Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the Army had its best recruitment month in 15 years in January 2025 under President Donald Trump.
“BREAKING: In December 2024, the @US Army had its best recruiting number in 12 years. In January 2025, the Army hit its best recruiting number in 15 YEARS,” he said in a post on X, adding:
BOTTOM LINE: America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong “America First” leadership of @realDonaldTrump.
According to Military.com, the Army hit a major recruiting milestone in January — reaching the halfway mark towards an ambitious goal of bringing in 61,000 active-duty soldiers in fiscal year 2025, which started in October. In fiscal year 2024, the goal was just 55,000.
The outlet reported, “The Army is set to dramatically expand how many new recruits it can send to basic training this spring, riding the momentum of recent gains toward reversing a recruiting slump it has struggled with in recent years.”
The upward trend is a reversal of abysmal recruiting shortfalls for the service in recent years.
The White House official X account posted: “Under President Trump’s America First leadership, Americans are answering the call to serve.”
Army officials have blamed the recruitment crisis on obesity, academic performance, and the COVID pandemic affecting recruiters’ ability to meet with potential recruits.
However, Hegseth has also attributed the crisis to the military losing its warrior ethos.
During his confirmation hearing last month, he listed as his top priority to restore that ethos.
“In doing so, we will reestablish trust in our military — and address the recruiting, retention and readiness crisis in our ranks. The strength of our military is our unity — our shared purpose — not our differences,” he said.
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