The Pentagon ended fiscal year 2023 on a sour note for military recruiting, falling tens of thousands of new enlisted troops short of its goal in what it called \u201cthe toughest recruitment year for the military services since the inception of the all-volunteer force.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But efforts to spruce up lackluster recruiting across the armed forces have yielded mixed results so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force has so far managed to reverse its misfortunes, exceeding its goal of 6,249 new active duty airmen by 130 people as of the end of December 2023, according to recently released Pentagon statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s due in part to a slew of policy tweaks aimed at growing the pool of eligible prospects, a growing staff focused on battling a backlog of medical paperwork, and a fourth-quarter push to get as large of a head start on fiscal 2024 recruitment as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the Air and Space Forces Association\u2019s Air Warfare Symposium in Colorado, Air Force recruiting boss Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrhein said he is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about staying on track for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInstead of booking weeks in advance, we\u2019re booking multiple months in advance,\u201d he said of shipping newcomers to boot camp. \u201cWe\u2019re not seeing this edge of the cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n America\u2019s two largest armed forces, however, are still struggling to woo prospective troops. The Army brought in almost 6,100 new soldiers between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023, falling short at 74% of its first-quarter goal, according to DOD. The Navy fared worse at about 5,400 new sailors, or 65% of its own target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, Army recruiters are outpacing their performance from the same time last year, when they had reached just 68% of their active duty goal. The Navy\u2019s intake rate mirrors where it stood at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Space Force and Marine Corps, the Pentagon\u2019s smallest branches and the only two services that reached their active duty accession goals last year, have continued that success in 2024. About 2,200 new Marines had signed up as of the end of December, exceeding the Corps\u2019 first-quarter goal, and the Space Force gained 110 guardians to meet its own objective, DOD statistics show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Air Force, Space Force and Marine Corps were the only services to meet or exceed the Pentagon\u2019s quality benchmarks for active duty recruits. For instance, the military wants at least 90% of recruits to have a high school diploma, and at least 60% of recruits must score above average on the Armed Forces Qualification Test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Five of the military\u2019s six reserve components also missed their recruiting goals for the first three months of fiscal 2024. The Marine Corps Reserve was the lone success: It signed up more than 1,800 new troops, around 700 more than the service had sought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe recruiting market remains challenging,\u201d the Pentagon said in its undated press release<\/a>. \u201cThe department continues to work collaboratively with the services to develop new strategies to address recruiting challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. military fell more than 41,000 people short of its fiscal 2023 enlisted recruiting goal as it faced a complex web of challenges ranging from dwindling interest in military service among America\u2019s youth and the country\u2019s obesity epidemic, to the introduction of an electronic health records system that has slowed in-processing to a crawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n