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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 indifferent recruiting market.

Katie Helland Director of Military Accessions Policy Katie Helland talks to members of the media during a panel on 2025 recruiting objectives at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
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Credit: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jackie Sanders, DOD.
VIRIN: 241030-D-XI929-1004

While speaking at a multiservice panel on 2025 issues at the Pentagon earlier this week, employment Director of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland employment stated that the services increased the variety of recruits from 200,000 in FY 2023 to 225,000 in FY 2024, which ended September 30.

Additionally, employment she said, employment the services had a 35% boost in written agreements, and the active elements’ delayed entry program began FY 2025 with a 10% larger swimming pool.

 » [The Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the services will continue to construct off the momentum that we have actually gained in 2024, » Helland said.

 » Nevertheless, » she continued, « we need to remain very carefully optimistic about the future recruiting operations as we continue to hire in a market that has low youth tendency to serve, limited familiarity with military chances, a competitive labor market and a decreasing eligibility amongst young grownups. »

Helland elaborated on those challenges by discussing that, employment for the first time considering that the metric has been tracked, the majority of young individuals have never thought about the option of serving in the armed force.

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

To counter such difficulties, Helland stated the armed force has carried out a medical pilot program that permits employees to join the armed force without a waiver for various health conditions – offered they meet specific requirements. Additionally, there are service member prep courses that prepare recruits to meet the strenuous requirements of military service. Moreover, DOD is seeking to reconnect with youth and their influencers by revealing them the value of serving.

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

Panel Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder assists in a panel on fiscal year 2025 recruiting goals at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, employment 2024.
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 » Youth today look for a larger function in their lives and desire jobs where they have greater involvement in decision-making and can create a direct tangible impact, » she continued. « Military service offers all of this. »

Explaining that U.S. military service provides more than 250 professions which it represents among the most extremely educated companies throughout the world and throughout all pay grades, Helland said the Defense Department is striving to counter the narrative that joining the armed force is an alternative to participating in college or « an alternative of last hope. »

 » We are working to reframe this story so that Americans understand that military service is a path to higher education and career opportunities while safeguarding democracy and the freedoms we hold dear, » Helland stated.

She added that DOD is reframing this story. For example, the department’s Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies program will quickly launch a project to construct familiarity with the American public about the worth of military service. Plans are likewise proceeding to have adult influencers advocate for employment military service.