Recruitment Rises 12.5% Despite Ongoing Challenges

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

Katie Helland Director of Military Accessions Policy Katie Helland speaks to members of the media during a panel on 2025 recruiting goals at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
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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 referall.us stated 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, she said, the services had a 35% increase in composed agreements, and the active parts’ delayed entry program began FY 2025 with a 10% larger swimming pool.

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

 » Nevertheless, » she continued, « we require to remain meticulously optimistic about the future recruiting operations as we continue to hire in a market that has low youth propensity to serve, limited familiarity with military opportunities, a competitive labor market and a declining eligibility among young people. »

Helland elaborated on those obstacles by describing that, for the first time because the metric has been tracked, the majority of young people have actually never considered the choice of serving in the armed force.

The factors behind that are multifold, Helland stated. Young Americans have less ties to buddies or family members who have actually served in the armed force. There is a declining existence of veterans in our society. Approximately 77% of individuals between the ages of 17 and 24 some kind of waiver to serve due to any number of disqualifications.

To counter such obstacles, Helland stated the armed force has carried out a medical pilot program that enables recruits to join the armed force without a waiver for various health conditions – supplied they fulfill particular requirements. Additionally, there are service member preparation courses that prepare employees to meet the difficult requirements of military service. Moreover, DOD is looking for to reconnect with youth and their influencers by showing them the value of serving.

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

Panel Pentagon Press Secretary Flying Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder helps with a panel on 2025 recruiting goals at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
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 » Youth today look for a larger purpose in their lives and desire jobs where they have greater participation in decision-making and can develop a direct tangible impact, » she continued. « Military service provides all of this. »

Explaining that U.S. military service provides more than 250 professions which it represents among the most highly educated organizations throughout the world and across all pay grades, Helland said the Defense Department is working hard to counter the story that signing up with the military is an alternative to attending college or « an option of last option. »

 » We are working to reframe this narrative so that Americans understand that military service is a pathway to higher education and profession chances while protecting democracy and the liberties we love, » Helland stated.

She added that DOD is reframing this narrative. For example, the department’s Joint Advertising Marketing research and Studies program will soon release a project to develop familiarity with the American public about the value of military service. Plans are likewise continuing to have adult influencers promote for military service.