Recruitment Rises 12.5% Despite Ongoing Challenges

The Defense Department’s armed services branches recruited 12.5% more individuals in fiscal year 2024 than in the year prior regardless of a challenging and disinterested recruiting market.

Katie Helland Director of Military Accessions Policy Katie to members of the media throughout a panel on 2025 recruiting goals at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
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Credit: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jackie Sanders, DOD.
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While speaking at a multiservice panel on 2025 recruiting problems at the Pentagon previously this week, Director of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland said that the services increased the variety of recruits from 200,000 in FY 2023 to 225,000 in FY 2024, which ended September 30.

Additionally, employment she said, the services had a 35% increase in written contracts, and the active elements’ postponed entry program started FY 2025 with a 10% bigger swimming pool.

 » [The Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the services will continue to develop off the momentum that we have actually gotten in 2024, » Helland said.

 » Nevertheless, » she continued, « we need to stay carefully positive about the future recruiting operations as we continue to recruit in a market that has low youth tendency to serve, limited familiarity with military opportunities, a competitive labor market and a declining eligibility amongst young people. »

Helland employment elaborated on those difficulties by discussing that, for the very first time since the metric has been tracked, most young individuals have never ever considered the alternative of serving in the military.

The factors behind that are multifold, Helland said. Young Americans have fewer ties to buddies or relative who have actually served in the military. There is a decreasing existence of veterans in our society. Approximately 77% of individuals in between the ages of 17 and employment 24 require some kind of waiver to serve due to any number of disqualifications.

To counter such challenges, Helland stated the armed force has actually implemented a medical pilot program that permits recruits to sign up with the armed force without a waiver for many health conditions – offered they satisfy specific requirements. Additionally, employment there are service member preparation courses that prepare employees to meet the strenuous requirements of military service. Moreover, DOD is seeking to reconnect with youth and their influencers by revealing them the value of serving.

 » The next generation of Americans to serve need to understand that there has actually never been a better time for them to choose military service, » Helland said.

Panel Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder assists in a panel on 2025 recruiting goals at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, employment 2024.
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 » Youth today look for a bigger function in their lives and desire jobs where they have greater involvement in decision-making and can create a direct concrete impact, » she continued. « Military service uses all of this. »

Explaining that U.S. military service offers more than 250 occupations and that it represents one of the most extremely informed organizations throughout the world and throughout all pay grades, Helland stated the Defense Department is working hard to counter the narrative that joining the armed force is an alternative to going to college or « an alternative of last resort. »

 » We are working to reframe this story so that Americans comprehend that military service is a path to greater education and profession opportunities while protecting democracy and the flexibilities we hold dear, » Helland said.

She included that DOD is reframing this narrative. For example, the department’s Joint Advertising Marketing research and Studies program will soon launch a campaign to build familiarity with the American public about the value of military service. Plans are likewise proceeding to have adult influencers advocate for military service.