increase this fiscal year's recruiting target by 6,000 soldiers. Currently, there is not enough data to either prove or disprove that more Americans are joining the Army as a result of Trump's reelection, said Katherine Kuzminski, director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, D.C. 'We began to see the turnaround in Army recruiting beginning last August as a result of efforts put into place in 2022-2023,' Kuzminski told Task & Purpose on Wednesday. 'The Future Soldier Prep Course played (and continues to play) a large role in that success — yielding 25% of last year's recruits and keeping up the momentum into this administration.' A major factor that is driving the Army's recent recruiting success is the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, Kuzminski said. About 13,200 recruits joined the Army through the course in fiscal year 2024. The Army has also taken steps to professionalize its recruiters, and the service's 'Be All You Can Be' recruiting campaign may have appealed to parents and other adults who can influence whether young Americans join the military, she said. Unemployment rates, however, are not contributing to the Army's recruiting success, Kuzmiksi said. The rates have remained fairly consistent at around 4.2% from 2024 to 2025. Driscoll acknowledged that the Army still faces some challenges to recruiting, noting that the service's MHS Genesis System, which has been criticized for disqualifying potential recruits for minor health issues, is 'inadequate.' Project 2025, the policy blueprint produced by the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C., recommended that the Army suspend using the system because it causes 'unnecessary delays and unwarranted rejections.' 'The Genesis program in and of itself is a classic example, I think, of the Army being part of a solution that is siloed and ineffective and inefficient,' Driscoll said. 'And it's probably going to be a better solution to go out and grab a tool that is used in areas in the commercial sector.' Driscoll said that the Army has started using the commercially available Salesforce platform and has seen 'incredible results.' He added that 'in a perfect world,' the Army would be able to use a system like Salesforce along with a generative artificial intelligence model to determine, 'Hey, is this a kid who got an inhaler when they were 12-and-two months and never used it, vs. someone when they were 17-and-a-half actively was using an inhaler.' UPDATE: 06/04/2025; this story was updated with figures about the Army's Future Soldier Preparatory Course for fiscal year 2025. Navy SEAL Team 6 operator will be the military's new top enlisted leader Veterans receiving disability payments might have been underpaid, IG finds Guam barracks conditions are 'baffling,' Navy admiral says in email Navy fires admiral in charge of unmanned systems office after investigation The Pentagon wants troops to change duty stations less often
American Military News
28-05-2025
- Business
- American Military News
Over $6 billion spent on US military recruitment, retention in 3 years: Report
A new report claims that the U.S. military spent over $6 billion to recruit and retain military members over the last three years as the Defense Department worked to overcome multiple enlistment shortfalls. According to military service funding totals obtained by The Associated Press, the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force significantly increase reenlistment incentives from 2022 to 2024. In addition to reenlistment incentives, The Associated Press reported that the number of recruitment bonuses also increased over the past three years. According to The Associated Press, while the U.S. military has typically invested in recruitment and retention bonuses, the amount of spending used to recruit and retain military members skyrocketed amid the Pentagon's efforts to stop enlistment numbers from plummeting during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press reported that the Navy was the only military service that did not meet its recruitment targets last year amid the Pentagon's additional programs, recruitment and reenlistment incentives, and changes to enlistment requirements. READ MORE: US Army losing huge number of recruits during first two years of enlistment: Report According to The Associated Press, the Navy outspent each of the other military branches on recruitment bonuses from 2022 to 2024. The outlet noted that the Navy gave approximately 70,000 service members retention bonuses each of the past three years. In March, Adm. James Kilby, vice chief of naval operations, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee, 'Navy is dedicated to retaining our most capable sailors; retention is a critical component of achieving our end-strength goals.' In addition to spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year to recruit new troops, the Army has implemented new policies and programs to encourage young Americans to enlist in the Army, according to The Associated Press. The Associated Press reported that one of the ways the Army has been able to overcome significant recruitment challenges is by launching the Future Soldier Prep Course at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. The Future Soldier Prep Course provides recruits with up to 90 days of fitness or academic instruction to help struggling recruits meet the military's standards and qualify for basic training. According to The Associated Press, the program has helped the Army with thousands of enlistments.
Boston Globe
25-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
The US military spent $6 billion in the past 3 years to recruit and retain troops
Advertisement Coupled with an array of new programs, an increased number of recruiters and adjustments to enlistment requirements, the additional incentives have helped the services bounce back from the shortfalls. All but the Navy met their recruiting targets last year and all are expected to do so this year. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly point to Trump's election as a reason for the recruiting rebound. But the enlistment increases began long before last November, and officials have tied them more directly to the widespread overhauls that the services have done, including the increased financial incentives. The Army, the military's largest service, spent more on recruiting bonuses in 2022 and 2024 than the other services. But it was significantly outspent by the Navy in 2023, when the sea service was struggling to overcome a large enlistment shortfall. Advertisement As a result, even though the Navy is a smaller service, it spent more overall in the three years than the Army did. The Navy also has spent considerably more than the others to entice sailors to reenlist, doling out retention bonuses to roughly 70,000 service members for each of the past three years. That total is more than double the number of troops the Army gave retention bonuses to each year, even though the Army is a much larger service. 'Navy is dedicated to retaining our most capable sailors; retention is a critical component of achieving our end-strength goals,' Admiral James Kilby, the vice chief of naval operations, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee in March. He said reenlistment for enlisted sailors 'remains healthy' but officers are a challenge in specific jobs, including aviation, explosive ordnance disposal, surface and submarine warfare, health professionals and naval special operations. He added that the Navy has struggled to fill all of its at-sea jobs and is using financial incentives as one way to combat the problem. The Army has seen the greatest recruiting struggles over the past decade, and by using a range of new programs and policies has had one of the largest comebacks. The Navy has had the most trouble more recently, and took a number of steps to expand those eligible for service and spend more in bonuses. While the Army spends hundreds of millions each year to recruit troops, it also has relied on an array of new programs and policies to woo young people. A key driver of the Army's rebound has been its decision to create the Future Soldier Prep Course, at Fort Jackson, S.C., in August 2022. Advertisement That program gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and move on to basic training. It has resulted in thousands of enlistments. The Air Force increased its spending on recruiting bonuses in 2023 as it also struggled to overcome shortfalls, but lowered the amount the following year. The payments were for jobs including munitions systems, aircraft maintenance and security forces. The Space Force does not currently authorize enlistment bonuses. The Marine Corps and the tiny Space Force have consistently hit their recruiting goals, although the Marines had to dig deep into their pool of delayed entry candidates in 2022 to meet their target. The Corps, which is much smaller than the Army and Air Force, spends the least on bonuses and tends to spread the amount among a larger number of service members. Major Jacoby Getty, a Marine spokesman, said the spike in retention bonuses from $126 million in 2023 to $201 million in 2024 was because Marines were allowed to reenlist a year early for the first time. More than 7,000 Marines got bonuses as a result, a jump of nearly 2,200 over the previous year. When asked about bonuses in 2023, General Eric Smith, the Marine commandant, famously told a naval conference that 'your bonus is you get to call yourself a Marine.' 'That's your bonus, right?' he said. 'There's no dollar amount that goes with that.' The services tailor their recruiting and retention money to bolster harder-to-fill jobs, including cyber, intelligence and special operations forces. The Army and Marine Corps also use the money to woo troops to some combat, armor and artillery jobs. Advertisement
Indian Express
25-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
US military spent $6 billion on troop recruitment and retention in 3 years
The United States military has spent over $6 billion in the last three years to recruit and keep service members, according to data shared by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The money went into bonuses and programmes aimed at reversing a drop in enlistment, especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdowns limited recruiters' access to schools and public events. The Navy spent more than any other service, even though it is smaller than the Army. The military has long used financial incentives, but the spending increased sharply from 2022 to 2024. According to the services, these measures helped improve recruitment, with all services except the Navy meeting their targets last year. All are expected to meet them this year. Speaking to a Senate Armed Services subcommittee in March, Admiral James Kilby, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, said the Navy was focused on keeping experienced personnel. 'Retention is a critical component of achieving our end-strength goals,' he said, as reported by the Associated Press (AP). He also noted that while reenlistment rates were stable among enlisted sailors, there were gaps in certain officer roles such as aviation, submarine warfare, and medical professions. The Army had the most challenges with recruitment over the last decade but has recently made a strong recovery. A major part of its strategy was the Future Soldier Prep Course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Launched in August 2022, it offers lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness training before basic training. The programme has helped bring thousands into service. The Army spent more than any other branch on recruitment in 2022 and 2024, but the Navy spent the most in 2023, a year when it faced a large shortfall in new enlistees. The Navy also gave out the most retention bonuses roughly 70,000 a year over the past three years more than double the Army, which has a much larger force. The Marine Corps and the Space Force have generally met their targets, although the Marines had to draw heavily from delayed entry candidates in 2022. The Marines spent the least overall but saw a big increase in retention bonuses in 2024. According to Marine spokesperson Maj. Jacoby Getty, that rise from $126 million in 2023 to $201 million in 2024—was due to a policy change allowing early reenlistment. 'More than 7,000 Marines received bonuses,' he said. In 2023, Marine Commandant Gen. Eric Smith commented on bonuses during a naval conference, saying, 'Your bonus is you get to call yourself a Marine. There's no dollar amount that goes with that,' according to AP. The Air Force increased bonuses in 2023 to fill roles in aircraft maintenance, munitions, and security. Spending went down in 2024. The Space Force does not currently offer enlistment bonuses. Across the services, bonuses are targeted to fill hard-to-staff roles in cyber, intelligence, special operations, and certain combat jobs.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Army recruiting is up, but data show trend began before the election, former Army official says
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Sen. Tom Cotton attributed increased Army recruiting numbers to "America First" leadership and "the Trump effect." However, data indicates that recruiting numbers began to improve months before the U.S. Presidential election, according to a former official. "You had some number of young men and women who didn't want to join the army over the last four years under Joe Biden and Christine Wormuth, the former secretary of the Army, when they thought it was more focused on Wokeness and DEI and climate change," Cotton told Fox's "America's Newsroom." "That's not why young men and women join our military. They do it because they love the country." The uptick in recruiting started months before the election on Nov. 5. "No, it did not all start in December," former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who served until Jan. 20, said in an interview with Fox News. Army Recruiting Shatters Records After President Trump Election Win Read On The Fox News App "Army's recruiting started getting better much earlier. We really started seeing the numbers, the monthly numbers, go up in February of 2024. We were seeing sort of in the high 5000 contracts per month, and that accelerated, you know, into the spring all the way into August, when the Army really hit a peak." Starting in October 2023, the Army put 1,200 more recruiters in the field. By September 2024, before the election, the Army announced it had exceeded its recruiting goals. The groundwork was laid that October when Wormuth and Gen. Randy George, the Army chief, began a sweeping initiative to help those who did not meet academic standards or fitness requirements. The six-week pre-boot camp, called the Future Soldier Prep Course, helps lower-performing recruits meet enlistment standards. They also moved away from just recruiting in high schools to posting on job message boards. Recruiters got trained by Amazon, Wells Fargo and other industry leaders in talent acquisition. Additionally, the Army brought back the "Be All That You Can Be" branding campaign from the 1980s. "We've been selecting soldiers who have personalities that are more suited to recruiting. We improved our marketing very dramatically in terms of being very data driven and very targeted. And then, of course, the future Soldier Prep course, which the Army established some time ago, has been a big success and has accounted last year for about 25% of the new recruits that came in," Wormuth said. "If you look at our Army ads, we show young people, you know, jumping out of helicopters. We show kids doing, you know, night patrols in the jungle." Democrats Press Army Secretary Nominee If 'Readiness' Affected By Southern Border Deployments Army data shows the Army has struggled with recruiting numbers since COVID, including a shortfall of 15,000 recruits in 2022. It reported record-breaking recruitment in December 2024, with nearly 350 recruits enlisting daily and the total number of active duty soldiers reaching 5877 recruits that month. Secretary Hegseth praised the recruiting numbers in a post on X. "@USArmy: @USAREC had their most productive December in 15 years by enlisting 346 Soldiers daily into the World's greatest #USArmy! "Our Recruiters have one of the toughest jobs - inspiring the next generation of #Soldiers to serve. "Congratulations and keep up the great work!" However, August of last year, three months prior to the election, saw a higher number of recruits than in December – 7,415 recruits compared to the 5,877 in December. January 2025 still has not surpassed August 2024 for the highest monthly count of the past year. In other words, the positive recruiting trend began before the election. Army Sec Nominee Questions Whether Military Pilots Should Train Near Dc Airport The increased recruiting numbers resulted from more women joining. Women made up 19% of the recruits last year, the highest rate to date. "For example, right now, 16% of the overall Army is women. And so, having a year where almost 20% of the new recruits are women is a notable increase," Wormuth said. "In 2024, we also had the highest ever recruiting year for Hispanics." There is a lag of about 10 to 12 weeks from the time a recruit enters a recruiting office and actually signs up due to medical exams and other paperwork. "The biggest reasons young people are hesitant to join the Army is because of fear of death or injury, fear of leaving their families, a sense that maybe somehow, you know, joining the Army will put their lives on hold for a period of time," Wormuth said. "Concerns about so-called wokeness are very low on the list of obstacles for most young people. And the last time the Army ran that survey, we didn't really see a change. That remains to be a small concern." During its recruiting crisis, the Army had seen a drop in the number of families who typically send their children to serve, families whose members have served for generations. Many of those families tended to be White and from one of the 10 states that make up nearly half of the recruits: Texas (13.3%), California (10.5%), Florida (9.7%), Georgia (5.1%), North Carolina (4.6%), New York (4.3%), Virginia (2.9%), Ohio (2.8%), Illinois (2.6%) and Pennsylvania (2.4%). There is no data suggesting a surge in White males joining the Army last year. In FY2024, 40% of the Army recruits were Caucasian, 25% were Black and 26% were Hispanic. "From the data we saw, there was no discernible change in young White men joining the Army compared to the spring of 2024. The Army had about 7,400 recruits in August, and in December it was about 5,800," Wormuth said. The Army is also set to expand its basic training capacity in the spring. "U.S. Army Recruiting Command is on track to exceed the fiscal year 2025 recruitment goal of 61,000 new Soldiers and an additional 10,000 in the Delayed Entry Program," Madison Bonzo, Army Recruiting Command spokeswoman, said in a statement. "As of today, USAREC has contracted 59% of the current FY25 goal. Our success couldn't be possible without the hard work of our Recruiters, continued transformation of the recruiting enterprise and modernization initiatives to attract qualified talent into America's most lethal fighting force." Wormuth said, "I would say we saw in the Army recruiting numbers, we started seeing us really get traction in February of 2024." "And we continued to build those numbers up to about, you know, high 5,000, 6,000 a month in August. And the Army has continued that momentum going into the end of the year. And I think the winds are at the Army's back for coming into 2025," she continued. Former Army officials warn that it is dangerous to link Army recruiting successes to the election cycle, since the military is supposed to be apolitical. Soldiers sign up not to serve a president or a party but to serve the article source: Army recruiting is up, but data show trend began before the election, former Army official says
