US Army Says Recruitment Numbers Hit 15-Year High

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks about the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter in Washington, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on Jan. 30, 2025. Divers pulled bodies from the icy waters of Washington's Potomac river Thursday after a U.S. military helicopter collided midair with a passenger plane carrying 64 people, with officials saying there were likely no survivors. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth this week announced that U.S. Army recruitment numbers have reached a 15-year high after Trump’s election win.

“Our Recruiters have one of the toughest jobs - inspiring the next generation of soldiers to serve. Congratulations and keep up the great work,” Army recruiting officials wrote in a Feb. 4 post on social media platform X.

They added that in December 2024, Army officials enlisted 346 soldiers on average per day, representing “the most productive December in 15 years.”

Those trends continued into January, Hegseth wrote in a separate post. “In January 2025, the Army hit its best recruiting number in 15 YEARS,” he said, adding that “America’s youth want to serve” under Trump’s leadership as commander-in-chief.”

Speaking to a crowd at the White House, Trump made a similar statement about the recruitment figures.

“Every single day, nearly 350 new soldiers enlisted to defend our nation. And they’re very, very happy to have done so,” Trump said on Feb. 5 during remarks about signing an order that bars males from competing in women’s sports.

“We’ve done lots of interviews and we asked why this was taking place now, and they just said there’s a spirit about our country that they haven’t seen in many, many years. And I happen to agree with that.”

Trump also suggested that it’s because his administration “has got the woke lunacy out of our military,” referring to an executive order he signed on Jan. 27 about removing “gender identity” polices in the military and prioritizing “readiness and effectiveness.”

In recent years, the U.S. military has struggled to reach recruitment goals although the Army managed to reach its quota in the fiscal year 2024, officials said last year. About 55,300 total accessions and 11,000 delayed entry program accessions were recorded in 2024, they said, noting that 50,181 accessions and 4,661 were added to its delayed entry program in fiscal year 2023.

Last month, former U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the Army was on pace to bring in 61,000 new recruits by the end of the fiscal year in September and will have more than 20,000 additional new recruits signed up in the delayed entry program for 2026. It’s the second straight year of meeting its goals, she said.

In 2022, the Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000. The following year, the service brought in a bit more than 50,000 recruits, widely missing its publicly stated “stretch goal” of 65,000.

Wormuth, who took over the Army four years ago as restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were devastating recruitment across the military, also rejected suggestions that the Army has gone “woke.”

Critics have used the term to describe what they call an over-emphasis on diversity and equity programs rather than merit. Some Republicans have blamed “wokeness” for the recruiting struggles, echoed by Hegseth during his Senate confirmation hearing several weeks ago.

“Concerns about the Army being, quote, ‘woke,’ have not been a significant issue in our recruiting crisis,” Wormuth had said. “They weren’t at the beginning of the crisis. They weren’t in the middle of the crisis. They aren’t now. The data does not show that young Americans don’t want to join the Army because they think the army is woke—however they define that.”

However, Trump’s choice to lead the Army, Daniel Driscoll, said that U.S. Army recruitment numbers are still relatively low.

“We have the fewest number of active soldiers that we’ve had since World War II, even as conflict is erupting around the world,” Driscoll said at his Senate confirmation hearing last week. “We need to fix that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.