Recruitment Rises 12.5% Despite Ongoing Challenges

The Defense Department’s armed services branches hired 12.5% more individuals in 2024 than in the year prior regardless 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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Credit: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jackie Sanders, DOD.
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While speaking at a multiservice panel on 2025 recruiting issues at the Pentagon earlier today, of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland stated that the services increased the number of recruits from 200,000 in FY 2023 to 225,000 in FY 2024, which ended September 30.

Additionally, she stated, the services had a 35% increase in composed contracts, and the active components’ postponed entry program began 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’ve gained in 2024,” Helland stated.

” Nevertheless,” she continued, “we require to remain cautiously positive about the future recruiting operations as we continue to hire in a market that has low youth propensity to serve, limited familiarity with military chances, a competitive labor market and a decreasing eligibility amongst young people.”

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

The reasons behind that are multifold, Helland employment said. Young Americans have less ties to good friends or member of the family who have served in the military. There is a decreasing presence of veterans in our society. Approximately 77% of individuals between the ages of 17 and 24 require some kind of waiver to serve due to any number of disqualifications.

To counter such challenges, Helland said the military has actually implemented a medical pilot program that enables recruits to join the armed force without a waiver for numerous health conditions – provided they satisfy certain requirements. Additionally, there are service member preparation courses that prepare employees to satisfy the strenuous requirements of military service. Moreover, DOD is looking for to reconnect with youth and employment their influencers by showing them the worth of serving.

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

Panel Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder facilitates a panel on financial year 2025 recruiting objectives at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
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” Youth today look for a bigger purpose in their lives and desire tasks where they have greater participation in decision-making and can produce a direct tangible impact,” she continued. “Military service provides all of this.”

Explaining that U.S. military service offers more than 250 professions which it represents among the most highly educated companies throughout the world and throughout all pay grades, employment Helland stated the Defense Department is striving to counter the narrative that joining the armed force is an alternative to going to college or “an alternative of last hope.”

” We are working to reframe this narrative so that Americans comprehend that military service is a pathway to higher education and career opportunities while defending democracy and the liberties we love,” Helland stated.

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