The United States Army announced this week that it saw record-breaking recruitment numbers in December, and some are crediting the recruitment increase to President Donald Trump.
Officials shared on social media that December 2024 was the best December for recruitment in the last 15 years, with nearly 350 soldiers enlisting every day.
“Our recruiters have one of the toughest jobs – inspiring the next generation of #Soldiers to serve. Congratulations, and keep up the great work!” the U.S. Army shared on social media.
According to reports from the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2024, the Army met its recruiting goal of 55,000 and has since started rebuilding the delayed entry pool. Almost a quarter of the new recruits also came from the Future Soldier Prep Course.
Now, the recruitment efforts are being praised as a turnaround for the military branch, which has seen challenges in bolstering its numbers in recent years.
In 2022, the Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000, and in 2023, it fell short nearly the same amount, though it recruited more overall, as its goal was 65,000.
However, it wasn’t just the Army suffering in recruitment, as the Department of Defense shared that in 2023, across all branches, the military was short of its recruit goal by about 41,000.
Things now appear to be on the rise, as the Army said it hopes to expand the number of recruits it can send to spring training by April. Current projections suggest the branch could add 10 more training units or around 9,600 recruits.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently touched on the recruiting numbers on social media, attributing the increase in recruitment to “America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong” and the new administration.
“We’ve already seen it in recruiting numbers,” Hegseth said in a prior post. “There’s already been a surge since President Trump won the election.”