US Army Will Again ‘Fall Short’ of Recruitment Goals: Secretary Wormuth

U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testify during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 10, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Despite the relative success of a new program to help aspiring soldiers meet eligibility requirements, the U.S. Army will again “fall short” of its annual recruitment goals, according to Defense Department officials.

While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on May 2, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said: “The chief [of staff] and I set a very ambitious goal of 65,000 new recruits this year, and we are not going to make that goal. We are doing everything we can to get as close to it as possible, but we are going to fall short of that.”

In October, the Army announced that it had missed its recruitment target for 2022 by 25 percent—or 15,000 soldiers—making it the worst recruitment year on record since the start of the all-volunteer force 50 years ago.

While Wormuth noted that some progress had been made in recent months, she added that it would likely take some time to fully resolve the ongoing recruitment woes that the military has experienced across the board.

“We didn’t get into this situation in a year, and I think it’s going to take us more than a year to rebuild our recruiting,” she said.

Bipartisan Issue

The issue proved to be of bipartisan concern during Tuesday’s budget hearing, with senators on both ends of the political spectrum expressing concern and confusion over how the situation had grown so dire.

“Why is recruitment so difficult when retention is so favorable?” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) asked. “One would think that those who are serving who are making the decision to reenlist have encountered a good experience, but it’s not translating into people who have not yet served.”

While agreeing that the Army is currently experiencing “historically good” retention, Wormuth advised that she felt the disconnect was largely due to poor communication on the Army’s part.

“I think some of it is, again, about reintroducing the Army to the American public,” she said.

One area where she said messaging could be improved was in dispelling the notion that joining the Army could “slow people down” in fulfilling their future career goals.

“In fact, I would argue it can accelerate kids towards college degrees,” she contended. “But we need to do a better job of telling our story, and we’d welcome your help with that.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) questioned how recruitment problems would affect the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific strategy to counter Chinese aggression, to which Wormuth replied that the Army was exploring ways to shift and optimize forces to cover areas where needs were most pressing.

“National defense strategy requirements are primary,” she stressed. “We’ve got to be able to have the readiness levels and the structure that we need to execute the strategy. And certainly, paying attention to the Indo-Pacific is core to that.”

Preparatory Program

Despite the recruitment concerns raised, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said that he felt the Army was headed in the right direction with the help of its new Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which launched last August at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Noting that he and Wormuth had made a “blood oath” not to lower eligibility standards for new recruits, McConville said the pilot program had been highly effective in helping Army hopefuls meet those physical and academic standards.

“We’ve had about a little over 8,000 actually go through the program right now,” he advised. “We’re seeing a 95 percent success rate. I think there’s something there—I think it’s the future.”

McConville added that in many cases, program participants exceed the eligibility requirements and go on to do “really good things” in the Army.

“So I think this is something we really need to take a hard look at, and there’s a potential for expansion.”