President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted recruitment numbers for the U.S. Army that show December’s data as the best in 15 years.
The U.S. military has struggled to hit recruitment quotas in recent years. The Army managed to hit its quota for fiscal year 2024, though a relatively low bar may have contributed to the success. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, which began in October, recruitment has begun to bounce back.
“I want to share some very exciting news from our military. After years of shrinking force numbers at levels that nobody has ever seen before – 4 years of this we went through and missed recruiting targets every single month – it was just announced that in December, the U.S. Army had its single best recruitment in more than 15 years,” Trump told a cheering crowd at the White House.
“Every single day, nearly 350 new soldiers enlisted to defend our nation. And they’re very, very happy to have done so. We’ve done lots of interviews and we asked why this was taking place now, and they just said there’s a spirit about our country that they haven’t seen in many, many years. And I happen to agree with that,” Trump added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted the rising recruitment numbers on social media on Monday, crediting Trump’s election and the president’s commitment to prioritizing merit and lethality in the military.
“BOTTOM LINE: America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong ‘America First’ leadership of @realDonaldTrump,” Hegseth posted.
Recruitment numbers began surging in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who led the branch under former President Joe Biden, said last month that the Army is on track to bring in 81,000 new recruits, including 20,000 on a delayed entry program for fiscal year 2026.
“What’s really remarkable is the first quarter contracts that we have signed are the highest rate in the last 10 years,” Wormuth said. “We are going like gangbusters, which is terrific.”
