In the initial post to X, the US Army wrote, “Our Recruiters have one of the toughest jobs – inspiring the next generation of #Soldiers to serve. Congratulations and keep up the great work! #BAYCB”
Hegseth shared the news in a post adding the commentary, “BOTTOM LINE: America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong “America First” leadership of @realDonaldTrump.”.@USAREC had their most productive December in 15 years by enlisting 346 Soldiers daily into the World's greatest #USArmy!
— U.S. Army (@USArmy) February 4, 2025
Our Recruiters have one of the toughest jobs - inspiring the next generation of #Soldiers to serve.
Congratulations and keep up the great work! #BAYCB pic.twitter.com/nEpuP9akZM
According to US Army Recruiting metrics, overall Regular Army recruiting exceeded the annual goal with 55,150 soldiers enlisting in 2024.
Data from Army Recruiting indicated that the top state for new recruits was Texas with 13.3% followed by California (10.5%), Florida (9.7%), Georgia (5.1%), North Carolina (4.6%), New York (4.3%), Virginia (2.9%), Ohio (2.8%), Illinois (2.6%), and Pennsylvania (2.4%).
As reported by Fox News, in October 2023 as the Army missed recruiting goals by 41,000, the U.S. Army revealed a raft of reforms to its recruiting policies increasing focus on labor market shares as well as the formation of a mission-specialized talent acquisition staff. One such reform revolved around an expansion of the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which guides prospective soldiers to meet the Army’s physical and academic standards.
The branch also pushed a surge of medical staff to Military Entrance Processing Stations to expedite enlistment processing.
A report from Military.com published Monday noted that citing the momentum of the recruiting gains the Army expects to stand-up ten additional basic training units at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Sill in Oklahoma, allowing the Army to train up to 9,600 new recruits per year according to Army spokesman Lt. Col. Randy Ready.
Presently the Army is facing a new logistical challenge: the increasing backlog of recruits waiting to ship out, 11,000 of whom have been place into the Army delayed-entry program.
"Expanding basic training capacity is a result of successful recruiting efforts and the Future Soldier Preparatory Course," Lt. Gen. David Francis, commander for the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training, told the outlet in a statement. "This is a great problem to have as we continue to train the most capable and lethal soldiers for our Army."
