Even as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth vowed to return to the United States military to its “warrior ethos” in his address to top leadership on Tuesday, all six branches of the U.S. Armed Forces had reached their respective recruiting goals for fiscal year 2025 (FY25), which also ended on September 30. It is now the second consecutive year that the U.S. military has met the benchmark for attracting new talent, marking a turnaround for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Coast Guard, after multiple years of shortfalls.
A shrinking pool of eligible recruits due to increased rates of obesity, lack of fitness, mental health issues, drug use, and tattoos, along with lower interest in military service, has led to recruiting challenges.
Army – Be All That You Can Be
The United States Army had announced in June that it had already met its FY25 recruiting goals. It has yet to release the final figures, but the goal had been set 10% higher than the 55,000 recruits targeted in fiscal year 2024 (FY24). At the start of June, with four whole months to the deadline, the Army had signed contracts with more than 61,000 future soldiers.
The U.S. Army had struggled significantly to meet its recruiting goals following the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The challenge had been described as the worst recruiting crisis since the end of the draft in 1973.
Join the Navy – See the World!
The United States Navy announced on Monday that it had seen the largest group of new accessions to the service in nearly a quarter of a century. The sea service had achieved a surplus of recruits, including officers, enlisted, and reserve personnel. It was also off to a solid start for fiscal year 2026 (FY26), with enough candidates in the Delayed Entry Program to reach nearly one-quarter of the current year’s goals.
According to the U.S. Navy on Wednesday, the service was able to recruit 44,096 future sailors, nearly 3,500 higher than its target of 40,600. That is the most for any year since 2002, according to the Navy Times.
The U.S. Navy has sought to maintain high standards, but has also become more flexible in some cases, notably regarding its tattoo policy, which in the past would have turned away some potential recruits. The service also sought to recruit a better cadre of applicants than last year, when 17% of applicants scored 30% or below on the Armed Forces Qualification Test and required a waiver.
“We maintained high standards and met all Department of Defense quality metrics,” Rear Adm. James Waters, head of Navy recruiting command, said in a roundtable with reporters earlier this year. “And we’ve built a strong pipeline. We built momentum.”
Air Force Aims High
Much like the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force has begun FY26 with a record-high number of recruits in the Delayed Entry Program. The Air Force announced that there are approximately 19,000 people currently in the program, the highest number since the service began tracking it in 2012. That represents approximately 58% of its FY26 goal of 32,750 non-prior-service enlistments.
The U.S. Air Force continues to recover from past shortfalls, including 2,700 fewer airmen than its goal of 26,900 in 2023. That marked the first time since 1999 that the air service missed the benchmark.
For FY25, the Air Force had set an ambitious goal of 32,500 but then scaled it back to 29,950. That may not have been necessary, as it reached 30,000 by June, and by September 30, nearly 31,000 had been recruited.
Retention has also been so strong that the service ended a retention bonus program in May.
Unlike the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, which have introduced preparatory courses for those who may not meet the academic or physical standards, the Air Force has opted not to create such a course, seeing that stronger recruitment goals are now being met.
The United States Space Force, the sixth and newest branch of the U.S. military, hasn’t released its final recruiting numbers. Still, it previously indicated in June that it had surpassed its FY25 goals four months ahead of schedule. It continues to employ the recruitment slogan “Your purpose isn’t on this planet,” which has helped draw in talent, with the service maintaining a consistent record of success since its official establishment in December 2019.
The Few, the Proud, the Marines
The United States Marine Corps hasn’t faced the same challenges as the other services, and for FY25, it surpassed its goals, albeit just barely. The USMC succeeded in recruiting 30,536 active duty and reserve enlisted Marines, one more than its annual goal. It further recruited 1,792 active duty and reserve officers, beating that goal by two people.
Marine officials told The Associated Press that these figures were not the result of a struggle “to meet the numbers,” and instead were a reflection of how careful the Marine Corps has to be in not overrecruiting.
The service had also surpassed its goals last year by just a single person.
“The Marines are probably the most inelastic of the services,” Lt. Gen. William Bowers told The Associated Press last month.
“We appeal to a certain type of young man or woman — that really doesn’t change with the economic winds,” Bowers added. “Everywhere I’ve been in the country, the American people know the Marine Corps has very high standards and that we stick to them.”
The Coast Guard – Protect. Defend. Save.
Although the United States Coast Guard is not a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), it is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is still considered one of the six military services. It has also struggled more than the other branches in recruiting new personnel.
It missed its recruiting targets every year from 2019 to 2023 and only reached the 2024 goals following increased office space, marketing, and other efforts. A new “Talent Acquisition Specialist” rating was created, focusing on recruitment. In addition, the eligibility criteria for recruitment were updated to include revised policies on the maximum recruiting age and tattoos. Meanwhile, programs were introduced to offer bonuses to Coast Guard members, civilians, and auxiliaries.
The efforts have paid off, as the Coast Guard reached its FY25 recruiting goals for active duty, reserves, and officers.
