The White House budget is calling for more troops with next year\u2019s budget, but that hope is tempered by the reality that low national unemployment and a shrinking pool of young people interested in serving means it\u2019s harder and harder to recruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon\u2019s fiscal year 2024 budget is calling for 2,074,000 men and women in uniform, according to documents released Monday. That number is 13,334 fewer than it was authorized for last year<\/a>, but 12,355 more than the Defense Department estimates are currently serving, reflecting a recent recruiting and retention environment that has shown some gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On paper, the military services are looking to downsize by 13,000 personnel positions in 2024. But as some of the services fell short in fully manning their ranks over the past year, the White House\u2019s ask<\/a> would add about 12,000 troops, if passed, and if the services can find enough people to fill their ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The budget request aims to meet in the middle, DoD comptroller Mike McCord told Military Times, between what the services think they need to accomplish their mission and how many people they think they can attract and retain in a historically difficult recruiting environment, with the national unemployment at 3.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRecruiting at anytime in my lifetime would have been tough at this kind of unemployment level, where people have so many other options, especially the people that we want, right?\u201d he said during a briefing. \u201cWe want talented people, people with drive, people with high school degrees, etcetera, people with technical skills \u2015 so that that\u2019s going to be a challenge. And that is sort of reflected here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, the defense budget request totals $842 billion<\/a>, a 3.2% increase from 2023, much of that coming from procurement and modernization programs, with the size of the military remaining mostly stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to a competitive job market, military leaders have said much in recent months about the dwindling pool of young Americans qualified for military service<\/a>, with an even smaller slice of those even interested in serving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut overall a fairly stable picture on the size of the military, and we\u2019re about capability in this budget,\u201d McCord said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t